I don’t get it. When did knowledge become an enemy of America’s fiber? In the span of a week we saw the FCC call for the end of Net Neutrality (and yes, if you’re reading this right now the ruling of the FCC WILL affect you) AND watched as the CDC was directed to exclude the use of standard language in their handling of funding to keep Americans healthy.
I quit.
I quit pretending like there is merit to this inane campaign to paint scientists and scholars as devils who are marching us all to the gates of Hell on a conga line.
I quit pretending that members of the community of faith are incapable of balancing the belief of the divine with the development of our God-given intellectual talents.
Let’s look a little closer at these “dangerous words” that apparently needed to be banned and what that might mean for the future funding of programs from the fed.
“Vulnerable” tends to show up in RFPs that seek to address issues affecting children, foster kids aging out of the system, elderly citizens, persons living with disabilities and veterans.
“Entitlement” usually refers to things related to social security and Medicare/Medicaid so again with the elderly and disabled and kids.
“Diversity” code for programs aimed to help women, children, elders, persons living with disabilities, veterans and anyone who isn’t a CISgender WASP male. Oh wait, some of them make it in too if they also fall into one of the above mentioned categories.
“Transgender” (sigh) that we are still arguing over the need for these programs and pretending that somehow God is pleased with the idea of us marginalizing ANY of God’s children is beyond me, but sure you go ahead and put God’s name on that. I’m gonna go stand far away from you because you clearly need to study that Word (as in The Bible) a bit more.
“Fetus” perhaps if we use the word baby it’ll make people “feel” better. There’s a problem with this “baby’s” development. This “baby” is showing signs of abnormal cell growth. 🙄 When you start talking about things that exists inside the female ecosystem I want you using all the proper names you need to provide for my health and the health of my sisters. What’s next? You want to ban the use of terms like mammary glands in favor of boobies? Grow the hell up.
Let’s tackle evidence-based and science-based at the same time shall we?
You know who this is going to come down on the hardest? Public Schools, daycares, healthcare providers, public health entities, business. What will we base our funding decisions on if not evidence-based practices?
CDC Gets List of Forbidden Words<
I WANT the CDC to have all the tools they need at their disposal to do their jobs. I want the internet to be open in the full knowledge that there are people who will share things that I absolutely don’t agree with and may find to be offensive. I want us to have sensible laws and regulation to protect the public good.
Oh, and by the way, scientists constantly have to consider the “wishes of their communities” because they are MEMBERS of those communities. There are approvals at the local levels that allow for and encourage community input. Scientist partner with Departments of Public Health, School Boards, Mayor’s Offices, Community Development Groups and many other stakeholders as a matter of course.
Marta C. Youngblood is a writer, education and social entrepreneur based in Lubbock, Texas. For more information on her current projects visit https://about.me/MCyoungblood.
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