When you can no longer use the (ridiculous) phrase "trigger warning" because it make some anxious about what might follow, it feels like they might be going too far.
When you can't use words because they share some letters with negative ones, maybe it's gone too far.
> you can no longer use the (ridiculous) phrase "trigger warning" because it make some anxious about what might follow
It's particularly ironic given that this was the whole purpose of this phrase in the first place. A trigger warning isn't just a random content note or metadata - its specifically to give vulnerable people chance to disengage with content that could otherwise cause them distress. If they feel "anxious about what might follow", that means the trigger warning is working, and they should steel themselves or disengage with the content right now.
(And yes, I understand the tension one might feel between a warning and FOMO, but this is not something you can solve by removing the warning.)
You and I are free to use whatever phrases are or aren't on this or any other lists. Unless that list is that of your direct employer, then you must use only the words they want you to use. And yes, your employer whomever they are has a list just like this one. Maybe it's implied and has different words on it, but it's still a list of banned words you can't say in the context of your employment nonetheless.
Imagine being an employee at Coke, and then getting mad they fired you because your advertisements you wrote contained profanity adjacent to the Coke logo. Woke mind virus gone too far? Personally I say "fuck" all the time in my daily life, I can't see why Coke would get all twisted about it. Sub in "Coke" with "Stanford" and "fuck" with any word on this list. These are the same things.
Stanford doesn't want Stanford using certain words on Stanford websites. This apparently has made a lot of people on the Internet who neither work for Stanford nor have any conceivable association with Stanford to become very angry. Because "what if" they come for you next? Sorry but the wonderful truth is that your words are not being policed by Stanford. Go ahead and say/write all the words on this list, no bad will come to you. There are no woke boogeymen at Stanford out to get you.
When you can't use words because they share some letters with negative ones, maybe it's gone too far.