The New York City Department of Education wants to remove words that might upset special interests from standardized tests. Which special interests? Apparently all of them, if you look at the list, even special interests no one knew existed.
What kinds of words? 'Poverty' hurts the feelings of poor people, 'Christmas' and 'Halloween' offend various religious people, 'nuclear weapons' offends Greenpeace, 'birthday' offends people who apparently don't have birthdays. And, as CBS News notes, 'dancing' is actually going to be banned from standardized tests, 25 years after no one could actually find the religious town that inspired the ban on 'dancing' in Footloose.
That small town turns out to be New York City.
'Divorce', 'disease' even 'dinosaurs', because it might offend people who don't believe in dinosaurs.
Want the whole list? Here you go.
Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)
Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs
Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
Bodily functions
Cancer (and other diseases)
Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)
Celebrities
Children dealing with serious issues
Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)
Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)
Crime
Death and disease
Divorce
Evolution
Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
Gambling involving money
Halloween
Homelessness
Homes with swimming pools
Hunting
Junk food
In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge
Loss of employment
Nuclear weapons
Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)
Parapsychology
Politics
Pornography
Poverty
Rap Music
Religion
Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)
Rock-and-Roll music
Running away
Sex
Slavery
Terrorism
Television and video games (excessive use)
Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)
Vermin (rats and roaches)
Violence
War and bloodshed
Weapons, including guns, knives, etc.
Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.
