<div dir="ltr"><h2 class="gmail-posttitle">A freelance magazine writer is mad someone is trying to be sensitive to others</h2>
<ul class="entry-share"><li class="gmail-print">
<a>
<span class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-print"></span>
</a>
<br></li><li class="gmail-comments">
<a href="http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/big-media-tries-squash-conversations-sensitive-language/#comments">
<span class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-comments"></span>
</a>
<br></li><li class="gmail-like">
<a class="gmail-fbshare gmail-addthis_button_facebook gmail-at300b" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/big-media-tries-squash-conversations-sensitive-language/" title="Facebook">
<span><span class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-facebook-square"> </span> Share on Facebook</span>
</a>
</li><li class="gmail-twitter">
<a class="gmail-addthis_button_twitter gmail-at300b" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?via=lgbtqnation&related=queerty&url=http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/big-media-tries-squash-conversations-sensitive-language/&text=A%20freelance%20magazine%20writer%20is%20mad%20someone%20is%20trying%20to%20be%20sensitive%20to%20others" title="Twitter">
<span><span class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-twitter"> </span> Share on Twitter</span>
</a>
</li><div class="gmail-addthis_toolbox gmail-addthis_default_style gmail-addthis_32x32_style gmail-at-top" style="float:left;margin-top:5px">
<a class="gmail-addthis_button_expanded" style="background-image:none" title="Facebook" href="http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/big-media-tries-squash-conversations-sensitive-language/#">67</a>
</div></ul>
<div class="gmail-post-meta">
<div class="gmail-post-author">
By <a href="http://www.lgbtqnation.com/author/alexbollinger/" title="Posts by Alex Bollinger" rel="author">Alex Bollinger</a> ·
</div>
<time class="gmail-post-timestamp" datetime="2017-03-07T11:00:35+00:00">Tuesday, March 7, 2017</time>
</div>
<div class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-alignleft gmail-article-hero-image">
<div class="gmail-media-credit-container gmail-alignleft">
<img src="https://lgbtqnation-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2017/03/1280px-Management_building_May10-500x335.jpg" class="gmail-attachment-large gmail-size-large gmail-wp-post-image" alt="" title="" width="500" height="335"> </div>
<p class="gmail-wp-caption-text"> <span class="gmail-media-credit">Wikipedia</span></p> </div>
<p>Every time there’s a story about how a college or university is
squashing free speech, all it takes is a couple minutes of googling to
find out that the actual story is a lot more boring than the panicked
headlines say.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/news/Pages/Media-statement-in-relation-to-Cardiff-Met%E2%80%99s-Code-of-Practice-and-Guide-to-Inclusive-Language.aspx">Cardiff Metropolitan University recently updated some guidelines for speech</a>. Here’s what happened, according to the university:</p>
<blockquote><p>Cardiff Met’s Code of Practice and Guide to Inclusive
Language, first produced in 2005, is not a governance document and is
not a corporate policy. It encourages the use of inclusive language and,
in its own words, “aims to raise awareness amongst staff and students
of the importance of using appropriate language within the working and
learning environment and also aims to promote a common sense approach to
managing this”. It makes no demands, bans nothing and carries no
sanctions.</p></blockquote>
<p>So there are some suggestions that have been around for over a decade
that carry no weight. Well, no one will be enraged by that! So
mainstream publications step in to make a mountain out of a molehill.</p>
<p><em>The Independent </em>ran the headline “<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-39153731">University bans phrases such as ‘mankind’ and ‘gentleman’s agreement</a>,'” with the sub-head: “Academics have criticised the ban as an ‘insulting attack on free speech.'”</p>
<p>Rachael Pells, who wrote the article, claims that certain words, like
“sportsmanship,” are now banned at the university. “Students and staff
could face disciplinary procedures if they fail to adhere to the
language policy,” Pells wrote. </p>
<p>Foregoing the normal journalistic formalities of using neutral language, Pell writes (emphasis mine), “The policy also <strong>dictates </strong>that the phrases ‘homosexual’ and ‘heterosexual’ should not be used as they are ‘laden with the values of a previous time.'”</p>
<p>While Pells does talk to a university spokesperson (her term, which
is actually one of the university’s suggestions to replace “spokesman,”
so… et tu, Rachael Pells?), but for some reason never asked what the
“disciplinary procedures” could result in, especially since the
university says that the report “bans nothing and carries no sanctions.”</p>
<p>And those “academics” who hate the “ban” that <em>The Independent </em>referred
to in the sub-heading? Pells found just one, Joanna Williams, a
contrarian whose recent work includes articles entitled “The post-fact
world suits feminism just fine” and “Let’s abandon sex education,”
which, yes, are just what you would expect from headlines like that. </p>
<p>Pells also presents, without any skepticism, a “study” by <em>Spiked </em>magazine
to show that universities are “clamp[ing] down” on free speech. Pells
did not present the study’s means or what it considered “censorship,”
and didn’t bother to mention that <em>Spiked </em>is a libertarian magazine whose education editor is… Joanna Williams. </p>
<p>Because one person with a point of view is just one person with a
point of view, but if they write down some numbers, they’re a journal
with a “study.”</p>
<p>BBC News also claimed that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-39153731">Cardiff Metropolitan University “bans” certain words</a>, and the lede reads: </p>
<blockquote><p>A university has been accused of restricting students’ freedom of speech by banning words such as “housewife” and “manpower”</p></blockquote>
<p>Wow, that sounds awful! Of course, the unnamed writer had to choose
the passive voice for that sentence; the only person BBC News found to
do the accusing is Joanna Williams. </p>
<p>“A freelance magazine writer is mad someone is trying to be sensitive
to others” is not quite as outrage-inducing as the headline BBC News
went with, but it’s a lot more accurate.</p>
<p>At no point did either BBC News or <em>The Independent </em>point out the irony that the entire point of the story is to make Cardiff Metropolitan University shut up.</p><p><a href="http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/big-media-tries-squash-conversations-sensitive-language/">http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/big-media-tries-squash-conversations-sensitive-language/</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div>