Trump/Musk: These words are now forbidden
Dear friends!
Woman. Black. LGBT. Climate. Bias. Equality. These words are now forbidden for many scientists in the USA. White and Man, on the other hand, are not on the list of forbidden words that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is now scanning all funding applications and publications for. You can find the entire list at the end of this email.
On the very first day of his presidency, Trump issued an executive order instructing all federal agencies to eliminate terms related to ‘Diversity, Equality, Inclusion’ (DEI) and to cease all work with and funding of projects related to it. DEI has been turned into a cipher by the Trump’s and Musk’s Alt Right for anything they don’t like.
The same government that dares to accuse Europe of censorship for regulating toxic algorithms is thus banning government agencies from even mentioning women. The list clearly shows the thinking of Trump, Musk and Co.: the white heterosexual man is the norm for humans. Anything that deviates from this has no place in their world.
What specifically is happening now?
If one of these terms is found, it is marked and then checked manually to see if there is a suspected violation of the executive order. Then the term can be removed, the document fundamentally changed or, for example, in the case of funding, the project rejected or cancelled.
You can no longer, for example, research why women die of heart attacks more often when treated by men.
The terms are so general that a huge number of NSF applications would have to be checked manually, effectively paralysing the agency. The NSF manages a funding volume of $9 billion annually (by comparison, the German Research Foundation manages less than $4 billion). This is a frontal attack on science in the USA. Evaluating science according to politically defined keywords goes against everything that freedom of science stands for.
Incidentally, ‘hate speech’ is also on the list. Any attempt to highlight the devastating effects of hate speech (which is mainly directed against women or people of colour) on freedom of expression is therefore immediately stopped. It is now much more likely that research will completely avoid controversial topics such as women’s health or online hate. This specifically endangers the health and safety of millions of people in the US and worldwide. Accordingly, there are major protests against these plans in many places in the US.
It is becoming increasingly clear that this is just the beginning of the wave of censorship.
Not only are the federal authorities already making everything that is not white and male invisible, but the private sector, which very often receives federal funding and is also covered by Trump’s executive order, is also embracing this wave of censorship.
We all saw how the tech billionaires stood behind Trump. What if the next thing to go were concepts like gender equality, discrimination, or LGBT from Large Language Models like ChatGPT? There was an outcry when the Chinese AI model Deep Seek failed to answer questions about Tiananmen. But who can verify whether ChatGPT’s answers are shifting towards MAGA ideology? If Marc Zuckerberg promised to align Facebook and Instagram with it, what will happen when Sam Altman aligns ChatGTP with it? Large Language Models exert even greater control over what we can think than social media.
In view of Musk and Co.’s plans to run the US federal administration primarily with AI, this is not an unlikely prospect.
I think: Europe, Germany and the democracies of the world are far too silent in the face of what is currently happening in the USA.
It is time to stand up and be loud. For women’s rights, for democracy, against fascism. And anyone who understands the power of digital technologies has a special obligation to do so. Because we know how bad it is.
Therefore, I ask you to forward this mailing to anyone who should know about this and share my LinkedIn post.
The more people who are aware of what is happening, the greater the pressure on Europe to finally take action.
With best regards,
Alexandra Geese
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The complete list of forbidden terms (sources: Gizmodo and Prof Darby Saxbe):
activism
activists
advocacy
advocate
advocates
barrier
barriers
biased
biased toward
biases
biases towards
bipoc
black and latinx
community diversity
community equity
cultural differences
cultural heritage
culturally responsive
disabilities
disability
discriminated
discrimination
discriminatory
diverse backgrounds
diverse communities
diverse community
diverse group
diverse groups
diversified
diversify
diversifying
diversity and inclusion
diversity equity
enhance the diversity
enhancing diversity
equal opportunity
equality
equitable
equity
ethnicity
excluded
female
females
fostering inclusivity
gender
gender diversity
genders
hate speech
excluded
female
females
fostering inclusivity
gender
gender diversity
genders
hate speech
hispanic minority
historically
implicit bias
implicit biases
inclusion
inclusive
inclusiveness
inclusivity
increase diversity
increase the diversity
indigenous community
inequalities
inequality
inequitable
inequities
institutional
Igbt
marginalize
marginalized
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
trauma
under appreciated
under represented
under served
underrepresentation
underrepresented
underserved
undervalued
victim
women
women and underrepresented