"1984, here we come": Stanford University harmful language words revealed as initiative sparks backlash online

Stanford University is receiving backlash online after it designed a "harmful language guide" that included words such as "American," "abortion," "victim," "survivor," etc. The project is called the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative and was announced by Stanford University in May, which is solely aimed at addressing the use of harmful terms in Stanford's IT community.

The guide outlined words and phrases they planned to eliminate from their computer code and website, including words that allegedly appeared racist, biased, and violent.

They made the list of biased words based on the following factors:

• Gender bias
• S**ual bias
• Ethnic bias
• Disability bias
• Implicit bias
• Ethnic slurs

However, after receiving negative responses from netizens, the university has limited access to the webpage. As of now, only people who have an internal login can access it.

The initiative targeted several commonly-used and sensitive words that should be emphasized instead of banned. One user sarcastically implied that this incident is like George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984:

"1984, here we come."

(Image via Twitter/@DunsmuirMark)

The guide has marked ten sections for "harmful language":

1. Colonialism
2. Institutionalized Racism
3. Ableism
4. Ageism
5. Culturally Appropriative
6. Imprecise Language
7. Violent
8. Gender-based
9. Person-first
10. Additional Considerations

What seemed to provoke the public the most was the inclusion of the term "American" in the list. The guide stated that "US Citizen" should be used instead of "American, explaining that people use the latter word to refer to residents of the United States only. This, according to Stanford University, is ethnicity biased.

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Stanford University's guide for harmful language includes "preferred pronouns" as well

The guide released by the university also deemed preferred pronouns as harmful words, which agitated people even more. The educational institution explained that the word "preferred" implies that the gender identity of being non-binary is a preference or a choice.

In a statement given to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the university said:

"Stanford’s style guidelines are meant for internal use, often for individual workgroups. In this case, the EHLI website was specifically created by and intended for use within the university IT community. It will continue to be refined based on ongoing input from the community."

The word "abort" was also included in the list and asked to be replaced with "end" or "cancel." The guide cited concerns regarding the words affiliated with the term "abortion."

Stanford's chief information officer, Steve Gallagher, said in the message on Tuesday that the website doesn't represent the university policy or mandates. It was created by the IT community and is intended to be used for discussion within that sector only. He further added:

“It provides 'suggested alternatives' for various terms and reasons why those terms could be problematic in certain uses. Its aspiration, and the reason for its development, is to support an inclusive community.”

The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal took a jab at Stanford's EHLI project on Monday as they wrote:

"Call yourself an ‘American’? Please don’t. Better to say ‘U.S. citizen’ per the bias hunters, lest you slight the rest of the Americas ... And don’t dare design a ‘blind study,’ which ‘unintentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture."

Following this, several netizens took to Twitter to express their opinions on the matter, with most questioning the reasoning behind the usage of words such as "US Citizen for "Americans." Meanwhile, many Twitteratis wrote that this was a "stupid," a "joke," "harmful," etc. One user even mentioned how this goes against "the enemy of free, tolerant, thinking Americans."

As it is, all explanations from Stanford university fell on deaf ears as the EHLI categories have been ruthlessly attacked, criticized, and mocked by netizens on Twitter.