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Trump Administration Prohibits CDC Policy Analysts From Using the Words 'Science-Based' (washingtonpost.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader hey! writes: On Friday the Washington Post reported that the Trump Administration has forbidden the Centers for Disease Control from using seven terms in certain documents: "science-based", "evidence-based", "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," and "fetus".

It's important to note that the precise scope and intent of the ban is unknown at present. Scientific and medical personnel as of now have not been affected, only policy analysts preparing budgetary proposals and supporting data that is being sent to Congress. So it is unclear the degree to which the language mandates represent a change in agency priorities vs. a change in how it presents itself to Congress. However banning the scientifically precise term "fetus" will certainly complicate budgeting for things like Zika research and monitoring.

According to the Post's article, "Instead of 'science-based' or 'evidence-based,' the suggested phrase is 'CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes."

The New York Times confirmed the story with several officials, although "a few suggested that the proposal was not so much a ban on words but recommendations to avoid some language to ease the path toward budget approval by Republicans."

36 of 458 comments (clear)

  1. Not surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you hate science because it conflicts with your religious beliefs, you probably donâ(TM)t want people using it to justify stuff.

  2. She's a witch! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to the Post's article, "Instead of 'science-based' or 'evidence-based,' the suggested phrase is 'CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes."

    So if the community standards and wishes means they prefer to rely on religion, superstition and other make-beliefs mumbo-jumbo, science has to stand aside?

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    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:She's a witch! by KiloByte · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So if the community standards and wishes means they prefer to rely on religion, superstition and other make-beliefs mumbo-jumbo, science has to stand aside?

      Well yes, you have "gender studies" taught in schools. All that changes is which religion gets to get taught.

      My wild guess is for Christianity to have slowed scientific progress by ~1500 years. Leftist ideologies are much younger, but already have overtaken Christianity's death count (180M to 100M) -- but then, if you take together the sum of Abrahamic faiths, the race is about neck-to-neck.

      Flags and slogans change, sanctimonious self-righteous anti-scientific ideologies continue to rule.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    2. Re:She's a witch! by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "gender studies" is not a religion. Leftist ideology is not a religion.

      They merely don't identify as a religion.

      Let me tell you my biggest childhood formative moment. It was triggered by banner shapes.

      Communism in Poland fell when I was in early elementary school, yet I still got to be forced to attend a Labor Day parade. By then, even the threat was degraded (instead of "anyone missing without a valid excuse will be expelled from school" it was down to "will have semester's grade lowered") but we still had to go. Then, a few years later, there were Corpus Christi parades. By the letter of law not mandatory, but a kid who didn't attend still received strong verbal chew-out. Both parades looked the same: a guy blabbing something through loudspeakers, the public chanting slogans, dozens of people carrying banners of a specific shape. The very same shape, only the images and texts changed.

      Scripture? Check (works of Marx, Engels and Lenin). Clergy? Check. Rituals? Check. Portraits of prophets and saints everywhere? Check. Proselitysm? Check. Hatred for unbelievers? Big fat check.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    3. Re:She's a witch! by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My wild guess is for Christianity to have slowed scientific progress by ~1500 years.

                During Christianity's existence, we have gone from the vast majority of the human population living at a subsistence level and using beasts of burden like they did for the previous 10,000 years, to creating economic systems that results in growing far more than enough food to feed everyone, raising the standard of living by orders of magnitude for virtually everyone, putting men on the moon, stamping out slavery and indentured servitude, wiping out most of the omnicidal maniacs that plagued humanity from the start of the agricultural revolution. The only remaining omnicidal maniacs left are those who actively see this tremendous advancement as a threat to their psychotic vision, which it is.

                So, tell me genius, the vast, vast majority of the founders of modern science were Christians, Newton and Descartes being particularly notable for their rather extreme views even in their day. Why is it that modern keyboard warriors who have accomplished *nearly nothing* in their lives aside from snarky comments about other people on the internet feel in any way qualified to pass judgement on the world's largest religion?

