Reasons to be fearful

[Pulcinella]

I hesitate a little to launch this new thread, as it may be deemed too political, but I find this very scary indeed:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/07/us/trump-federal-agencies-websites-words-dei.html

[smittims]

I don't need a reason to be fearful. I've been fearful most of my life.

Unfortunately the list of words was obscured by a paywall before I could read it. Heigh-ho. That's life in the 21st century. The old comedy sketch about 'privatising air' becomes less funny every day.

[Roger Webb]

My eyes are so poor these days I read it as 'Reasons to be tearful'!

[kernelbogey]

But here's a reason to be a little bit cheerful about all this. Any mention of Enola Gay, the plane that dropped a certain bomb on a certain Japanese city has been eradicated from all US Govt websites.

Thank you, AI (I assume)!

[french frank]

Unfortunately the list of words was obscured by a paywall before I could read it.

I haven't read the Times piece, but most of the information about words expurgated from US documents and banned from being used by government agencies have already appeared in news stories. Coincidentally, I'd just finished reading the Guardian interview with Richard Blair, (adopted) son of George Orwell.

[Bella Kemp]

I just wonder if America hasn't always been a bit nuts and some of us are only just now catching on. Are things worse now than when there was McCarthyism? What about The Vietnam War? The Jim Crow era?

[cloughie]

I don't need a reason to be fearful. I've been fearful most of my life.

Unfortunately the list of words was obscured by a paywall before I could read it. Heigh-ho. That's life in the 21st century. The old comedy sketch about 'privatising air' becomes less funny every day.

…and I’ve no reason to be fearful in not being a regular NYT reader.

[kernelbogey]

Voilà (I):


These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration


By Karen Yourish, Annie Daniel, Saurabh Datar, Isaac White and Lazaro Gamio
March 7, 2025

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As President Trump seeks to purge the federal government of “woke” initiatives, agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, according to a compilation of government documents.

• 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
• breastfeed + people
• breastfeed + person
• BIPOC
• Black
• 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
• disabilities
• disability
• discriminated
• discrimination
• discriminatory
• disparity
• diverse
• diverse backgrounds
• diverse communities
• diverse community
• diverse group
• diverse groups
• diversified
• diversify
• diversifying
• diversity
• DEI
• DEIA
• DEIAB
• DEIJ
• enhance the diversity
• enhancing diversity
• environmental quality
• equal opportunity
• equality
• equitable
• equitableness
• equity
• ethnicity
• excluded
• exclusion
• expression
• female
• females
• feminism
• fostering inclusivity
• gender
• gender based
• gender based violence
• gender diversity
• gender identity
• gender ideology
• gender-affirming care
• genders
• GBV
• 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
• multicultural
• MSM
• Mx
• non-binary
• nonbinary
• Native American
• 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

(Cont/...)

[kernelbogey]

Voilà (II)



Notes: Some terms listed with a plus sign represent combinations of words that, when used together, acknowledge transgender people, which is not in keeping with the current federal government’s position that there are only two, immutable sexes. Any term collected above was included on at least one agency’s list, which does not necessarily imply that other agencies are also discouraged from using it.
The above terms appeared in government memos, in official and unofficial agency guidance and in other documents viewed by The New York Times. Some ordered the removal of these words from public-facing websites, or ordered the elimination of other materials (including school curricula) in which they might be included.

In other cases, federal agency managers advised caution in the terms’ usage without instituting an outright ban. Additionally, the presence of some terms was used to automatically flag for review some grant proposals and contracts that could conflict with Mr. Trump’s executive orders.

The list is most likely incomplete. More agency memos may exist than those seen by New York Times reporters, and some directives are vague or suggest what language might be impermissible without flatly stating it.

All presidential administrations change the language used in official communications to reflect their own policies. It is within their prerogative, as are amendments to or the removal of web pages, which The Times has found has already happened thousands of times in this administration.

Still, the words and phrases listed here represent a marked — and remarkable — shift in the corpus of language being used both in the federal government’s corridors of power and among its rank and file. They are an unmistakable reflection of this administration’s priorities.

