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Cancel Culture Erases the Word “Field”

Cancel Culture Erases the Word “Field”

No … I have not started writing for the satirical publication, The Onion – although this would be a fitting commentary if it were a joke.  But it is more of the kind of insanity that emirates from the radical left that holds hegemony over academia.

In yet another example of hyper anti-racism racism, the University of Southern California has banished the word “field” to the lexicon recycle bin – at least as it refers to a professional career.  No one works in the “field” of medicine … or law … or even academia … according to the University.

In explaining their inexplicable decision, the University issued a statement saying that “the change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that would be considered anti-Black or anti-immigrant in favour (sic) of inclusive language.”  (Note the use of the British spelling.  How sophisticated of them.  They want to define the American lexicon and do not even use it.  Geez!!)

The letter continued: “Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘field work’ maybe have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign.”

The letter explained that the University wanted to “reject white supremacy, anti-immigrant and anti-blackness ideologies.”

The nutcase microaggression theorists of academia have decided that (follow the logic) … that slaves worked in farm fields, therefore the word is offensive to the descendants of black folks – descendants who have never worked the fields as slaves and have never had a face-to-face relationship with anyone who did.

In the isolated from realty world of the Southern Cal campus, they proclaim that the term “field of study” shall be replaced with the Latin word … (drum roll, please) … “practicum.”  

(Only the occupants of the ivory towers of academia seem unaware of the fact that Latin is a dead language.  Doctors writing prescriptions and Catholics attending mass have given up Latin generations ago.  Southern Cal would have been wiser to use pig-Latin – in which case “field of Study” would have been eeled fay  ef o tudy say.  I know, I am getting silly – but no sillier than the folks at Southern Cal.)

So, in yet another insane bow to political correctness and identity polices – two concepts destroying American E Pluribus Unum (🡨 good Latin) by creating divisive tribalism.

One Southern Cal alum wrote, “What’s next, banning the wearing of clothes made of cotton?”

But my favorite alumni recommendation was: “They should drop ‘Southern’ from University of Southern California because it reminds people of slavery.”

A lot of slaves were known as “house slaves.”  If you think like the folks as Southern Cal, the words “house,” housework” … and the “house” of representatives” should be added to the banned list.

But getting back to the idiocy-at-hand, what do we do about football fields … farm fields … and Mrs. Fields’ Cookies?

No … despite their arm-wrenching self-pat on the back, the University of Southern California is not eliminating social friction.  They are causing more of it.  They  have taken a perfectly fine word that carries no negative connotations and weaponized it to create a friction between the crazies and the hypersensitive on the left and the vast majority of rational Americans.  Just another piece of political cheese we can fight over.  Good going, Southern Cal.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

33 Comments

  1. Bubbelove

    Only thing I have to say is “OY.” Now what will they do with this word? I think that California should declare itself a different country, and get out of the USA.

    • Americafirst

      Yes, yes, yes. I have been saying this for quite a while. Kudo’s!

    • Theodore

      They should just declare themselves the country’s loony bin.

    • Susan lea

      This is mostly about academia, and less about California where the farm fields are still being worked daily.

      • Joe Gilbertson

        Farm fields are being worked daily all across America, indeed around the world. Working in a field is honorable work, and has never been associated in any way with slavery. Slaves slept in beds should we ban the word “bed”? They wore shoes, they ate bread, they pooped in an outhouse. How many words need to be banned?

        • frank stetson

          Maybe just the ones that offend a noticeable demographic.

          Like Gilbertson. Gilbert’s of the world unite to end this diminutive slander of your proud name. What’s next, Junior? GIlbertjr.

          • Joe Gilbertson

            Except this hasn’t offended anyone. It is just academics imagining that it offends someone.

            Usually when someone talks about (and tries to speak for) the poor, or drug addicts or any other group they believe deserves their sympathy, I ask them if they know any. Usually the answer is a lot of hemming and hawing and then “no” (or I once met one when I….). Ask anyone of the supposed “offended” group (if you actually know any) if they are offended by the word “field.” They will probably look at you like you are stupid (because if you do that, you are).

          • Frank stetson

            Joe, You are probably right, but technically wrong since you are guessing based on your cultural paradigm.

    • James

      Well I went to the field one day and saw a field mice walk across the field. I knew my field of study did not include mice so I checked for someone in that field. As the person checked out the field, the field mice started digging holds in the field. The first thing that came to mind was I had to dig up the field. This episode was to show I am using the word more than ever just to piss off someone else that doesn’t care. We as a nation forget that that in order for stupidity to rain we need to make more of it. Next time someone does this let us charge the editor the price to change this in our future and don’t hold back. If it cost 100,000 thousand dollars then make sure they get the bill.

