According to what was reconstructed by an investigation by New York Timesthe administration of Donald Trump has issued a list of “Forbidden words”also removing them from official documents, websites and government communications. This phenomenon, already considered by many to be an example of Cancel Culture, concerns above all Words related to civil rights, inclusion and diversityand therefore everything that is linked to minorities.
Terms such as “activism”, “LGBTQ+”, “climatic crisis” and “discrimination” are just some of the unpleasant ones to the new president because they are considered too “politically correct” and “Woke” (or more simply because they are linked to progressive and left areas), and for this reason they must be banned. The goal is clear: to limit the language linked to certain social and ideological movements is the first step, in the eyes of the new government, to bring the US back to return More conservative visionsordered and linear. As was predictable, this approach aroused many debates on censorship and on freedom of expression in the US media and on social networks.
What is going on and the list of words prohibited by the Trump Administration
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has sent state offices and public institutions acts and recommendations that invite to removal of a series of words and expressions from their sites, from publications aimed at the public and training programs. Some documents ban these words, others warmly advise against using them, but the intent is clear: to ban all those words that concern sexual orientation, gender identity, inclusion (especially of women and minorities in the workplace) and in general what is related toactivism. Everything that could end up under the “Woke” label – culture for progressive human rights – must be prohibited, or at least avoided.
Also according to the investigation, the cancellation of immigration and the environment would also have been requested, themes on which Trump has declaredly non -progressive policies.
Among the many prohibited words We find for example:
- Advocacy (support)
- anti-racism (anti -racist)
- biases (prejudices)
- Bipoc (Black Indigenous People of Color“Black, indigenous and color people”)
- Cultural Heritage (Cultural Heritage)
- oddity (disparity)
- diversity (diversity)
- AndNvironmental Quality (Environmental Quality)
- Ethnicity (ethnicity)
- ExcludeD (excluding)
- hate speech (hate speech)
- immigrants (immigrants)
- inclusive (inclusiveness)
- LGBT
- Native American (Native Americans)
- non-binary (non-binary)
- polluzion (pollution)
- Pregnant person (Person in pregnancy)
- Racial Identity (racial identity)
- transgender
- vulnerable populations (vulnerable populations)
- Women (women)
- Women and Underrepredified (women and people underneathing)
Because these words have been prohibited: the reasons
The battle of Trump focuses above all on eliminating everything related to gender identity: already on February 5, the president had signed the executive order Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sportswho forbids transgender people to take part in female competitions, and the measure led the NCAA to change its policies. But terminology has also changed for the website of New York’s Stonewall National Monumentthe place reminiscent of the first uprising of the LGBTQ+ movement against the repression of the police in 1989: for a few weeks in fact Any reference to transgender people has been deleteddespite their importance in organizing the revolt.
However, it would seem that the Trump administration is not against all the movement: the NYT known as the abbreviation lgbtq+ appears in every official communication only as LGBletting the representation of sexual orientation (lesbian, gay and bisexual people) are implemented in some way, but not the movement for gender identity (transgender and queer people). In any case, the latter political move contradicts the protections provided for by the ICPR, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Although this behavior could be expected given the attitude of the last mandate, the action of the administration is proving to be decidedly more drastic than in the past. Just think that the defense secretary Pete Hegseth he would also order the removal of “Enola Gay” From each official document that contains it: Enola Gay was the name of the bomber from which the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was released, but in spite of part of the name has no link with homosexuality. Gay, in fact, was nothing more than the Mother’s baptism name of the pilot of the notorious bomber, Paul Tibbets. Hegseth did not stop there, however, because he also banned the celebrations on Martin Luther King Day and those related to Pride Month by military ranks.
Like this Trump policy can impact research
The effects of this policy are already being felt in the scientific sphere. After the executive order of the presidential administration, NASA has removed all information dedicated to women in the STEM field from its websiteincluding the biography of the spatial engineer Rose DF also the biography of Vera Rubin On the site of the observatory entitled to her it was modified: the references to her commitment for the inclusion of women and other groups little represented in science have been eliminated. These are only two known examples, but the cancellation of entire communities from scientific sites seems impossible to stop, at the moment, for fear of financial repercussions on projects.
In this sense, university research also risks stopping or slowing down on many fronts (to researchers from the University of California of San Diego was asked to clean up their websites from any reference to diversity, equity and inclusion), with federal funds that could be blocked in the coming months.
Prohibiting certain words, however, on a practical level is above all a problem for the public health: clinical research includes women, children and vulnerable populations (whose social and health situation derives from certain social factors, in which inadequate poverty and education play a great role). Rebecca Fielding-Millerscientist of public health of the University of California of San Diego, defined the “Orwelliana” list and said that it will hinder the work of many scientists:
If I can’t tell the word “women”, I can’t tell you that a ban on abortion will damage women. If I cannot say race and ethnic group, I cannot tell you that the Hispanic communities are experiencing this and this other or that there are less vaccinations in African American communities.
While uncertainty and anxiety intensify within the university scientific community, researchers and researchers are questioning on alternative methods in order to get around the call and continue their work.
