Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade mocked a University of New Hampshire language guide that encourages more politically correct and inoffensive wording on Thursday’s show.
"Really?" he asked. "Who is this making happy?"
UNH introduced a new language guide that encourages students to not use offensive language and instead replace it with more "inclusive language."
UNH student Yvonne Dean-Bailey explained the purpose of the language guide.
"We've seen this on many college campuses … The case for microaggression has limited students’ free speech," Baily said. "This isn't one word or one certain class the administration is going after. This is a dictionary of 60 terms highlighted as problematic and they suggest more appropriate terms to use."
UNH defines micro-aggressions as a "subtle, often automatic, stereotypical, and insensitive behavior or comment or assumption about a person’s identity, background, ethnicity, or disability."
Some words that the guide deems problematic are senior citizens, seniors, older people, poor, homeless, rich, obese, overweight people, American, girls, guys and freshmen.
The guide also provides words and phrases that should replace the problematic words. Instead of saying seniors or senior citizen, people should say "old people" or "people of advanced age." Instead of saying rich, people should say "person with material wealth."
Below are several other examples:
Preferred: person who lacks advantages that others have, low economic status related to a person’s education, occupation and income
Problematic: poor person, person from the ghetto
Preferred: people of size
Problematic/Outdated: obese*, overweight people
Preferred: U.S. citizen or Resident of the U.S.
Problematic: American
At the top of the guide, there is a quote from MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry.
"In a democracy, recognition matters. Everyone wants to be seen as who they are. If they are not, then it’s impossible for them to enjoy the experience of being full citizens."