In academic discourse, use of the correct name is an important means of establishing professional credibility. For example, if within the fields of computer science and information science, a specific term of art, such as artificial intelligence, has gained widespread acceptance, the use of an alternative termāa term, like superintelligence, not widely accepted within the disciplineāwould seriously undermine the credibility of academic work (and the authorās more general standing within the field).
Donald Trump has notoriously attempted to rechristen the Gulf of Mexico as the āGulf of America.ā So too has he attempted to rename Lake Ontario to āLake America,ā and he is threatening to fashion new MAGA names for an ocean, a major river, and the state of New Mexico. Trump also recently signed an executive order requiring all federal government programs and communications to use the terms superintelligence and S.I. rather than the broadly accepted nomenclature artificial intelligence and A.I. One might shrug all of this off and say, āWell, so what? Itās a free country, and all of us can still use the generally accepted names of places (Gulf of Mexico) and things (A.I.).ā
Unfortunately, after Oct. 1, 2026, this is no longer the case for academics at state-sponsored colleges and universities in Alabama. H.B. 2 officially bans the use of the phrase Gulf of Mexico by any and all state employees. As a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, I find this appalling.
āHistorically, it is known as the Gulf of Mexico, and so to avoid confusion we will refer to it as such in this course as thatās what all our textbooks refer to it as.ā
Efforts to control speech in Alabamaās educational institutions constitute just one part of a larger national effort to standardize speech and, by necessity, thought. Happily, however, the First Amendment not only protects the use of particular words but also extends to a personās choice of language.
What a waste of time and money in all this BS. maga cuts help for people but wastes money on trash like this renaming and vanity projects, he/they are pathetic and weak. This is how dictators behave to spread their lies and force conformity. These efforts go back to the powell memo and all the other gop ones since then, including the 2025 plan thatās over half done.
Maybe you should move to another state, like New America, or something.
Fun fact: The President is not in charge of naming gulfs, lakes, oceans, continents, islands, or even people.
They can name their own children and pets. Thatās it. Thank you.
officially bans the use of the phrase Gulf of Mexico by any and all state employees.
These arenāt banned.
Gulf of Epstein
Gulf of Iran
Western Persian Gulf
Gulf of Latin America
Gulf of New MexicoāAntifaĀ® Presents The Gulf of Mexicoā
The Gulf that used to be known as Mexico, it still is, but it used to, too.
Defy orders and call it by the correct name anyway - Gulf of Mexico. Either stand up to tyranny and the things you believe in or choose your battles; itās really each individualās prerogative.
Canāt wait for the academics of the USA to be forced to only interact with each others because they live in an alternative reality.
Letās all bow down to our idiotic president. Itās depressing how little pushback there is to this kind of shit.
Do it anyway, get unlawfully fired, sue, get rich.
And if you refuse? What are they going to do if you keep calling it by its proper name? This is clearly censorship by a government entity. Any retaliation would immediately lead to a First Amendment lawsuit.
censorship of a government entity by a government entity. first, no right is unlimited. second, when youāre employed by the state, you contractually agree to waive certain rights.
You donāt wave all the rights of free speech because you are employed by the state. The state canāt force employees to put the stateās words in their mouths particularly if their job is to speak the truth and think independently. Itās not so cut and dry as you might think.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-1/compelled-speech-overview
You donāt waive it no, but it is restricted.
Specifically a state can adopt its own terminology and direct employees to use it instead.
Thereās more nuance than that.
Of no doubt.
do it anyway. fuck google
How is this not a first amendment thing? Since this is a state run public institution, so essentially the government, controlling what private citizens say. Just because itās a law doesnāt mean itās constitutional.
Wait 'till you hear about laws banning criticism of Israel
Like which ones
Lol, I canāt wait until they start arresting Jewish people for being antisemitic then
Yeah, thatās not happening, not in America anyway.
It probably is. Itās been just over a month since the law was inacted. It usually takes months for the court cases to even start. First someone needs to be āharmedā to have standing. So now this guy could sue and say itās deteriorating his academic credibility. But it would be months, maybe a half year or more before it finally hits the state supreme court to be overturned.
Somebody needs to use the phrase in a document, get punished for it by the state. THEN theyāve been harmed, and theyāll have standing to sue.
I say the University of Al Banana and I can do whatever we want.
When are they going to ban books and studying, or say stupidity is intelligence?
Suddenly, conservatives are upset about deadnaming. š
Itās called 'Merica-naming now