  2. Tammy

    This is just more of the leftist lunacy! They love banning words, creating racial tension, and changing the definitions of words to fit their narrative.

  3. Frank stetson

    No, Larry, the school did not ban the word. The school does not even have a list.

    One department, formerly known as the School of Social Work, now known by some undefinable pompous replacement, is replacing the word in its curriculum. It did not ban the word.

    How do you keep your knickers so knotted that your knee jerks automagically upon a thin skin reaction?

    I hope the fact that two offices the Michigan Health Department did the same doesn’t make you go all Scanners on us. Michigan Larry, Michigan. Biden won by less than 3 points and they nade the change.

    Hey, I had a PBP poster yesterday tell me not to use a word journalists use all the time. It happens. Even here where you write. And I did it, wtf, it’s only a word.

    My take is if it makes someone feel better, not a problem for me, I have plenty of alternatives. But keep up the good fight Larry and add Michigan to your list.

    I don’t know what’s funnier, the word change or your ire at said word change representing so much more, to you, our conserve-our-culture warrior.

    • larry Horist

      Frank Stetson. Either you missed the salient point or you are purposely distracting. I shall now explain what you did not comprehend from the commentary. The key point is the reason why they changed the word. By their own statements, they said that “field” is a racist word that can upset black folks — especially those who are descendent of slaves. That is the utter malicious nonsense of political correctness and false claims of racism. I tried out the schools explanation to a number of black friends — and they not only never thought of “field” as a race-charge word, but some laughed at the very idea. Do you really see it as a racist term? Do you really think black folks see it as a racist term? If you do, you are truly hopelessly beyond knowledge and reason. Come on, man. Come out of you left-wing echo chamber and enjoy the real world — where people know political stupidity when they see it.

      • Frank stetson

        Really, Larry, that was your salient point? And which paragraph did you actually make that point? I did find the article enjoyable, and humorous. I got that point. I did see where you went over the top claiming the whole school banned the word when it was indeed just a single department that opted to take the word out of their curriculum. And, of course, you leverage this into a “It’s the Democrats fault“ but that’s a standard for all of your stories.

        I do understand what you’re saying now that you’ve said it, and I agree, taking words out of the lexicon for a perceived grievance only hurts the cause.

        On your side, your support consists of anecdotes. The five folks you talk to could be totally right or biased by being your friends and being like-minded friends at that. They are not a database.

        On the other side would be the department of health in Michigan, which has also magically, arrived at the same conclusion. Not academia either. This might lead one to believe that there is data behind the conclusion.

        But that’s the salient point, where is the data to prove or disprove this.

        Personally, I think it’s a stupid thing to do. I always hate when you replace a simple word with a complex word, worse yet, a phrase. And that’s what’s happening here. But, at the same time, I have no problem finding an alternate word for any word or phrase that offends people. I will do it for individuals, like Tom, I will do it for groups, like the Japanese. Why, because I like being polite even if it is such a struggle for me. And if someone is offended, it’s just not that difficult to remove this type of offense. I have plenty of things to fight about and this is just not where I need to take a stand.

        Plus, I’m one of those guys who can say “my is the sky blue ,“ and they hear some kind of dirty sex joke. In other words, I am really used to offending people over what I consider to be nothing. Perhaps I’m overly sensitive, but I’ve learned just say I’m sorry, then don’t do it again, and move forward. I am not a pussy, just a guy trying to be more polite.

        I would conclude on this one of the jury is out, based on the evidence presented. I think you are right, but at this point, I don’t think either of us really know. Is socal crazy or just ahead of the curve? I will let you field the answer. 😁

  4. Tom

    I honestly really do not care which way people say things, whether they use the word field, practicum, discipline, etc. Its all the same to the intelligent mind. But a few facts: 1) There are disciplines of study that do use the word practicum and have used it for a very long time, i.e. medical, education, where the word means: a course of study designed especially for the preparation of teachers and clinicians that involves the supervised practical application of previously studied theory. 2) The words “career field” seem to be used much more but not for medical and only sometimes for educational.

    As a 10 year certified Mathematics teacher, I always used the word “field” when speaking to someone who was not specifically in the Education discipline. I only used the word “practicum” with fellow educators to associate practical experience work with the formerly studied discipline, in my case, Mathematics – where the “practicum” is the practical application such as in lesson planning, Blooms taxonomy, learning theory and strategies, structured practice, etc. not the actual mathematics itself but rather how to translate the theoretical study of mathematics into the real world general education classroom setting so that a young inexperienced mind would be able to build upon prior math theory learned to create their next level of learning and understanding.

    I always thought the use of Latin words like “practicum” was a bit snooty. I felt such practices were for the educated uppity who wanted to segregate and distinguish themselves from the rest of us educated folks. I was in electronics engineering before education, and in EE we used the word field. I never felt the need to distinguish myself because I already knew I had more degrees and wealth than they did!

