Ah, freedom of speech. That sacred American value, cherished by patriots, defended by the First Amendment, and apparently… completely misunderstood by the guy who tweets at 3 a.m. about how much he loves free speech. Yes, folks, I’m talking about Donald Trump and his BFF Elon Musk—two self-proclaimed champions of ‘free expression’ who, ironically, seem to have a real problem with words they don’t like. Shocking, I know.
But wait, it gets better. The New York Times you know, that ‘failing’ newspaper Trump loves to hate, did some actual journalism. Reporters Karen Yourish, Annie Daniel, Saurabh Datar, Isaac White, and Lazaro Gamio pored through 5,000 pages of government documents to uncover the truth. And what did they find? A veritable Scrabble board of banned words. The Trump administration, in its quest to ‘Make America Not Woke Again,’ has been quietly scrubbing government websites and publications of words that apparently trigger their delicate sensibilities.
Climate change? Gone. Diversity? Poof. Transgender? Vaporized. It’s like 1984, but with worse hair. And let’s not forget, this is the same administration that loves to scream about ‘cancel culture’ while canceling… well, culture.
Now, I’m no linguist, but I’m pretty sure banning words doesn’t make the problems they describe disappear. You can’t just say, ‘If we don’t talk about climate change, it’s not happening!’ That’s like saying, ‘If I don’t look at my credit card bill, I’m not in debt!’ Spoiler alert: You’re still in debt, and the planet is still on fucking fire.
Image of Trump saying, “I love free speech. Nobody loves free speech more than me.”Sure, Mr. President. You love free speech so much, you’ve turned the federal government into a game of Mad Libs: ‘The [REDACTED] is [REDACTED] because of [REDACTED].’ It’s like a dystopian episode of Wheel of Fortune, except instead of winning a vacation, you lose your democracy.
Here is the list of the banned words
- accessible
- activism
- activists
- advocacy
- advocate
- advocates
- affirming care
- all-inclusive
- allyship
- anti-racism
- antiracist
- assigned at birth
- assigned female at birth
- assigned male at birth
- at risk
- barrier
- barriers
- belong
- bias
- biased
- biased toward
- biases
- biases towards
- biologically female
- biologically male
- BIPOC
- Black
- breastfeed + people
- breastfeed + person
- chestfeed + people
- chestfeed + person
- clean energy
- climate crisis
- climate science
- commercial sex worker
- community diversity
- community equity
- confirmation bias
- cultural competence
- cultural differences
- cultural heritage
- cultural sensitivity
- culturally appropriate
- culturally responsive
- DEI
- DEIA
- DEIAB
- DEIJ
- disabilities
- disability
- discriminated
- discrimination
- discriminatory
- disparity
- diverse
- diverse backgrounds
- diverse communities
- diverse community
- diverse group
- diverse groups
- diversified
- diversify
- diversifying
- diversity
- enhance the diversity
- enhancing diversity
- environmental quality
- equal opportunity
- equality
- equitable
- equitableness
- equity
- ethnicity
- excluded
- exclusion
- expression
- female
- females
- feminism
- fostering inclusivity
- GBV
- gender
- gender based
- gender based violence
- gender diversity
- gender identity
- gender ideology
- gender-affirming care
- genders
- Gulf of Mexico
- hate speech
- health disparity
- health equity
- hispanic minority
- historically
- identity
- immigrants
- implicit bias
- implicit biases
- inclusion
- inclusive
- inclusive leadership
- inclusiveness
- inclusivity
- increase diversity
- increase the diversity
- indigenous community
- inequalities
- inequality
- inequitable
- inequities
- inequity
- injustice
- institutional
- intersectional
- intersectionality
- key groups
- key people
- key populations
- Latinx
- LGBT
- LGBTQ
- marginalize
- marginalized
- men who have sex with men
- mental health
- minorities
- minority
- most risk
- MSM
- multicultural
- Mx
- Native American
- non-binary
- nonbinary
- oppression
- oppression
- oppressive
- orientation
- people + uterus
- people-centered care
- person-centered
- person-centered care
- polarization
- political
- pollution
- pregnant people
- pregnant person
- pregnant persons
- prejudice
- privilege
- privileges
- promote diversity
- promoting diversity
- pronoun
- pronouns
- prostitute
- race
- race and ethnicity
- racial
- racial diversity
- racial identity
- racial inequality
- racial justice
- racially
- racism
- segregation
- sense of belonging
- sex
- sexual preferences
- sexuality
- social justice
- sociocultural
- socioeconomic
- status
- stereotype
- stereotypes
- systemic
- systemically
- they/them
- trans
- transgender
- transsexual
- trauma
- traumatic
- tribal
- unconscious bias
- underappreciated
- underprivileged
- underrepresentation
- underrepresented
- underserved
- undervalued
- victim
- victims
- vulnerable populations
- women
- women and underrepresented
So, to recap: Trump and Musk love free speech as long as it’s their speech. Everyone else’s? Well, that’s just ‘woke nonsense’ that needs to be erased. Because nothing says ‘freedom’ like a government-mandated game of word police. I guess we’ll soon find out which emojis are too woke for the Department of Justice. Isn't