What kind of freedom of speech and exchange of ideas goes on in a University that publishes a yearly listing of banned words?
Ask Lake Superior State University, they release such a list every year.
This year's list (http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php) includes some fairly innocuous and trendy worlds like "hashtag", "selfie" and "twerk/twerking", with explanations like ""People have taken pictures of themselves for almost as long as George Eastman's company made film and cameras. Suddenly, with the advent of smartphones, snapping a 'pic' of one's own image has acquired a vastly overused term that seems to pop up on almost every form of social media available to us….A self-snapped picture need not have a name all its own beyond 'photograph.' It may only be a matter of time before photos of one's self and a friend will become 'dualies.' LSSU has an almost self-imposed duty to carry out this banishment now."
One of the words caught my eye, as did the explanation:
The University banned the use of the word "Obamacare". Here's why:
Because President Obama’s signature healthcare law is actually called the Affordable Care Act. The term has been clearly overused and overblown by the media and by members of Congress.
At least they're not arguing that the use of the term is racist, as suggested by MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEVUvv5EJoU
So, if Obamacare is racist, is using Romneycare racist as well?
Is Michael Moore a racist scumbag (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/01/01/michael-moore-obamacare-awful), or just a scumbag?
Are American universities better off avoiding overused words like "Obamacare" and replacing them with outright lies like the Affordable Care Act?
Time will tell, but it won't take much longer.