If you thought the University of Michigan had exhausted its supply of woke insanity, think again. Their latest virtue-signaling stunt? Deciding that Latin plant names, the backbone of centuries of biological taxonomy, might be racist (Latin plant names could be racist, warns University of Michigan).
Using Latin names for plants may be racist, the University of Michigan has warned, in guidance to prevent the influence of colonial “power structures” on visitors.
A strategy document for the university’s botanical gardens and arboretum warns against using the traditional combination of an English name and Latin name on plaques next to its plants, amid concerns they could erase “other forms of knowing”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/10/17/latin-plant-names-racist-suggests-university-michigan
Yes, you read that right: apparently, the language that has served as the scientific community’s universal classification tool for hundreds of years is now a symbol of oppression. This is what happens when academia, long the cradle of knowledge, decides to trade in rigor for ridiculousness, replacing logic with ideological pandering that borders on absurdity.
We’re now in an age where a centuries-old system, grounded in practicality and proven effectiveness, is being labeled as problematic because it doesn’t fit into today’s ever-shifting, ever-demanding social justice landscape. The University of Michigan’s position that Latin names could somehow perpetuate colonialism or reflect systemic racism is not only absurd—it’s dangerous. It takes a hammer to the foundations of science and replaces them with the brittle bones of political correctness.
The practice of naming plants, animals, and virtually every organism in existence using Latin names has been an essential tool for scientists since the 18th century. Introduced by Carl Linnaeus, the Latin binomial nomenclature system gave scientists across the globe a shared language to describe the natural world. In one brilliant stroke, Linnaeus standardized taxonomy and provided a way for researchers to categorize species based on their relationships, physical traits, and evolutionary history. This was an advancement, not an act of colonialism.
Yet, the University of Michigan, in a move that screams We will be the wokest of them all, has decided that this scientific breakthrough is somehow offensive. How, exactly? They argue that Latin names could have ties to colonization, or that they might reflect outdated societal structures of power. The absurdity of this claim cannot be overstated. It’s as if someone decided to pick apart the scientific bedrock for no other reason than to meet the ever-expanding demands of social justice warriors. Apparently, it’s not enough that biology has been made universally understandable and that countless lives have been saved through the precise identification of species for medical and ecological purposes—no, what matters now is that some contrived sense of “inclusivity” has to trump scientific merit.
Let’s put this bluntly: this is what happens when academia stops caring about science and instead bows to the social justice mob. They throw out what works—what has always worked—because someone somewhere might claim to be offended. It’s the intellectual equivalent of smashing your own compass because someone once claimed the company that made it had ties to explorers who mapped uncharted lands. Or, the intellectual equivalent of dismantling your own telescope because someone decided the stars it helped you discover were named by people with outdated beliefs.
And here’s the kicker—this isn’t just an isolated instance of madness. The University of Michigan has been on this woke trajectory for a while now. If we track their descent into ideological oblivion, it becomes clear that the Latin plant name fiasco is simply the next notch in their progressive belt. Before this, they had already made headlines for their overzealous adoption of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies that value identity politics over academic merit. Their DEI initiatives are now at the point where scientific facts and long-established academic practices are being sidelined in favor of social justice lunacy.
A decade ago, Michigan’s leaders set in motion an ambitious new D.E.I. plan, aiming “to enact far-reaching foundational change at every level, in every unit.” Striving to touch “every individual on campus,” as the school puts it, Michigan has poured roughly a quarter of a billion dollars into D.E.I. since 2016, according to an internal presentation I obtained. A 2021 report from the conservative Heritage Foundation examining the growth of D.E.I. programs across higher education — the only such study that currently exists — found Michigan to have by far the largest D.E.I. bureaucracy of any large public university. Tens of thousands of undergraduates have completed bias training. Thousands of instructors have been trained in inclusive teaching.
When Michigan inaugurated what it now calls D.E.I. 1.0, it intentionally placed itself in the vanguard of a revolution then reshaping American higher education. Around the country, college administrators were rapidly expanding D.E.I., convinced that such programs would help attract and retain a more diverse array of students and faculty.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/dei-university-michigan.html
What we’re seeing is a growing culture in universities where the pursuit of scientific excellence takes a back seat to the fashionable causes of the day. It’s more important to look “progressive” than to actually make progress. Latin taxonomy, which has been used to describe over 1.2 million species, is suddenly suspect because someone is worried that using Latin might remind people of colonial times? It’s sheer insanity.
