Whiteout blacklisted words by Marian Casillas, Ed.D.

 

(Slightly Satirical yet Significantly Surreal) 

An email sent by The University of Hardly-Knocks that’s evidence of higher learning institutions being infiltrated by what previously was termed “political correctness” and has now morphed into “Critical Race Theory”. The email included a number of words and phrases that could be construed as offensive and insulting.
 
While there are some words and phrases on the list that are legitimately offensive and racially charged, commonly used phrases peppered the list as well. Here’s a partial list of the prohibited words and phrases deemed unacceptable: “you people, blacklist, blackmail, blackball, sounds Greek to me, blondes have more fun, too many chiefs not enough Indians.”
 
The phrase, “you guys”, wasn’t on the list; isn’t addressing a group of males and females as “guys” being sexist. Other words not on the list: whitewash, whitehead, whitening, whiteout, brown-nose, brownout or brownie, but wouldn’t those words containing the word “white” be offensive to white people and wouldn’t those words containing the word “brown” be offensive to brown people.
 
The email was written by a college administrator and was sent to all students and faculty at The University of Hardly-Knocks. Students and faculty were advised to study the list of words and phrases: “Please be cognizant that such conduct is 100 percent zero tolerance in or outside the college campus”. So is there such a thing as anything less than 100 percent zero tolerance? The email continues, “Let’s capitalize on our richly diverse climate, and help others seek assistance if they are struggling with compliance.” A good question is: How do people “seek assistance if they are struggling with compliance”? “Avoid words that may be considered pejorative or prejudiced (whether consciously or unconsciously), as these can distract from the ideas/information you're trying to convey”. Another good question is: How can words be “prejudiced”? One person can use the word “cracker” and mean “a thin, crisp biscuit” and another person can use the very same word and mean “a racial epithet directed towards white people”. So is the word pejorative or prejudiced or is it the person who is using it being pejorative or prejudiced?
 
The public relations officer commented, “The University has no list of prohibited terms. It was sent by an administrator simply reminding everyone to be respectful of others.” Couldn’t the college administrator simply remind everyone to be respectful of others instead of making a list of forbidden words?
 
Looks like The University got caught “red handed” being politically correct social justice warriors; “red handed” might be offensive to Native-Americans, Communists or Cincinnati Reds fans. Maybe they were caught with their “hand in the cookie jar”; cookies might be offensive to people on restricted diets or because cookies are not nutritionally healthy. Maybe they were caught with their “hand in the nutritional nut bar jar”. Nuts! I forgot not to offend those who have nut allergies.
 
Politically correct words can either be like “cookies that crumble” or “hard nuts to crack”.
 
Marian Casillas, Ed.D.