Our friends at Hot Air had this first, but there’s not enough Advil to squash this headache brought on by sheer idiocy. It’s almost unbelievable that people can be this moronic. Alas, liberalism is a mental disorder. No, it’s more of a viral infection, undergoing an antigenic shift that can be best described as ‘becoming woke.’ It’s insane. Phrases like ‘best person for the job’ are now racist. Anyone who has ever done a bad, bad thing ever in our history is erased. Statues are coming down. Schools are being renamed. Mao’s Cultural Revolution has been exported here and it’s terrifying. Folks, even food has become a front in this political correctness war. White people can’t cook Hispanic or Asian food; that’s cultural appropriation. The eye-rolls over this nonsense—it does give you a headache. So, here’s the latest decree from this ‘woke’ Gestapo crew. Acronyms are grounded in white supremacy. Where did this originate from? You guessed it: San Francisco (via ABC 7 Bay Area):
First the San Francisco School Board decided to rename 44 schools because they are named after people with ties to racism or slavery. Now the Arts Department has taken a bold move by changing its name, "VAPA" because they say, "acronyms are a symptom of white supremacy culture."
Schools have yet to reopen in San Francisco, but their Arts Department has continued to work toward ensuring that all students have access to quality arts education.
The director of that department said, "We are prioritizing antiracist arts instruction in our work." So they got rid of the acronym "VAPA," which is short for visual and performing arts.
From now on, they'll simply be called SFUSD Arts Department.
"It is a very simple step we can take to just be referred to as the SFUSD Arts Department for families to better understand who we are," explained Sam Bass, Director of the SFUSD Arts Department.
In a letter, he explains that acronyms are a symptom of white supremacy culture.
"The use of so many acronyms within the educational field often tends to alienate those who may not speak English to understand the acronym," he added.
That's based on a 1999 paper written by author Tema Okun titled "White Supremacy Culture." Okun told me that, "Our culture perpetuates racism when things continue to be written down in a certain way."
Ed at Hot Air cited Reason’s Robby Soave who commented on this narrative about acronyms, white supremacy, and using this paper as a casus belli:
The New York Post reported that the memo cites a 1999 paper by Tema Okun. That paper does not specifically say that acronyms are racist, though it does label “worship of the written word” as an aspect of white supremacy. Other purported characteristics of white supremacy are “perfectionism,” a “sense of urgency,” “individualism,” and “objectivity.” (If this list sounds familiar, it’s because the National Museum of African American Arts and Culture got in trouble last year for promoting similar nonsense.) While some acronyms may be confusing to non-native English speakers, it’s quite a stretch to describe them as a function of white supremacy.
Ironically, Okun’s paper lists memos as characteristic of white supremacy, so the department should probably fire Bass for racism. And at risk of stating the obvious, the new name—SFUSD Arts Department—contains an acronym just as surely as the old one did. White supremacy is just that insidious; even an arts department dedicated to antiracism can’t seem to rid itself of the stain. …
The arts department’s badly explained name change isn’t nearly as consequential, but it’s still emblematic of a school district caught in the throes of far-left orthodoxy
Are we at a point where the more education you receive the dumber you get? When you see this nonsense and its spread, you have to wonder.
H/T Hot Air