Is it me or are the stories where we're supposed to be outraged about something coming at a greater frequency? Now the University of New Hampshire is at the center of people pretending to be angry about... America.

It turns out there's a little nook buried on the UNH website that was published a couple of years ago and subsequently seen by no one (up until recently) that does the standard PC speech recommendation thing.

Lots of colleges have these and the sentiment generally comes from a good place-- be conscientious about the words you choose-- but often wobble into the absurd. Case in point: the bias free language guide.

Lots of colleges have these and the sentiment generally comes from a good place-- be conscientious about the words you choose-- but often wobble into the absurd.

It recommends things like saying  "living at or below the poverty line" rather than describing someone as "poor". Fair enough, I can see why that makes sense. Say "people of advanced age" rather than "older people". Okay, now you're starting to lose me.

Those examples aren't what set the conservative anger-sphere ablaze, though. No, it was the recommendation to use "U.S. citizen" rather than "American" lest we offend people from other parts of the Americas, continentally speaking, like fellow North Americans from Canada or South American neighbors in Brazil. Silly? Absolutely, but given the context nothing to be outraged about really. Just kind of goofy.

 ...it is the internet equivalent of local news showing house fires at every opportunity.

But no, it is being stripped of all context for clickbaity headlines suggesting UNH hates America and suggestions that UNH finds the word America offensive. This isn't being done out of any sense of genuine outrage but because bloggers trawl for stuff like this so they can watch the page views rack up.

Heck, a cursory glance of our own site reveals plenty of examples too: it is the internet equivalent of local news showing house fires at every opportunity.

So go ahead, click away and pretend you're angry. It's what the internet is for.

 

 

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