this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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In our recently submitted grants we had to change “traumatic brain injury” to “concussive brain injury” and “male and female mice” to “male and non-male mice” because traumatic and female are now verboten words that can get our grants killed. It’s insanity.

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[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

Thank you for participating in the latest moral race to the bottom

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

real men don't have trauma and women don't exist. case dismissed.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 24 points 21 hours ago

Twenty years ago I was sitting in a city council meeting in middle Statesia where the city engineer was giving an estimate of traffic at an intersection. He described a liberal estimate (in this case the higher estimate) but led them that if he called it a liberal estimate they'd ignore it, so he was redefining conservative estimate to mean the opposite of what it does for all of his estimates just so they wouldn't dismiss them out of hand. And it worked, the dumbfucks on the city council liked the numbers just because he called them conservative.

[–] Allemaniac@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

cool to read that you lot use "verboten" as a legit word

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

I'm french and I use verboten too, it's in our genes to be scared of German words I think

[–] shplane@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Had to change the wording in my grants from “biodiversity” to “biological variety”. I work in conservation. This is indeed insanity.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 18 hours ago

and you cant say global warming is attributed to human related causes, must be something abstract like cosmic raditation.

[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 47 points 1 day ago (3 children)

list of banned words btw

Activism, activists, advocacy, advocate, enhancing diversity, equal opportunity, equality, equitable, advocates, equity, ethnicity, barrier, barriers, biased, biased toward, biases, biases towards, BIPOC, Black and Latinx, excluded, female, females, fostering inclusivity, gender, gender diversity, genders, hate speech, Hispanic minority, community diversity, community equity, cultural differences, cultural heritage, historically, implicit bias, culturally responsive, implicit biases, disabilities, inclusion, disability, discriminated, discrimination, inclusive, minorities, minority, multicultural, polarization, political, prejudice, privileges, promoting diversity, race and ethnicity, racial, racial diversity, racial inequality, racial justice, racially, racism, sense of belonging, sexual preferences, social justice, sociocultural, socioeconomic status, stereotypes, systemic, inclusiveness, discriminatory, diverse backgrounds, inclusivity, increase diversity, increase the diversity, trauma, underappreciated, diverse communities, Indigenous community, underrepresented, diverse community, diverse group, inequalities, inequality, underserved, diverse groups, inequitable, diversified, inequities, diversify, diversifying, diversity and inclusion, diversity equity, institutional, LGBT, marginalize, marginalized, underrepresentation, underrepresented, underserved, undervalued, victim, women, underrepresented.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

So fucking stupid that it makes me sick with anger

sense of belonging

Yeah, can't have that.

[–] mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

What is the source for this list? What things does this ban apply to?

[–] SL3wvmnas@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

There is an overlap with this New York Times Article ( archive )

It seems a list is compiled by observing the words in repealed grants

Noam Ross, a computational researcher part of Grant Watch, told The Chronicle that Grant Watch doesn’t know exactly how grants are flagged for termination, but “suspect that these words are part of a search process for selecting them based on [The New York Times article] and other reporting.”

[–] florp@lemmy.zip 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Many of those words are included on this USDA list of banned words from late March. The list also includes many more.

https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/usda-leaked-memo-bans-110-terms-from-agreements/

[–] mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 19 hours ago

I like this one since it's straight from the horse's mouth. As expected it is less blatantly horrible. No doubt the other words are indeed also tabooed, but it doesn't surprise me that one's like "female" are secretly rather than explicitly forbidden.

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[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 day ago

A healthy, broadly educated population, which feels safe and secure, are incompatible with, and toxic to, conservative and authoritarian ideologies.

They need you to be sick, stupid, and scared.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 64 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So.....it......it was the conservatives that were snowflakes all along?

I did Nazi that coming.

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[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Tell me this: if you were watching a movie and men in black masks were taking people off the street and sending them off, never to be seen again, and those same men were separating children from parents forcibly and locking them all in cages/compounds for months on end....

Would those people in this hypothetical movie, strike you as "good" guys, or "bad" guys?

Because that's what's happening, in real life, in the USA, right now.

Cue the "are we the baddies?" meme.

[–] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not that meme, they will never have that moment of revelation because they enjoy what they are doing, and signed up for the chance to hurt others

Humanity contains monsters and we need to stop pretending it doesn't

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 1 points 17 hours ago

Many of the German Nazi's in WW2 believed in what they were doing. Not all of them since there was a nontrivial number that were conscripted, and would have rather not participated in the Nazi thing, but still, it went the other way too.

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[–] dalekcaan@feddit.nl 43 points 1 day ago

Well that's doubleplus ungood.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 8 points 23 hours ago

Instead of "Leftwing" and "Rightwing", we should just use "Alpha" and "Beta" respectively, just like they wanted. 🤭

[–] mostNONheinous@lemmy.world 196 points 1 day ago (5 children)

The party that swears there are only Two Genders really seems to only believe in One.

