Call off word police

I am stunned to learn that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) will receive a terrible, tweeted tongue-lashing by the Trump administration if they use seven forbidden words or phrases in any official document being prepared for next year’s budget.

These “offensive” words are not the normal four-letter words that rebellious kids and immature adults use to defy social norms. No, these are acceptable words found in any dictionary, school, or other decent social setting.

These forbidden words are: vulnerability, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based.

And to top it off, the Trump administration has generously provided alternative phrases. Instead of “science-based” or “evidence-based” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes”!

Excuse me, but when did “community wishes” become a litmus test for science? Whose community? This pronouncement has more in common with a fascist, totalitarian, dictatorial Orwellian society than a free, democratic, truth-seeking society. This is a slippery slope of gigantic proportions.

When will Congress wake up and realize that Trump and his lies are the bigger threat to society than any evidence/science-based word, thought or person?

Jeannette Murphy

Spookane