For example, the Trump administration has frequently frameddiversity, equity and inclusion efforts as being inherently at odds with what it has identified as “merit,” and it has argued that these initiatives have resulted in the elevation of unqualified or undeserving people. That rhetorical strategy — with its baked-in assumption of a lack of capacity in people of color, women, the disabled and other marginalized groups — has been criticized as discriminatory.

Indeed, in some cases, guidance against a term’s usage has arrived alongside directives intended to eliminate the concept itself. Federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are one example; the Gulf of Mexico is a very different one.

That shift is already apparent on hundreds of federal government websites. A New York Times analysis of pages on federal agency websites, before and after Mr. Trump took office, found that more than 250 contained evidence of deletions or amendments to words included in the above list.

Here are some notable examples. Words that have been removed are shown in red with strikethroughs, and words that have been added are in green with underlines. Federal Aviation Administration’s job page


Working at FAA offers a unique opportunity to experience a career where your impact not only reaches throughout the aviation industry but around the world as well. You’ll be a part of a diverse workforce utilizing the latest technology and systems dedicated to maintaining the safety and integrity of our civil airspace. National Park Service’s Stonewall National Monument web page


Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGBTQ+ civil rights and provided momentum for a movement. 2021 Head Start memo


The last year has brought significant challenges to the Head Start workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disparate impact on under-resourced communities including many of those served by Head Start programs.There has also been heightened attention to racial injustice in our country, which has led to calls for major reforms to address long-standing societal inequities. These are particularly important concerns for OHS and the Head Start workforce. All staff have been impacted by COVID-19. Further, 60% of Head Start teaching staff are Black, Indigenous and people of color, and 30% have a primary language other than English.As such, OHS is committed to a culture of wellness that includes holistic support for the entire Head Start workforce. Key topics page of State Department’s Office of Global Change


The climate crisis knows no boundaries, and both the challenge and its solutions range from local to global in scale. Because of this, international cooperation and collaboration through negotiation and implementation of international agreements are essential. The Negotiations Team represents the United States in negotiations under the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and in many other international fora that address climate change, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), G7, G20, and others.
The total number of web pages identified by The Times as having changed is an undercount. The analysis involved searching for changes on more than 5,000 total pages, but it did not capture the entire universe of the federal government’s web presence. In addition, the pages were captured for comparison in early February, and more changes may have been made between then and now.

The president and some of his closest advisers, including Elon Musk, have frequently portrayed themselves as champions of free speech. One of the executive orders Mr. Trump signed on his first day back in office decried what it described as a pressure campaign by the Biden administration to stifle First Amendment rights “in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate,” by way of putting pressure on tech platforms. “Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society,” it continued.

Indeed, the office of the presidency carries with it a tremendous power to drive the discourse. But the pattern of vanishing words established here suggests Mr. Trump and his administration may be more interested in chilling the national conversation — at least when it comes to their own disfavored topics — than in expanding it. Are you a federal worker? We want to hear from you.


The Times would like to hear about your experience as a federal worker under the second Trump administration. We may reach out about your submission, but we will not publish any part of your response without contacting you first. Which federal agency or department do you work in?*

Tell us a little bit about your role.
0 words
What changes, if any, have you seen within your workplace during the Trump administration?
0 words
What is your name?

What is your email address?

How would you like us to contact you?If you prefer to be contacted some other way (such as by phone or Signal), please let us know here.

Anything else we need to know?
0 words

You can also submit information to us using our tips page.

By clicking the submit button, you agree that you have read, understand and accept theReader Submission Terms in relation to all of the content and other information you send to us (“Your Content”). If you do not accept these terms, do not submit any content. Of note:

• Your Content must not be false, defamatory, misleading or hateful, or infringe any copyright or any other third-party rights or otherwise be unlawful.
• We may use the contact details that you provide to verify your identity and answers to the questionnaire, as well as to contact you for further information on this story and future stories.