    4. Re:She's a witch! by Megol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No religion also have common definition(s) and this is obviously not a proper use of the term. Stop making up things and use the right words, you are on a technology orientated website and _should_ know the value in proper use of terms when communicating.

      So you don't like gender studies. Okay. What makes that a religion rather than a science-based thing (coupled with philosophy in many cases)?
      You can go about it and say the studies that have been made are weak, done in the wrong manner, have biases etc. and that would be proper. But there are studies done. Some may be wrong (I don't care and have not read any so have no idea) but that doesn't make it religion.
      You may not agree with some of the philosophy and again criticism would be proper - however not making the field into a religion.

      But the "standard" of expression of genders etc. isn't fixed either in local history or as seen globally. That means the field is a proper one to study and reason about.
      Personally I don't give a crap - people can feel think and act as they want as long as they behave respectfully towards others.

  3. In others words, a Christian Taliban by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Authorized clerics have the final say on what is true and proper in our society.

  4. Heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Think Bill Nye will have enough time to be outraged? He's got sex chromosomes to deny and ice cream to turn bisexual. SCIENCE!

    1. Re:Heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You're confusing sex and gender. Sex is determined by chromosomes, gender is a social construct and can be fluid in some individuals.

  5. wtf by Holi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What the fuck does "community standards and wishes" have to do with scientific evidence.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    1. Re:wtf by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's codespeak for 'popular oppinion.'

      If scientific evidence says that telling teenagers not to have sex doesn't actually work while condoms generally do, but popular opinion says that telling teenagers how to use a condom promotes sin and will send them all to burn in Hell, then both views are now given equal validity in the decision-making process.

  6. Re: They must go nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Considering the vast amount of non-scienced based evidence like anti-gmo, antivaxxers, chemtrails-believers, naturepaths, homeopaths etc that exists this is hardly buzz word bingo but precise and meaningful definitions.

  7. And yet... by DeplorableCodeMonkey · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Go into any big office or typical start up and say that someone does not change gender by identifying as another gender (including "non-binary" genders) or going through a "transition" and you'll be treated far worse than this.

    Because it's bigotry to say that gender dysphoria is a mental illness wherein the brain does not recognize the material truth represented in one's genetic code and post-puberty sexual characteristics.

  8. Re:They must go nuts by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How would the word "fetus" be part of "buzz word bingo"? It has a clear medical definition, and compelling legal definitions.

  9. Use God too by AndyKron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And when asking Republicans for budget money use the word "God" a lot. They like God. Finding a Bible verse to back you up is pure gold.

  10. Dolts by rnturn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Science does not care about your "community standards", your religious viewpoints, or any other fantasies you believe in this week.

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    CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  11. Re: They must go nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Alot of people, like myself, are anti-GMO because of the business practices and behaviors of this industry. I happen to think the science is quite sound. That's called ethics and is encouraged within science.

  12. Re:Mentally unstable people run the government. by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...has forbidden the Centers for Disease Control from using seven terms in certain documents...

    Quick, give me a single context in which it makes sense for CDC to avoid the words "science-based" or "evidence-based".

    Time's up. I know that wasn't long, but I thought I'd save you the wasted effort of spending more than 2 seconds looking for something that doesn't exist. If the CD-freaking-C writes "For science-based work" in the memo field of your paycheck, it's appropriate because that's the whole reason they exist.

    Any restrictions on this are nothing but political posturing. That Slashdot, WaPo, NYT, or any other group would be calling it out doesn't mean they're wrong.

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    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  13. Re:They must go nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Politics.

    In Republican/Conservative land, the result of conception it a baby. It's a baby from day zero, and calling it anything else is just an attempt to deny reality and dehumanise the baby so you can kill it. Only Nazis say fetus.

    Mike Pence, is that you?

    I guess you flunked out of high school biology class. Zygote, embryo, and fetus are legitimate scientific terms. That you want to humanize a few cells (zygote) or an embryo that could not possibly survive independently outside a womb, speaks volumes about your own particular agenda. And once the "baby" becomes a fetus, it's pretty damn rare that it's "killed" or aborted. Only in cases where the mother's life is in jeopardy will a doctor consider aborting a fetus.

