AP Stylebook recommends against 'dehumanizing 'the' labels,' like 'the French,' then deletes post due to 'inappropriate reference to French people'



The Associated Press Stylebook's Twitter account has deleted a tweet that used the term "the French."

The post suggested that writers should avoid using "the" in front of words describing groups of people, advising against phrases such as "the French."

"We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing 'the' labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant," the now-deleted post read.

\u201cThe AP is sticking to telling reporters not to write THE French. \n\nAP deleted tweet on left\u201d
— Emily Miller (@Emily Miller) 1674835649

But the Associated Press has said that including the phrase "the French" was not appropriate — ironically, while issuing the mea culpa, the AP still included the supposedly unacceptable phrase: "The use of 'the French' in this tweet by @AP was inappropriate and has caused unintended offense. An updated tweet is upcoming."

\u201c@APStylebook The use of \u201cthe French\u201d in this tweet by @AP was inappropriate and has caused unintended offense. An updated tweet is upcoming.\u201d
— The Associated Press (@The Associated Press) 1674807503

"We deleted an earlier tweet because of an inappropriate reference to French people. We did not intend to offend," the APStylebook account tweeted. "Writing French people, French citizens, etc., is good. But 'the' terms for any people can sound dehumanizing and imply a monolith rather than diverse individuals."

The now-deleted post caught the attention of the French Embassy in the U.S., which posted a screenshot in which it had typed "Embassy of Frenchness in the US" into the name form on its Twitter profile editing box.

\u201cI guess this is us now...\u201d
— French Embassy U.S. (@French Embassy U.S.) 1674771552

Wealthy business tycoon Elon Musk wrote, "So then why do call yourself 'The' Associated Press.'"

"I agree, these days we probably should label 'the college-educated' people with mental illnesses instead," Ben Shapiro tweeted.

"The AP has declared the word 'the' offensive. I thought this was a @TheBabylonBee story for a second - and I run The Babylon Bee," the satire website's editor-in-chief Kyle Mann tweeted.

\u201cThe AP has declared the word "the" offensive. I thought this was a @TheBabylonBee story for a second - and I run The Babylon Bee.\u201d
— Kyle Mann (@Kyle Mann) 1674830226

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Elon Musk dissolves Twitter's censorship council



Twitter axed its so-called Trust and Safety Council on Monday night.

Leftist elements of the defunct council have denounced the move and joined the chorus of critics opposed to Twitter's apparent embrace of Elon Musk's "free speech absolutist" ideals.

The dissolution of the council comes just days after three of its members, including the niece of Biden official John Podesta, resigned, citing as partial cause their opposition to the restoration of banned accounts belonging to conservatives such as former President Donald Trump.

Thanks but no thanks

Trust and Safety Council members received an email signed "Twitter" on Monday that said, "As Twitter moves into a new phase, we are reevaluating how best to bring external insights into our product and policy development."

Evidently, the best way forward was without the meddling council's direct involvement.

The letter noted that Twitter will "continue to welcome your ideas going forward" and "will also continue to explore opportunities to provide focused and timely input into our work, whether through bilateral or small group meetings."

An archived version of the council's now-defunct "About" page describes the council as "a group of independent expert organizations from around the world. Together, they advocate for safety and advise us as we develop our products, programs, and rules."

The so-called expert groups that provided the council with counsel included the Anti-Defamation League, the LGBT activist group Black Rainbow, Feminist Frequency, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Muslim Advocates, and the United Nations' Association for Progressive Communications.

The group's purported areas of focus included "Online Safety and Harassment, Human and Digital Rights, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, Child Sexual Exploitation, and Dehumanization."

How dare he!

Alex Holmes, now a former member of the council and a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation advisory board member, took to Twitter to lament, writing, "Many of us have been in this space for a number of years, each with different expertise, but all with a passion to see healthy and diverse conversations and safety exist on platforms."

"The way this has unfolded and way members have been treated is unfortunate and unacceptable," Holmes added.

\u201cMany of us have been in this space for a number of years, each with different expertise, but all with a passion to see healthy and diverse conversations and safety exist on platforms.\n\nThe way this has unfolded and way members have been treated is unfortunate and unacceptable.\u201d
— Alex Holmes \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Alex Holmes \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1670893482

The Washington Post reported that the council was set to meet virtually to discuss recent developments when it learned that it had been disbanded.