The fundamental question that no one at the University of Michigan seems willing to ask is: who does this serve? Is a scientist in Brazil or South Africa clamoring for the overhaul of Latin taxonomy because it somehow limits their ability to conduct research or make groundbreaking discoveries? Of course not. The global scientific community has thrived precisely because of the universality of Latin names. A plant species in Kenya has the same name as it does in France or Japan. That’s not an accident; it’s by design, and it’s been the basis for collaboration, communication, and discovery for centuries. To suggest that this system is somehow exclusionary is not only a gross misrepresentation of reality but also an affront to the very nature of science, which should always prioritize clarity and universality over ideology.
The sheer practicality of Latin nomenclature cannot be overstated. There’s a reason why Linnaean taxonomy has endured for nearly 300 years—it works. Scientists from vastly different cultures, speaking different languages, can communicate seamlessly when they refer to Homo sapiens, Rosa rubiginosa, or Panthera leo. Imagine a world where instead of these clear and consistent labels, we’re forced to use colloquial or politically sanitized versions that change based on geography or, worse yet, political whims. Chaos would reign, and scientific advancement would be hampered by this petty insistence on catering to today’s ideological trends.
And make no mistake, this kind of ideological trend-following comes with real consequences. If the University of Michigan’s position becomes mainstream, it won’t just be Latin plant names that are targeted. Once the ideological floodgates are opened, where does it end? Do we stop using Latin names for diseases because someone claims it’s insensitive to ancient Roman slaves? Do we toss out mathematical terms like “algorithm” because of its Arabic origins, lest someone feels excluded by the reminder of historical conquests?
What makes this even more insidious is that these attacks on taxonomy are being framed as acts of progress or justice, when in fact they are the exact opposite. The destruction of a universal scientific language hinders progress, confuses the process of discovery, and throws us into an intellectual free-fall where no standard is safe from ideological scrutiny. Latin names have nothing to do with colonialism, racism, or oppression. They are about precision, utility, and the advancement of knowledge. That the University of Michigan can’t—or won’t—see that is a testament to how deeply DEI ideology has infiltrated and corrupted academia
If the goal of the university is to truly educate and prepare students for the world, this kind of nonsense does them a disservice. It teaches them that science is malleable, that facts can be rewritten if they make someone uncomfortable, and that the pursuit of truth can be set aside in favor of scoring points with the loudest activists. This is the antithesis of intellectual rigor. Instead of challenging students to rise to the demands of scientific inquiry, Michigan is telling them that the tools of that inquiry are part of the problem if they don’t align with the prevailing social justice narrative.
The real world, however, doesn’t operate on feelings and woke platitudes. The scientist in the field, the conservationist trying to protect endangered species, the doctor identifying a disease—they all rely on the accuracy and consistency provided by Latin names. They don’t have the luxury of renaming things because a handful of ideologues have decided those names are problematic. This is why the broader scientific community should reject this ridiculous notion outright. If we let woke politics dictate how we name and categorize the world around us, we’re no longer doing science—we’re doing activism.
In the end, this debacle at the University of Michigan is a symptom of a much larger problem. Academia is no longer the bastion of free thought and the pursuit of knowledge; it’s become a breeding ground for the latest woke fads. Latin taxonomy isn’t the problem—it’s the people who see racism behind every tree and under every rock. It’s the people who’ve become so blinded by ideology that they can’t recognize the value of a system that has stood the test of time.
Here’s a message for the University of Michigan and anyone else buying into this madness: stop politicizing science. Stop twisting every aspect of life into a debate about race, gender, or oppression. There’s no need to dismantle the very systems that have allowed us to understand, classify, and protect the natural world. If you truly care about progress, about inclusivity, then uphold the universal standards that allow science to thrive. That’s how you ensure everyone has a seat at the table, not by turning that table upside down because it was made in the 18th century.
H/T strativarius
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