  14. Re: Mentally unstable people run the government. by PoopJuggler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Call it whatever you want, it's still an officially sanctioned endorsement of double-speak at a scientific health department at the top level of the government. That should fucking worry you.

  15. Don't want your religion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your religious beliefs, made law, impinge upon my freedom. Why can't you live your own life, mind your own business, and leave the rest of us alone? You've already proved that you don't really believe what you espouse(voting for Roy, etc) so please don't force your so-called beliefs on the rest of us.

  16. Re:They must go nuts by meglon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ....and those who put freedom and privacy above women being forces to be nothing more than breeding chattel...

    Fixed that for you. And yes, conservatives don't give a fuck about anything other than fetuses. You fucking self-centered pieces of shit can't even renew a childrens health insurance to save childrens lives. You're not pro-life... you're pro-reducing women to second class citizens, just like your patriarchal bastard parents were.

    Until a woman gives birth, that fetus is nothing more than a parasite. Because you don't have a fucking clue about reality doesn't make it any different.

    But let be real here.... conservative policy INCREASES abortions. Access to contraceptives, and actual sex education is what drives down unwanted pregnancy, and stupid fucking conservative douche bags like you do everything possible to make those things harder for people to get.

    Fetus is a scientific term... but as we see from this dipshit news, conservatives are too fucking stupid to understand anything past their anti-intellectual fantasy land.

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  17. Re:They must go nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a fetus of less than 6 weeks is not yet a thinking, feeling person, because there is not yet a brian.

  18. Re:They must go nuts by jeremyp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You think "fetus", "science based" and "evidence based" are buzzwords?

    You are part of the problem.

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    All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  19. Re:All Fetus are Babies by meglon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No.

    Murder is legal definition, and until recently had never been applied to fetus... and the only reason it is now, in a few places, is because conservative con artists prey on the lack of intelligence of religious extremists and idiots like you to get into office, so they blur the line between your bullshit fantasy and reality... EXACTLY as this article points out they're doing now.

    If you want to see the cause of many more abortions, look at the worthless cocksuckers refusing to teach sex ed to teens so they can make better choices, and making contraceptives even harder to get so unwanted pregnancies can be avoided. Those are the worthless fucking baby killers... cunts like you.

    So, what we've shown is you know nothing about science, and nothing about the law... you're completely fucking worthless in this conversation.

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    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  20. You do know that Soviet style communism by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    isn't leftist, it's authoritarian/fascist. Look to the Scandinavian countries, France and when they're not taking after the USA Britain for leftist ideals.

    --
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    1. Re:You do know that Soviet style communism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Cool the usual talking points rsilver. This is not even a no true scottsman. It's a concentrated effort to rewrite history such that leftism can absolve itself of all it's wrongdoing. Not even republicans do that.

      Leftism is often called "tyrrany of the majority" by academic scholars with very convincing evidence.

  21. Re:All Fetus are Babies by dryeo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's easy to tell the people who don't want abortions happening, they try to prevent them through education, making birth control available and empowering women to say no.
    Then we have the average right winger who really wants to dominate women, keep them ignorant, impregnate them as early as possible, throw a big guilt trip on them to make them go through with the pregnancy and then put them down for being a single mother.
    You're right, the repression of women will be compared to slavery, just not for the bullshit reasons that you give.

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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  22. Re: They must go nuts by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's like being anti-electronics because Microsoft sucks. It's stupid. If your problem is with a corporation, or with corporations in general, then you should be anti-corporation, not anti-gmo.

  23. Re:They must go nuts by meglon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's the difference between me and you, dickwad... i don't presume to tell a woman how to feel about anything, nor to i have the mental handicap of thinking i know what's best for them. Stupid fucks like you, on the other hand, if you're truly serious about reducing abortions.. then you would promote policies that do just that like better sex ed for teens, and easy access to contraceptives, not ones that do the opposite like the bullshit abstinence only.