    3) Now on Latin, it may be called a dead language but it is making a comeback. In the 1980’s it was considered a dead language even though the Popes generally spoke it, and much Catholic theological documents are written in Latin. Today, people are realizing that if you learn Latin, you can more easily understand Rumanian, French, Italian, English, and Spanish – since they all have their common root language Latin. People today are searching for Latin Online. Rosetta Stone and many other learning institutions have Latin classes on line – just google “Latin classes online” and see all of the selections you get. Thus I conclude, Latin was never really dead, it was just comatose and on life support – and it has once again come to life! By the way, in the 1960’s when I was a Catholic alter boy, I had to memorize the whole mass in Latin! I did that when I was 10 years old! IF you want to know why you might want to consider learning Latin, see “https://houseofcoco.net/how-latin-is-making-a-comeback-and-why-you-should-learn-latin/”

    ut ibi est (So there it is – in Latin) 🙂

    • Tom

      Sorry I misspelled Romanian and left out the Portuguese. This was not my intention. Valde paenitet!!! (Latin for So sorry!)

    • frank stetson

      Semper ubi sub ubi.

      Yeah, I took 4 years of it, used to be able to speak it, know a lot of dirty jokes in Latin…..didn’t help at all.

    • larry Horist

      Tom ,,, You are bating a dead language. The idea that Latin is a language of sophistication and learnedness when out with double knit suits. As did the idea that it is a gateway to other languages. There are dusty corners of academia where Latin is useful — generally to study ancient documents of the Roman Empire. As I explained to Frank, the central point of the commentary was the woke reason for the change — a reason that can only exist in the theoretical bubble of academia, where theoretical models of the world too often substitute for reality.

  5. Darren

    As if all this matters when people entering this country do not understand the words being spoken.
    Their kids and grandkids to be will not under stand the old word, and now they are changing the use
    and removal of current words. Why is this not raciest, institutions changing things not making language easier for the under
    educated or poor and under paid. Where is BLM, were are the democrat’s. The hypocrisy of learning institutions.
    This sounds very WHITE ELETIST to me.

    • frank stetson

      “As if all this matters when people entering this country do not understand the words being spoken” he says as he continues to completely bastardize the rest of his passage in pigeon English. And I apologize to all the bastard pigeons out there…. :>)

      One department, not the school, no ban at the school of any words, and the department did not ban, they are just removing it from the curriculum. Stand down and back off culture warriors,

      • Rick

        That is how you commies do it frank. You get your commie foot in the door and then do your liberal whine like a unruly child until everyone has to cave, or be called racist until we do cave. You are a miserable excuses for a US citizen if you even are one. You always side with the communist. I feel sorry for your offspring if you even have any. You are sailing on the liberal ship of fools as part of the mentally ill indoctrinated hive mind crew.

        • Frank stetson

          Rick, Haters gotta hate.

          And you don’t even know me.

          It’s a word. It’s called being polite. It’s a choice. It’s not much more than that except in your opinion.

          The school did not ban anything. It was one department of the school.

          The department did not ban the word, they just took it out of their curriculum.

          The Michigan DoH did it to, better put that state on your hate list too.

          It’s not CA, it’s not all Democrats. It’s one department of a school and two departments of a state.

          Haters gotta hate.

          • Miles collins

            I hate cancel pricks. And I refuse to be cancelled

          • Joe Gilbertson

            You should probably re-read “1984” and see how they treat language.

          • Frank stetson

            Read it at 10; like the Bowie song better

  6. Bill Massey

    This is the most absurd piece of garbage I’ve ever seen / read. Where is it going to end?

    • Ric adams

      We should all just ignore the leftist bastards and do and say what we damned well please. Fuck the cancel culture. And while we’re at it we should also wipe antifa off the map.

    • Harold blankenship

      We should all just ignore the leftist bastards and do and say what we damned well please. Fuck the cancel culture. And while we’re at it we should also wipe antifa off the map.

      • Frank stetson

        Ah, a Ric and Harold bromance. ❤️

  7. Mike

    when will we finely say I don’t care what they want to stamp out. I’m not listening and I don’t care. neither should you. I will use the word field until the day I die

    • Frank stetson

      A possible 3 way with Ric and Harold? Get a room gents. ❤️

      • Harold blankenship

        I don’t know why Ric copied me but it’s ok. Keep it up Ric. It’s making Frank horny. He’s looking for his butt dildo now

  8. frank stetson

    figures Harold wants Ric to “keep it up.” Please, just get a room already.

    • Lonnie

      Watch with the gay jokes. You might get cancelled. Queers are protected now.

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