The Patriot Post® · Pandemic Priorities: CDC Pushes 'Woke' Words

In the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evidently has the time to publish a guide for language “principles for inclusive communication.” Published on August 24, the new guide demonstrates that the virus of leftist “wokeness” has infected the nation’s primary disease agency.

The new language usage guidelines stress that “health equity is intersectionality” and therefore, the CDC contends, words such as “diabetics” and “the homeless” are “dehumanizing language.” Never mind the fact that such words are scientifically or socially specific and accurate terms, no matter the negatives associated with those individuals finding themselves in such conditions. In other words, using language honestly and accurately is not grounds for charges of “inequity.”

Demonstrating that its objective is to use language to push political views rather than uphold scientific accuracy, the CDC’s guide provides a list of terms — which up until a month ago were considered perfectly sufficient for providing accurate communication — to be replaced with new ambiguous terminology from the “woke” lexicon.

For example, the term “biological male/female” is to be replaced with “assigned male/female at birth.” Another word to be rejected is “inmates,” which will instead become the unwieldy term “people who are incarcerated.” And, of course, “illegal immigrants” should never be used — rather, it’s “people with undocumented status.” Laughably, the guide claims these as examples for public health officials to “avoid jargon and use straightforward, easy to understand language.”

As it was under Barack Obama, so it is under Joe Biden. Federal government agencies like the CDC are being used to force a hard-left “woke” ideology onto the American culture at large. The reason language is explicitly attacked is because it is the primary means of controlling the political conversation.

The CDC defends its new language guidelines by hiding behind a dodge: “Nothing in the guiding principles is prescriptive.” But the guidelines themselves expose that such a claim is merely a diversion. The first sentence states: “To build a healthier America for all, we must confront the systems and polices that have resulted in the generational injustice that has given rise to health inequities.”

The clear purpose of the CDC’s guide is not to pursue clearer and more scientifically accurate public communication. Rather, it is to indoctrinate the public into Marxist equity ethic via the use of “inclusive” terminology that, ironically, is anything but inclusive.