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  24. Re:They must go nuts by nightfire-unique · · Score: 4, Insightful

    +1.

    Honestly, whether or not abortiion is "right" or "wrong" is utterly irrelevant.

    We should be using terms like "forced birthers" because that describes what so-called "anti-abortionists" are supporting. Not saving a fetus, but forcing a woman to give birth without her consent.

    Perhaps in 100 years, we will rightly refer to forced-birthers with a similar disdain that we currently reserve for rape supporters.

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    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
  25. Re: They must go nuts by meglon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fact: most of the judges on the supreme court who voted for roe vs wade were conservative.

    Fact: the supreme court is supposed to be non-political positions. Additionally, as you can see by the stance of the members currently, ALL of the conservatives are against the Roe v Wade decision.

    Fact: More Republicans voted in favor of the 19th amendment than democrats did.

    You're conflating "republican" with "conservative" here. In the 1920's, democrats were the more conservative party.

    Fact: Jim Crow was a Democrat.

    Again, trying to suggest that democrats of the time were progressives; democrats of this time were radically conservative. Even brain dead idiots know that.

    And to those [citation needed] tools, highlight the facts, right click on it, and select "search in google".

    Fact: the only tool i see here is you. It takes an idiot to think that the republican party of the early 1900's even remotely resembles the modern day republican party. Modern republicans are the anti-thesis to Lincoln and his progressive republican party.

    Bet you didn't know those inconvenient facts did you?

    Yeh... i've seen your form of stupidity before. You're like the morons who think the NAZI's were socialists just because that word was part of their name. .. or One Million Moms who's membership is, what... less than 200k (and that's being generous). You mooks believe everything your masters tell you.... it must hurt to go through life as stupid as you are.

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    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  26. Re:They must go nuts by meglon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There is no possibility of thoughtful discourse when one side of the argument is intentionally choosing to be as ignorant as fuck. I'm not taking the intellectual high ground, i'm pointing out that reality says these people are fucking idiots and flat out wrong. You keep up your petty passive-aggressive insults, and try to feel morally superior... you ain't, you're just trying to look that way to gain whatever petty authority you think comes with it.

    Stupidity and liars should be roundly called out, criticized, belittled, and mocked until they quit being stupid, or till they quit lying. Why was this modded up? Who knows... maybe it's because people are fed up with the holier than though ignorant lying fucks that show up on these threads posting complete bullshit.

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  27. Re: Mentally unstable people run the government. by laird · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not just changing the words, it's changing the meaning. They are saying that decisions can't be 'science-based' or 'evidence-based,' but instead must be 'based on science in consideration with community standards and wishes." It's a way to force the CDC to do things (like perhaps denying global climate change, pretending lots of people aren't dying from gunshots, etc.) because saying those things would upset some "wishes".

    More than anything, this reminds me of the batshit crazy way the USSR politicized science, forcing people to do do insane things because they were ideologically correct, enforced by not just defunding research, but eventually imprisoning and executing thousands of scientists. This led to crop failures and famine, among other horrors, and of course derailed Russia science (and to a lesser degree, Chinese science) for decades. Details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... .

  28. Re: They must go nuts by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That last bit gives CDC the ability to say things like 'everyone in this situation should have a blood transfusion, unless their religion instructs otherwise' or 'everyone should get inoculated unless they have strongly-held opinion not to'...

    Well, that right there is the problem. It's a bit like the police saying "everyone should avoid drinking and driving, unless they really want to", or an air traffic controller saying "drop to FL 20 and reduce speed to 200 knots, unless your religion instructs otherwise".

  29. "Based on a true story" by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ever see that line before a movie? Lots of people will think that what follows actually happened. No, it didn't. It was cherry-picked for a few details to make it seem real but it's mostly B.S. Ergo, science-based should be treated the same way. People have gotten into the habit of using the word "science" as a trump card, no pun intended, when the reality is that a) they don't know what they're talking about and b) whomever they are quoting is probably full of crap but expects to be taken as gospel because, you know, they are scientists.