How should one begin to understand why the modern left mischaracterizes the constitutionally vested Electoral College system as a setback to democracy, or why they paint parental efforts to curate age-appropriate school library contents as “book burning?” Such ad hominem attacks, distasteful indeed, are standard operating procedures to deflect from their own illiberal impulses. But the illiberals are not just about projection and gaslighting. In terms of chilling speech, particularly on college campuses through manuals like “Inclusive Language Guides,” they are repeat offenders.
“Inclusive Language Guides,” found in countless taxpayer-funded universities, instruct tens of thousands of students each year to censor everyday English language in order to accommodate the diverse “identities” of their peers. The list of identities is exhaustive, including race, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental health, age, citizenship status, criminal history, and more.
Cleverly disguised under the cloaks of “respect” and “equity,” these guides do not merely force socially unacceptable terminology on students who must adhere to explicit or racially charged verbiage. More importantly, the guides condemn the most basic words, phrases, and mechanics of standard English, injecting into them imagined meanings and make-believe grievances.
Take, for example, the University of Washington (UW), whose Inclusive Language guide boasts a lengthy list of “problematic” words and phrases to avoid.
“Ninja,” “guru,” and “spirit animal” are among those condemned as “culturally appropriative,” while the word “mantra” faces scrutiny because it is reportedly considered “highly spiritual and religious” by Hindu and Buddhist communities. The slang phrase “no can do,” allegedly an “imitation of Chinese Pidgin English,” should be avoided as well, as it dates back to an “era when Western attitudes towards the Chinese were markedly racist,” according to UW.
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The UW list also says that words like “blacklist” and “blackout” are “derivatives of racist tropes” and should be avoided because “use of the words ‘black’ for something undesirable, wrong or bad, and light or ‘white’ for desirable, right or good perpetuates concepts that have been used to oppress people of color.”
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) offers guidance on describing seasons in order to maintain “inclusive” messaging. When referencing winter, students and staff are instructed to avoid mentioning specific holidays or using phrases like “merry and bright,” instead opting for neutral language. UMBC also discourages traditional imagery, advising against Christmas trees, wreaths, bells, holly, reindeer, and gifts, as well as color schemes like red and green or blue and silver. The justification? “People may hold celebrations and observances at times other than those you recognize.”
Language guides have long served as subtle tools of censorship on Maryland’s campuses. In April 2023, Jared Gould—then Senior Editor at Campus Reform—reported that UMBC was banning words like “bunnies” and “eggs” to scrub Easter-related language and avoid offending non-Christians. Gould, dressed in a bunny costume to gauge reactions, found that most students thought the costume was funny and that the university’s language guide was, frankly, ridiculous.
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), meanwhile, condemns “you-centered language,” discouraging school affiliates from using we/our pronouns unless the reader is clearly included. UIC’s Inclusive Language Guide recommends replacing phrases like “Our university emphasizes research” with more “inclusive” alternatives such as “You’ll have opportunities to engage in cutting-edge research at UIC.”
Similarly, Northwestern University promotes “person-first” language. In the context of criminal justice, for instance, the university recommends replacing words like “felon” or “predator” with “people in prison” or “people with criminal convictions” to reduce the alleged “stigma” surrounding those identities.
At the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB), the censorship extends even to punctuation.
UCB’s Inclusive Language Guide states that words such as Latino/a, Native American, and black should be capitalized in university communications. But “white” should not, because white people lack the “same history and culture” and the “experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.” Never mind that in the 19th and early 20th centuries, white Irish, Italian, Polish, Jewish, and other Southern and Eastern European immigrants faced significant discrimination at the hands of the Anglo-American elite. The Irish, for example, encountered job discrimination, were beaten, and were excluded from neighborhoods and institutions, often greeted with signs reading “No Irish Need Apply.”
Moreover, it’s especially ironic that a university claims white people haven’t faced discrimination when higher education itself has been a key perpetrator. Affirmative action policies enabled universities to prioritize applicants from groups deemed more oppressed, namely black students. When Students for Fair Admissions litigated the case against race-based admissions, it became abundantly clear that white and Asian students had long been held to significantly higher standards on entrance exams just to be considered.
UCB’s guide concludes, however, by warning that “[c]apitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
Many universities’ Inclusive Language guides discourage the use of gender-specific pronouns. Take Michigan State University, which deems the use of the word “female” as “pejorative.” Countless more institutions, such as Washington State University, denounce “gendered” words like “upperclassman,” “man-kind” and “man-made,” even going so far as to advise against terms like “he and she” and “mom and dad.”
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Furthermore, the push for linguistic censorship on campus has extended far beyond higher education. Major corporations, such as Capital One, Kroger, and Microsoft, now promote similar language guidelines, touting “bias-free” workplaces and environments of “belonging.” Thought-policing is a pervasive practice in both private and public spheres.
Gould (referenced earlier) has chronicled how this culture of censorship follows students into the real world. What begins on campus no longer stays there. Gould said, “universities have trained a generation to equate disagreement with danger and free speech with offense. Students internalize these lessons, entering the workforce afraid to speak openly for fear of professional or personal fallout.”
But this isn’t even the worst of the left’s play with language.
Wenyuan Wu, Executive Director of the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, has reported that some universities now label standard English—clear grammar, objectivity, and proper citation—as a form of “linguistic white supremacy.” Grading grammar or penalizing plagiarism is deemed racist, especially when applied to minority students. The result is a condescending system that lowers expectations in the name of equity.
While leftist elites often pride themselves on inclusion, they’re quick to punish anyone who violates their moral code. Just ask Professor Greg Patton of the University of Southern California, who came under fire for teaching a lesson on Chinese filler words—one of which, nèi ge (那个), happens to resemble an English racial slur. It didn’t matter that the word was used in an academic, linguistically accurate context. For the left, the line between basic decency and free speech violations is constantly shifting—and frequently blurred.
Far from fostering inclusion, these language guides fracture society, dividing people into subgroups and forcing Americans to tiptoe around each other, weaponizing ordinary words as tools of exclusion and control. So remember: while the left cries “book burning,” it’s only to distract from its own bonfire of language, liberty, and common sense.
Image: Welcome to Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan by Ken Lund on Flickr
