# Brandeis University considers 'picnic' to be oppressive language **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandeis-university-considers-picnic-to-be-oppressive-language/945016 "2021-06-25T19:26:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 101
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandeis-university-considers-picnic-to-be-oppressive-language/945016/101 "2021-06-27T15:25:49Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > First, I resent being accused of being “supposedly” left-leaning. 😛 😛 implication of lack of commitment retracted! > [@](#): > > Second, have the conversation. But don’t have it in a vacuum among people who are unlikely to disagree with you but open it to debate and criticism. Something they clearly failed to do here. How could they not take advantage of a captive audience to engage with on their own campus? > > BTW, I noticed that they took out the word “picnic” from their list of offensive words. Had they made the effort to vet this with anyone outside their blinkered view, they might have spared themselves the embarrassment of the article and @Johnny_L.A 's ire. My point is that they’re not having the conversation in a vacuum; putting this list on their website is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of it. To paraphrase the language right at the top of the page: “these are suggestions compiled from student input. It’s not a list of rules, but things that are worth thinking about. We are not telling anyone what they should or should not say.” Because there is no objective right or wrong on most of this, how do you decide when it’s “clear” they didn’t have the conversation in a vacuum? When nothing on the list of suggestions is controversial? When nothing is above reproach? When no one could possibly make a suggestion? As you say, they are clearly engaged in the conversation- they didn’t dig in about ‘picnic’, but removed it, which probably makes sense. There’s a subtext in a lot of internal criticism on the left that reads something like: “Unless you’re going to suggest something that is obviously correct (defined as whatever the speaker happens to believe is obviously correct), you should stay behind closed doors with your thoughts until you come around to the right ones, otherwise people are going to think we’re all extremists!” This is a list of student suggestions from a campus organization whose job it is to be sensitive to stuff like this. I don’t know their methodology or the time/resources involved, but my guess is that the answer is “limited” on all fronts. This isn’t a policy document, it’s a resource document. It’s a nothing. What kind of notes, research and citations do you suggest would be an appropriate before they should have written this document and put it up on their website? I know I’m going on about it, but there’s a fundamental imbalance of understanding going on here: folks seem to believe that random campus organization X at college Y should not publish a list of suggestions like this because it will cause Democrats and Republicans alike to flee from (D) politicians and to flee from their desire to support social justice and equality. At the same time, no one is criticizing the Washington Examiner (who published this “story”) for hyperbolic and misleading reporting, unabashedly lying, and exaggerating the impact and intent of this list. The problem isn’t that The PARC at Brandeis published this list. The problem is that right-wing news lied about it, and then a bunch of left-leaning folks internalize those lies, and accept at face value that this distorted version of the truth is worth talking about. You have to be willfully ignoring plain language to push your own agenda if you can read this: > [@](#): > > PARC recognizes that language is a powerful tool that can be used to perpetrate and perpetuate oppression. As a community, we can strive to remove language that may hurt those who have experienced violence from our everyday use. > > This list of recommendations for more-neutral language was developed, created, and continues to be managed by students involved with PARC. Suggestions are brought forth by students who have been subject to violence or who have worked with others who are healing from violence, as well as students who have sought out advanced training for intervening in potentially violent situations. > > This list is meant to be a tool to share information and suggestions about potentially oppressive language. Use of the suggested alternatives is not a university expectation, requirement or reflection of policy. As shared in Brandeis’s [Principles of Free Speech and Free Expression](https://www.brandeis.edu/free-expression/principles/index.html), the language you choose to use or not use is entirely up to you. And then report things like: > [@](#): > > [Brandeis] University warns against using ‘oppressive’ language > … > The phrase “killing it,” for example, is language Brandeis University wants people to stop using. > … > People should also stop using . . . > … - At no point did Brandeis (or any affiliate) “warn against” using oppressive language. - At no point did anyone say that people “should stop using” any language. - In no way does providing this list of “more-neutral language” options as a resource, compiled by a “confidential, student-centered resource serving members of the Brandeis community who have been impacted by violence and those who want to contribute to the anti-violence movement” constitute a statement by Brandeis, or even PARC, proscribing language that should or should not be used, or that anything on this list is declared “oppressive” (it literally says “potentially oppressive” in the quote above). @CairoCarol couldn’t find an objective news source on this, because if you’re not lying about it, then there is nothing newsworthy or notable here. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandeis-university-considers-picnic-to-be-oppressive-language/945016)._