De New York Times publiceert vandaag een bespreking van het boek The Language Police.
Historica Diane Ravitch deed een grondig onderzoek naar de invloed van linkse en rechtse actiegroepen op de Amerikaanse studieboeken.

De politiek correcten van links en de moraalridders van rechts boeken succes bij veel uitgevers van studieboeken, die de teksten welwillend aanpassen, bang als zij zijn voor dalende verkopen.

Dit zijn enkele zaken die veel studenten van scholen en universiteiten in hun boeken en examenopgaven niet meer onder ogen mogen krijgen:

?Mickey Mouse and Stuart Little (because mice, along with rats, roaches, snakes and lice, are considered to be upsetting to children).

Stories or pictures showing a mother cooking dinner for her children, or a black family living in a city neighborhood (because such images are thought to purvey gender or racial stereotypes).

Men cannot be lawyers or doctors or plumbers. They must be nurturing helpmates.

Old people cannot be feeble or dependent; they must jog or repair the roof.

Children cannot be shown as disobedient or in conflict with adults.

Dinosaurs (because they suggest the controversial subject of evolution).

Owls are out, because some cultures associate them with death. Mentions of birthdays are to be avoided because some children do not have birthday parties.

Images or descriptions of a mother showing shock or fear are to be replaced by depictions of both parents "expressing the same facial emotions."

And of course words like brotherhood, fraternity, heroine, snowman, swarthy, crazy, senile and polo are banned because they could be upsetting to women, to certain ethnic groups, to people with mental disabilities, old people or, it would seem, to people who do not play polo.?