Larry Magid, chief executive at the Silicon Valley nonprofit ConnectSafely, was on the board as of Monday. He told the Post, "By disbanding it, we got fired instead of quit."

Members Eirliani Abdul Rahman, Anne Collier, and Lesley Podesta saved Musk three emails by resigning last week, claiming "the safety and wellbeing of Twitter's users are on the decline."

Rahman alleged in a statement that slurs against black Americans and gay men jumped since Musk's takeover and that anti-Semitism was on the rise.

"Another red line for me was when previously banned accounts such as those on the far right, and those who had incited others to violence, such as then US President Donald Trump's, were reinstated," said Rahman.

While noting that the readmission of the former president and others amounted to unforgivable actions on the part of Twitter's leadership, the trio of quitters claimed that under Musk, Twitter was in danger of losing its reputation as "the platform where anyone could be heard."

In response to these resignations, Musk tweeted, "It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!"

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey suggested that the allegation that the Trust and Safety Council failed to take appropriate action to protect minors was false.

However, Musk doubled down, writing, "When Ella Irwin, who now runs Trust & Safety, joined Twitter earlier this year, almost no one was working on child safety. She raised this with Ned & Parag, but they rejected her staffing request."

\u201c@jack @Cernovich @annecollier @eirliani @podesta_lesley No, it is not. \n\nWhen Ella Irwin, who now runs Trust & Safety, joined Twitter earlier this year, almost no one was working on child safety.\n\nShe raised this with Ned & Parag, but they rejected her staffing request.\n\nI made it top priority immediately.\n\n@ellagirwin\u201d
— annecollier (@annecollier) 1670516715

Roth on the run

While some council members have gone online to complain, the former council head, Yoel Roth, has reportedly gone on the run.

The Washington Post reported that Roth fled his home on account of Musk drawing attention to his doctoral thesis.

Musk tweeted on Saturday, "Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis," adding, "This explains a lot."

\u201c@elizableu Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis:\u201d
— Eliza (@Eliza) 1670694731

In addition to erroneously claiming investigative journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss were conservatives and only later making a stealth edit, the Washington Post claimed Musk had "mischaracterized Roth's academic writing about sexual activity and children."

Even if the trust and safety council hadn't been disbanded, Roth still wouldn't be able to hit Musk with a misinformation label, given that he resigned back in November.

The 35-year-old penned an op-ed in the New York Times on Nov. 18, stating, "In my more than seven years at the company, we exposed government-backed troll farms meddling in elections, introduced tools for contextualizing dangerous misinformation, and, yes, banned President Donald Trump from the service."

Roth, who likened members of the Trump administration to Nazis, embraced the descriptor "custodians of the internet" and claimed the "work of online sanitation is unrelenting and contentious."

Online sanitation, for Roth, has involved taking input from the FBI and censoring the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story, potentially impacting the 2020 election; de-platforming the democratically elected president of the United States; and censoring satire he personally did not find to be amusing.

Here is the former head of the now defunct Trust and Safety Council claiming that a satire site's conference of a fictitious "Man Of The Year" award to a biological man "is dangerous":

\u201cRoth defends the decision to ban @TheBabylonBee: "Not only is it not funny, it is dangerous" \n\nKara Swisher, no fan of the Babylon Bee, gently disagrees -- noting that the account was engaged in satire. "It's still misgendering," Roth insists\u201d
— Michael Tracey (@Michael Tracey) 1670042298

Washington Post blasted for UVA shooting story's initial headline saying suspected gunman 'had troubled childhood, but then flourished'



The Washington Post was blasted on social media Monday over the initial headline of a University of Virginia shooting story that said the suspected gunman — accused of fatally shooting three players on the school's football team and wounding two other students — had a "troubled childhood, but then flourished."

\u201cThis is a real headline from the Washington Post\u201d
— TheBlaze (@TheBlaze) 1668443234

The headline appeared to have been changed sometime after 12:10 p.m. Monday to read, "Suspected U-Va. gunman was scrutinized by threat assessment team for weapon, police say."

The Post's story indicated it was updated at 12:15 p.m. as well as at 1:15 p.m., but there are no notes in the story describing what was updated.

The Post on Monday told TheBlaze in a statement that "the headline was changed following the press conference when new information was learned. This is a developing story."

'You've gotta be kidding'

A number of folks on Twitter were none too pleased with the wording of the Post's original headline, which described suspect Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. as having "flourished" after going through a "troubled childhood."