Submit Methodology: To find federal web pages with changes that reflected the list of discouraged words, Times journalists extracted the text from over 5,000 snapshots of federal web pages — landing pages of major agency and department websites, as well as pages to which they linked — from before and after Mr. Trump’s inauguration. We employed a large-language model to search the extracted text for changes, specifically looking for words highlighted by agencies as no longer in use. The large-language model helped us identify changes that were thematically similar to the list of discouraged words. It also surfaced changes made to pages in languages other than English. We then manually reviewed each passage to determine the meaning and relevance of each change.

Reporting was contributed by Julian Barnes, Christopher Flavelle, Dylan Freedman, Apoorva Mandavilli, Katrina Miller and Nicholas Nehamas. See more on: U.S. Politics, Donald Trump
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(Cont/...)

[kernelbogey]

Voilà: (III)

---

The Trump Administration’s First 100 Days

---

• Deportations: The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dissolve the orders he put in place barring it from deporting suspected members of a Venezuelan street gang from the country under a rarely invoked wartime statute called the Alien Enemies Act.
• Medical Research at Columbia: Dozens of medical and scientific studies are ending or at risk of ending, leaving researchers scrambling to find alternative funding.
• U.S. Military Academies: President Trump moved to stack the boards overseeing U.S. military service academies with conservative activists and political allies, including Michael T. Flynn and Walt Nauta, who were charged in connection with earlier investigations of Trump and his presidential campaign.
• E.P.A.: The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research department, firing chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
• Law Firms Questioned: Trump’s acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sent letters to 20 law firms requesting information about their diversity, equity and inclusion-related employment practices.
• V.A.: The Department of Veterans Affairs is phasing out gender-affirming medical treatments for veterans, including hormone treatment for patients newly diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the V.A. said.
• J.F.K. Assassination: Trump said that officials planned to disclose a trove of classified government files about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and suggested that there would be no redactions this time.

---

How We Report on the Trump Administration

Hundreds of readers asked about our coverage of the president. Times editors and reporters responded to some of the most common questions.

(Ends)

[Pulcinella]

…and I’ve no reason to be fearful in not being a regular NYT reader.

It was readily accessible to me (I'd heard about it from a friend and simply googled NYT banned words list). Certainly not a subscriber!

[kernelbogey]

It was readily accessible to me (I'd heard about it from a friend and simply googled NYT banned words list). Certainly not a subscriber!

I think I have a £2/month sub. One poster encountered a paywall. (I thought you could get one article free per year.) But I may be asked to take it all down.

[oddoneout]

I just wonder if America hasn't always been a bit nuts and some of us are only just now catching on. Are things worse now than when there was McCarthyism? What about The Vietnam War? The Jim Crow era?

Perhaps a combination of being a relatively young country and the background of so many of the original immigrants(fleeing persecution and economic disadvantage - oh how ironic) makes them more inclined to be defensive? The need to stick together against outsiders - whether that is from different beliefs, different lifestyles or whatever.
The School Swap TV documentary series last night included an aspect of this when the US students experienced an RE lesson in the UK school. They don't have that on their curriculum anyway(as one of the staff said - "it's difficult...") but being faced with a lesson about Islam was quite a shock, coming as they did from a white bible-belt community.

[kernelbogey]

I just wonder if America hasn't always been a bit nuts and some of us are only just now catching on. Are things worse now than when there was McCarthyism? What about The Vietnam War? The Jim Crow era?

I visited California (and a few other states) in the sixties, and although I witnessed racial prejudice (both ways) and some violence, the number of guns has increased exponentially in the ensuing years. I also met one die-hard Texan right-winger who assured me that he needed to own a gun to 'protect himself from the Government'. Seriously.

The country was seriously divided then over the Vietnam War.

But, hey, I was young, and we were crazy, and btw I was there and do remember...!

[gurnemanz]

The country was seriously divided then over the Vietnam War.

But, hey, I was young, and we were crazy, and btw I was there and do remember...!

So do I. As part of my German degree I spent the year 69-70 in West Germany. I got to know a student on a study visit from the US. Dreading being drafted to Vietnam he was seriously considering not going home. Sweden was an option, I remember, or maybe West Berlin. I don't know what happened to him.