[–] red_bull_of_juarez@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are two genders. Male and political.

[–] Karjalan@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

And two races, white and political. And two sexualities, straight and political... Etc.

As God intended.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago

Cede conservatives a fraction of an inch and they will take a hundred miles.

First they came for...

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

its like the jk rowling cutscene of harry potter from family guy, where the SORTING HAT said there is only 2 genders, after labeling the girl as a transgender person. sorting hat= these right wingers.

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[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

When I was a teenager around my daughter’s age, pre 9/11, this kind of future was the kind of thing you would see in a ridiculous 80s dystopian action movie. We didn’t ever think we’d actually ever allow it to get that far as a society, surely we would rise up to oppose. It’s just wild to my old ass how far we have fallen and how much people just shrug.

I was watching the Netflix hunt for Osama docuseries. And Bin Laden totally won. After 9/11 the US turned on its own people and used the modern technology of the military to set up a mass surveillance system and a way to easily do shit like this. And people allowed it while chanting “USA!” This is all part of it.

On a side note, i can’t wait till The Running Man becomes Reality once Trump starts throwing migrants into a life or death reality show where they’re hunted by neo Nazi ice agents

[–] treesapx@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And Bin Laden totally won.

I've been pointing this out for about ten years now and it's one of the most unpopular comments I can make, but it only gets more true every year. I've watched police get more authoritarian for decades now and there doesn't seem to be anything curtailing it.

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

Most powerful nation in the history of mankind and we folded like a cheap suit after some planes flew into some buildings.

It's important to note that a significant cause of our downfall is due to traitors within, including propaganda networks, that took advantage of that incident.

And I was in high school when 9/11 happened too. Watching this all happen in real time has been a pretty sad affair. I don't have much faith left in this nation, nor do I have much patriotism left. I just don't think we've earned a continued democracy. We aren't up to the challenge.

[–] kadup@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

The entire rest of the world could always see how proud you were of your "great democracy" and how fragile and inflated it actually was. Took you all a long time to finally to see it too.

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[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 105 points 1 day ago (4 children)

This is why politics and science shouldn't mix. The truth is the truth, no matter how inconvenient it is to your bottom line.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 124 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Politics and Science will literally always mix. Science always exists in a political context. It’s not some platonic ideal.

The research that gets funded, published, advertised. The people that have the privilege to get degrees and academia jobs. Is all inherently political. It’s maybe more obvious now with Trump’s meddling, but it literally always has been this way.

I think it’s dangerous to look at science (especially social sciences, political sciences, economics, sociology, psychology etc.) without considering the political context.

[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I understand that, my point was in an ideal world expert panels and not politicians would get the final say in policy-setting and funding decisions. My main example is the clusterfuck the NIH and health department has become under the lunatic in charge.

I understand that this stuff is inherently political, I had to pivot on the narrative of my own master's thesis because of the "interesting" results we generated

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (10 children)

But

  • Who decides who is the experts?
  • Who gets the opportunity to become an expert?
  • What are the experts taught at school?
  • Who picks the experts?

All this is political.

What you’re describing is technocracy. And it has major limitations.

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 day ago

Science has a huge shortcoming with desperate scientists wanting funding and making up just enough to keep it. The peer review process works when it's something that actually gets properly peer reviewed, but there's not much money in peer reviewing a claim that x molecule lowers your heart rate by 10%.

Science will be great if society ever got to the point of no longer needing money or barter. Which would happen due to science.

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[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 57 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wait I thought it was Woke that was supposed to be policing what language we used?

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

Something, something, every accusation, a confession

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

wake up babe, new politically correct has dropped

literally PC culture gone mad

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmings.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And we should definitely call it "Politically correct" speech, because that's what it is. They liflke to accuse the left of being politically correct, so let's turn it back on them.

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[–] LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Conservatives are fucking morons lmao

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Yup.

Knuckledragging fools that are dragging us down with them.

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[–] mumblerfish@lemmy.world 55 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I went through some of my papers partially supported by US grants and all of them use a bunch of forbidden words. This is basically pure maths, and you are not allowed to use "equality" as in the relationship between one expression and another is an equality? It is so increadibly stupid. Look:

A dangerous sign of wokeness

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

Me frantically going through all my Maths papers to replace the equal sign with “Is Equivalent to”

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[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So it now includes non-binary mice!

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 18 hours ago

and transgenic mice too. because its a trans-mice.

[–] CMahaff@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I watched an interesting video recently on "Lysenkoism".

https://youtu.be/9RTAcbsQXFE

In short, it's a horrible example of what happens when party politics are more important than correct science. And it should all feel very familiar to what's happening in the US right now.

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[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

Ironically enough, if they used German words for such, it might just pass the Turd Reich censors. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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