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips tweeted, "Just an unbelievable headline from the Washington Post about the mass shooter at UVA. You've gotta be kidding ..."

Rob Eno, media critic for BlazeTV, mocked the Post by saying that "democracy also dies when you hide former headlines without even [an] editors note ... To the rest of you, this is a textbook case of the media lying to you."

Others agreed:

  • "So yea whoever wrote this headline should be fired," one commenter said. "Didn’t realize flourishing meant murdering people. Washington Post at it again."
  • "Talk about a bizarre headline," another user reacted. "Is he gonna 'flourish' in prison?"
  • "With headlines like this, you'll put @TheBabylonBee out of business," another commenter told the Post. "This is @Salon level stupidity."
  • "One of the most disgusting headlines I have ever seen printed," another user declared. "Shame on you @washingtonpost."
  • "This guy allegedly murdered three people and shot five total, and the @washingtonpost describes him as a guy who 'flourished.' Pathetic," another commenter said.

Anything else?

Jones — a former player on the school's football team — was taken into custody Monday following a manhunt of more than 13 hours after the shooting on the Charlottesville campus, the Associated Press reported. Jones was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, ESPN said.

The players who were fatally shot have been identified as junior receiver Lavel Davis Jr. of Dorchester, South Carolina, junior receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina, and junior defensive end/linebacker D'Sean Perry of Miami, school President Jim Ryan said during a Monday news conference, ESPN said.

\u201cAll three of the UVA shooting victims are football players:\n\nDevin Chandler (from Virginia Beach)\n\nD'Sean Perry\n\nLavel Davis\u201d
— Dan Kennedy 13News Now (@Dan Kennedy 13News Now) 1668441880

Ryan said two other unidentified students were shot and hospitalized, the sports network reported, adding that Ryan said one student was in good condition, and the other was in critical condition.

The shooting took place on a charter bus that had returned to campus after students attended a play in Washington, D.C., as part of a class field trip, Ryan said, according to ESPN.

Twitter bans more big-name conservatives critical of biological males winning awards meant for women



Twitter on Tuesday continued its censorship crusade against conservative personalities over the supposed misgendering of Dr. Rachel Levine, President Biden's assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Levine, who is a biological male presenting as a transgender woman, was recently named as one of USA Today's "Women of the Year." The nomination was controversial, to say the least, and immediately ignited outrage on social media.

One of the more decent reactions, all things considered, was a parody article posted by a popular conservative satirical website, the Babylon Bee. Editors at the Bee often elucidate liberal idiocy through satire — but Twitter didn't find its joke funny. Instead, the platform labeled the article "hateful conduct" and suspended the site's account.

But Twitter's offensive against the Babylon Bee and its personnel didn't stop there.

On Tuesday, news broke that the platform had suspended the site's editor-in-chief Kyle Mann for posting more "hateful conduct" regarding the initial suspension.

"Maybe they'll let us back into our @TheBabylonBee Twitter account if we throw a few thousand Uighurs in a concentration camp," Mann gibed the day before in reference to the platform's selective censorship.

With the tweet, he criticized Twitter's practice of policing some accounts but not others associated with oppressive governments, such as the Chinese Communist Party. Twitter responded by locking his account.

Babylon Bee editor-in-chief @The_Kyle_Mann has now been locked out of Twitter for this tweet.\n\nSo, literally perpetuating genocide will not get you booted off Twitter, but making jokes criticizing those who do, will. Got it.pic.twitter.com/Kqc1jzzALs
— Adam Ford (@Adam Ford) 1647960427

In a tweet, Babylon Bee creator Adam Ford slammed the platform, saying, "So, literally perpetuating genocide will not get you booted off Twitter, but making jokes criticizing those who do, will. Got it."

Twitter's censorship went beyond the Babylon Bee circle, as well.

Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk also had his account suspended on Tuesday after he joined in on the discussion about Levine.

"Richard Levine spent 54 years of his life as a man. He had a wife and a family," Kirk wrote, making note of Levine's birth name and personal history. "He [then] 'transitioned' to being a woman in 2011, Joe Biden appointed Levine to be a 4-star Admiral and now USA Today has named 'Rachel' Levine as a 'Woman of the Year.'"

"Where are the feminists??" Kirk added.

