It’s been nearly two decades, but way back in 2008, a far-right group called the American Family Association operated an online news outlet, which featured a lot of Associated Press articles. But because the AFA had a culture war agenda, the organization would tweak the reports to align with its agenda.
For example, the AFA automatically changed the word “gay” in its articles to “homosexual,” which the group thought sounded more sinister. During the Olympics, however, this became problematic — because of a sprinter named Tyson Gay.
In keeping with the AFA’s publishing policy, readers were treated to headlines such as “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.” One article said, “Homosexual didn’t get off to a particularly strong start in the first semifinal. … Asked how he felt, Homosexual said: ‘A little fatigued.’”
The lesson from the unintentionally hilarious incident was obvious: It’s best to be cautious when using the find-and-replace feature.
It’s a lesson some Republicans have failed to learn.
The Trump administration, for example, has launched a bizarre crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts throughout the federal government, including the Internal Revenue Service’s procedural handbook for employees. Officials, however, weren’t paying close attention to the details.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported, for example, “One section that was still deleted as of Wednesday morning mentioned the potential ‘inequity’ of holding on to a taxpayer’s money and described the potential ‘inclusion’ of a taxpayer identification number on a form.”
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas soon after made a similar mistake. ProPublica reported that the senator complained about National Science Foundation grants that used words like “diversify.” What Cruz neglected to mention — after applying scrutiny that ProPublica described as “crude” — was that he ended up complaining about scientific grants that had nothing to do with DEI. One referenced “diversify” in the context of the biodiversity of plants.
But to fully appreciate the absurdity of the GOP’s Ctrl-F problem, consider this amazing report from The Associated Press.
References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press. The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
There’s a lot to unpack in the AP’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, but of particular interest is the way in which the Trump administration reportedly approached photographs of a historically significant airplane. “In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word ‘gay,’ including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II,” the AP reported. To be sure, there was a controversy at the Smithsonian several years ago about an Enola Gay exhibit, when some critics argued that it was wrong to celebrate the plane given its role in World War II. Almost exactly 30 years later, Donald Trump’s Pentagon is concerned about images of the airplane, not because of its payload, but because of the word “gay.” Perhaps we should be relieved that the Republican administration didn’t try to rebrand the plane as “Enola Homosexual”?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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