[Linganth] CDC Language ban

Liz Crocker lcrocker at bu.edu
Mon Dec 18 15:46:09 UTC 2017 

You might consider reaching out to: https://envirodatagov.org/. They had a
presentation at the recent AAA meeting about how they have been tracking
web changes to EPA resources including side-by-side language analysis of
webpages under Obama and Trump. Here is a blog post written for Cultural
Anthropology that was authored by someone at EDGI
https://envirodatagov.org/environmental-data-guerrilla-archiving-and-the-trump-transition/
.

They might be a great resource for considering how you could develop a
similar program for the CDC and NIH with relation to the "banned words."
Tracking these changes systematically also provides power in being able to
quantitatively show how organizations are changing messaging and resources
via language shifts and what that might mean for health and funding. For
example, check out this report by EDGI that shows how they made subtle
language changes such as largely removing the word "carbon" from EPA
resources and swapping in alternative language:
https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/WM-CCR-18-EPA-Smartway-Program-170919.pdf
That report was picked up by the Washington Post, Politico, and the Hill
among others.

Cheers,
Liz

On Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 9:54 AM, Judith Pine <Judy.Pine at wwu.edu> wrote:

> This is marvelous! And inspiring. I like that it seems to me to attack the
> problem, and that it gives it a name. That seems as if it might, perhaps,
> enter the national discourse in a productive way.
>
>
>
>    - Judy
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* William L. Leap <wlm at american.edu>
> *Sent:* Monday, December 18, 2017 6:02:49 AM
> *To:* Louis Romer; Judith Pine; LINGANTH; Steven Black
> *Subject:* RE: [Linganth] CDC Language ban
>
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/opinion/trump-cdc-
> transgender.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20171218&nl=
> opinion-today&nl_art=5&nlid=74526359&ref=headline&te=1
>
>
>
> Judy Pine’s comments also noted,  here is another way to think about  Dr
> Fitzgerald remark.  Once references to  controversial issues are
> sidelined,  of course that which is important  can be freely discussed .
>
>
>
> Wlm L Leap, PhD
>
> Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, American University,
> Washington DC
>
> Affiliate Professor, Center for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies,
> Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton FL
>
> Senior Founding Editor, Journal of Language & Sexuality
> http://www.benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/jls
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Louis Romer [mailto:lromer at vassar.edu]
> *Sent:* Sunday, December 17, 2017 9:53 PM
> *To:* Judith Pine <Judy.Pine at wwu.edu>
> *Cc:* LINGANTH <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>; Steven Black <
> stevepblack at gmail.com>; William L. Leap <wlm at american.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [Linganth] CDC Language ban
>
>
>
> An update:
>
> @CDCDirector tweets:
>
>
>
> “I want to assure you there are no banned words at CDC. We will continue
> to talk about all our important public health programs.”
>
>
> https://twitter.com/cdcdirector/status/942423509124427776
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_cdcdirector_status_942423509124427776&d=DwMFaQ&c=U0G0XJAMhEk_X0GAGzCL7Q&r=8gvIwdkfYA0asooKAesUKg&m=kOBe070hqwuC6CmDHPc4SrWsciWcAjU9PqKBFJMAwzQ&s=fqJrKOClW0GCs7pEaERDopCOTJI-pkbySMwzlAS3HYg&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 20:39 Judith Pine <Judy.Pine at wwu.edu> wrote:
>
> Dear Bill,
>
>
>
> Thank you for this response. I clearly have not communicated my position
> very effectively, and I welcome the opportunity to clarify what I intended
> to say.
>
>
>
> I do not mean in any way to imply that the discriminatory practices of the
> current administration, and those of the GOP more generally, are in any way
> acceptable, nor that we ought not to fight them with ever weapon at our
> command. I just want to be quite careful of where we aim our weapons, to do
> the most damage to these pernicious and toxic policies.
>
>
>
> Clearly, we need to address this, and, if it is self-censorship, to point
> out the fact that there is no neutral option here. If it is the case, as it
> may perhaps be, that people are being told their budgets are at risk if
> they use particular language, we must make a statement against this. My
> point was only that we would want to consider potential unintended
> consequences of our actions, and to avoid accidentally having a negative
> impact on funding for programs that we value.
>
>
>
> I may be over-cautious here, but I certainly am not saying we should do
> nothing, nor that this sort of censorship is acceptable, even (or perhaps
> especially) if it is self-censorship.
>
>
>
> - Judy
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Linganth <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf
> of William L. Leap <wlm at american.edu>
> *Sent:* Sunday, December 17, 2017 6:48:18 AM
> *To:* Steven Black
>
>
> *Cc:* LINGANTH
> *Subject:* Re: [Linganth] CDC Language ban
>
> “So it’s a pre-emptive sort of thing, not a prohibition coming from the
> administration but rather a bureaucratic strategy to deal with (probably
> quite accurate) anticipation of the administration’s response.”
>
> Judy et al. *please* reread Lal Zimman’s excellent posting re the
>  implications here for “transgender.”
>
>
>
> This  administration has affirmed its prohibition on the transgender
> question.  Eliminating the category eliminates possibilities of services to
> transgender women and men. People’s lives will be affected, all the more so
> if the “health care mandate” options are eliminated and related options
> curtailed under the new tax plan. This is a bit more systematic than