Looks like @charliekirk11 was suspended by Twitter for what seems like an accurate assessment of the timeline and then asking a legitimate question\u2026.pic.twitter.com/eyUxu4mQ0Y
— Dave Rubin (@Dave Rubin) 1647969002

After the Babylon Bee's original suspension of the satire site's account, Mann tweeted, "We at @TheBabylonBee stated the fact that a man is a man, through satire, and got locked out of this platform for it. We are living in a clown world."

Kirk was issuing the same statement with his tweet and was suspended for it.

These, however, are far from the only examples of Twitter's attack on conservatives specifically over Levine.

TheBlaze previously reported on the platform's censorship of Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) after the lawmaker called Levine a "man" in October.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were have also been flagged for "hateful conduct" by Twitter for describing Levine a biological male.

Twitter suspends Babylon Bee account for 'hateful conduct' over satirical article about Rachel Levine, CEO reacts: 'Truth is not hate speech'



Satirical news website Babylon Bee was reportedly suspended from Twitter on Sunday for what the social media platform determined to be "hateful conduct."

Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon revealed that Twitter had "locked out" the fake news publisher from its official account for alleged "hateful conduct.”

According to the notice, Twitter suspended the Babylon Bee for writing: "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine."

The tweet included a link to a Babylon Bee article published on Tuesday, which had the same headline as the tweet.

The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levinehttps://babylonbee.com/news/the-babylon-bees-man-of-the-year-is-rachel-levine\u00a0\u2026
— The Babylon Bee (@The Babylon Bee) 1647374901

Last March, the Senate confirmed Dr. Rachel Levine as President Joe Biden's assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – becoming the first openly transgender official ever confirmed by the upper chamber.

The Babylon Bee article reads, "Levine is the U.S. assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he serves proudly as the first man in that position to dress like a western cultural stereotype of a woman. He is also an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. What a boss!"

"Rachel's original name is Richard Levine, but he changed it to Rachel for some strange reason a few years ago. Who cares? Who says a dude as accomplished as this can't be named 'Rachel?' This king doesn't care what people think about him," the piece jokes. "He often wears a dress, which some people think is weird—but he doesn't care one bit. Come on! Men in India wear dress-type garments, don't they?"

The article was parodying USA Today naming Levine as one of its "Women of the Year."

"Rachel Levine is one of USA Today's Women of the Year, a recognition of women across the country who have made a significant impact," the USA Today article reads.

Dillon shared a screencap of the suspension notice on his verified Twitter account.

I just received this notice that we\u2019ve been locked out of our account for \u201chateful conduct.\u201dpic.twitter.com/udMriKcDr6
— Seth Dillon (@Seth Dillon) 1647813177

Twitter declared that the account would not be able to tweet, retweet, like other tweets, or follow accounts. Dillon noted that Twitter said it would restore the account with more than 1.3 million followers within 12 hours after the Babylon Bee had deleted the tweet in question.

However, Dillon declared that his company would stand by the tweet.

"We're not deleting anything," Dillon proclaimed. "Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it."

We're not deleting anything. Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.
— Seth Dillon (@Seth Dillon) 1647815841

Babylon Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann reacted to the suspension by tweeting, "We at @TheBabylonBee stated the fact that a man is a man, through satire, and got locked out of this platform for it. We are living in a clown world."

Twitter claims the satirical post violated the big tech company's hateful conduct policy.

You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories.

In October, the Biden administration named Levine as the "first-ever female four-star admiral" of the U.S. Public Health Services Commissioned Corps.

A few days later, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) had his Twitter account "censored" for calling Levine a "man."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was also suspended for saying that Levine is a "man."

Earlier this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was flagged for "hateful conduct" by Twitter for calling Levine a biological male.

WATCH: Pat Gray reacts to The Babylon Bee's satirical LIST of 'potential terrorist threats'



A Kentucky teacher said she is "grateful for her school and district" for displaying rainbow flags and Black Lives Matter flags in several classrooms. In a TikTok video, the teacher went from classroom to classroom with her cellphone to share her pride with the internet.

In this clip, Pat Gray offered snarky commentary as he watched the video. Pat noted that every school in the country doesn't have progressive flags hanging in classrooms but he warned that this kind of trend spreads.

Later, Pat discussed a satirical tweet shared by @TheBabylonBee that lists "potential terrorist threats." Some threats included, "Despising taxes, finding Kamala Harris slightly off-putting, and owning a Bible."

Watch the clip for the full list. Can't watch? Download the podcast here.


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