Officials at the Center for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) have been informed that certain terms must not, never, ever be used in their budget proposals.
“vulnerable”
“entitlement”
“diversity”
“transgender”
“fetus”
“evidence-based”
“science-based”
Budget item proposals that mention those terms in them are having them sent back for correction.
It’s not clear if it’s just that these words might upset people higher up the food chain (like the President), or whether by forbidding the words it might mean that CDC work can’t be done in those areas (which seems a bid feeble, to be honest), or whether it’s to keep GOP big donors from getting irked (which feels a bit of a stretch).
It’s just weird, in an odd quasi-Orwellian way. Which, I guess, shouldn’t be a surprise, but it just feels a little less blunt than the usual Trumpian surprise.
CDC gets list of forbidden words: fetus, transgender, diversity – The Washington Post
Agency analysts are told to avoid these 7 banned words and phrases in budget documents
Yup
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YZCqt4dQaVl9qXdS3bXABhhx-lZZGdssC2MFpXjM7BzteuLmw_62cms_6No-o2sduZsqQfBSdC0
Christianists do want no stinking facts, or science, they just want to usher in the Republic of Gilead.
The WaPo follows up with an article describing somewhat parallel occurrences that other countries have put in — though in some cases they appear to be more for consistency and clarity of communication (style guides, if you will) than some sort of odd NewSpeak effort.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/12/18/its-not-just-trumps-administration-that-bans-words-european-nations-have-done-it-too/?utm_term=.759046795e92
The CDC (and HHS) are saying these aren't word bans, but suggestions about words that Republican lawmakers might pitch a hissy-fit about if they see them in budget proposals, so maybe come up with alternatives.
They also insist this will not change what gets reported on to the American public. Which is a bit disingenuous, because if it's going to torque off some anti-science theocratic reprobate of a Republican lawmaker to see "fetus" in a budget proposal, they're going plotz to see a study released with that word in the title, aren't they?
As Orwell observed, if you control what words people use, you control what people think.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/12/after-firestorm-cdc-director-says-terms-like-science-based-are-not-banned/