> discrimination.
>
>
>
> (Sorry if Trump bashing offends, but in this case,  Trump and his people
> have made their call and they are not on our side of the struggle.)
>
>
>
> Wlm L Leap, PhD
>
> Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, American University,
> Washington DC
>
> Affiliate Professor, Center for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies,
> Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton FL
>
> Senior Founding Editor, Journal of Language & Sexuality
> http://www.benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/jls
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.benjamins.com_-23catalog_journals_jls&d=DwMFaQ&c=U0G0XJAMhEk_X0GAGzCL7Q&r=8gvIwdkfYA0asooKAesUKg&m=kOBe070hqwuC6CmDHPc4SrWsciWcAjU9PqKBFJMAwzQ&s=LFGbTWJb06xvaY4d75V0j9iHuyYPLNlzmd-l-7K2lJU&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Linganth [mailto:linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Steven Black
> *Sent:* Sunday, December 17, 2017 8:36 AM
> *To:* Janina Fenigsen <jfenigsen at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* LINGANTH <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [Linganth] CDC Language ban
>
>
>
> I’ve been looking for good ways to incorporate health-related issues into
> the committee on Language and Social Justice, and this certainly looks like
> a good topic for that group. I will raise the issue with the group.  From a
> public health/ global health discourse perspective, there is a lot going on
> here. I agree with Judy that there seems to be an element of
> self-censorship here (which is also disturbing).
>
>
>
> Exclusion of “transgender” is obviously discriminatory. The replacement of
> “evidence-based” with some phrase about science and community is more
> opaquely problematic. A core anthropological critique of contemporary
> public/ global health is that health interventions prioritize “data-driven”
> interventions to the exclusion of cultural/ community perspectives.
> Addressing this critique is clearly NOT the intent of this censorship, but
> any op-ed or statement writers need to be cognizant of this anthropological
> critique even as they/we call out the many problems with the word banning
> (whether it is self-censorship or other-censorship).
>
>
>
> If anyone who is not on the social justice committee is interested in
> working on issues of health, language, and social justice, you should join
> the committee! It is an open group.
>
> Please excuse any typos (sent via mobile device)
>
>
>
> Steven P. Black
>
> Department of Anthropology
>
> Georgia State University
>
>
> On Dec 16, 2017, at 11:03 PM, Janina Fenigsen <jfenigsen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Judy, excellent points, thank you!
>
>
>
> janina
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 4:01 PM, Judith Pine <Judy.Pine at wwu.edu> wrote:
>
> I’m interested in watching the information come out on this.  At this
> point, my sense is that what may have happened is some bureaucrats, as they
> prepare their budget request, have decided that if they avoid these words
> they will be more likely to get funded, and if they have these words in
> their budget they’ll be less likely to get funded. So it’s a pre-emptive
> sort of thing, not a prohibition coming from the administration but rather
> a bureaucratic strategy to deal with (probably quite accurate) anticipation
> of the administration’s response.
>
>
>
> So this may be an effort to get things funded by re-labelling them without
> changes in content. I think, though, that it is that this strategy will
> backfire, as the labels re-shape the contents and everyone struggles in the
> dark to figure out what they are supposed to be doing. But how do you get
> bureaucrats to avoid “bureaucratic weasel-wording”?
>
>
>
> And if we point out the changed wording and it results in the
> administration and the legislature cutting the funding for the programs,
> where does that get us? Not that weasel-wording is a good thing, but I’m
> not sure pointing it out solves the fundamental problem. Maybe, instead,
> publicize the positive results of programs that use these words, using the
> words in the titles? Ideally, successes in Republican-leaning areas if
> possible?
>
>
>
> -          Judy
>
>
>
> *From:* Linganth [mailto:linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Leila Monaghan
> *Sent:* Saturday, December 16, 2017 1:39 PM
> *To:* Galey Modan
> *Cc:* LINGANTH
> *Subject:* Re: [Linganth] CDC Language ban
>
>
>
> One way to fight this “ban on words” might be to publicize every document
> that the CDC publishes with changed words, pointing out the changes.  This
> ruling hampers everything from getting information about the elderly to the
> fight against Zika.
>
>
>
> Leila
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 2:15 PM, Galey Modan <gmodan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Any ideas how we as an organization might fight this?
>
>
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/
> cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-
> diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_
> story.html?utm_term=.ad1d1b951b0d
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.washingtonpost.com_national_health-2Dscience_cdc-2Dgets-2Dlist-2Dof-2Dforbidden-2Dwords-2Dfetus-2Dtransgender-2Ddiversity_2017_12_15_f503837a-2De1cf-2D11e7-2D89e8-2Dedec16379010-5Fstory.html-3Futm-5Fterm-3D.ad1d1b951b0d&d=DwMFaQ&c=U0G0XJAMhEk_X0GAGzCL7Q&r=8gvIwdkfYA0asooKAesUKg&m=yuMZGp--44GnEmA6YVM8_uomhvTiRSRtQJjabY4h34Q&s=T254d4iOs_tNTIa4w-uNYLGVnNa1y3MxxRq5FfdtXC0&e=>
>
>
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>
> --
>
> Leila Monaghan, PhD
>
> Publisher, Elm Books
>
> Laramie, Wyoming
>
>
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> ______________________________________________
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