From the Seattle Times: “Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
Ed Note: It seems we now need to rework reality. It’s “there” but not “really there.” Green isn’t really green, it’s “non-blue.” When we know something scientifically, but can’t say it, it’s preferring disinformation to truth. We become confused and might even give up seeking truth. Years ago I took training in Parasitology at the CDC, a superb group of scientists dedicated to health research and preventative medicine. It’s so sad to see false restrictions laid upon them.
“In George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984, doublethink is the act of holding, simultaneously, two opposite, individually exclusive ideas or opinions and believing in both simultaneously and absolutely. Doublethink requires using logic against logic or suspending disbelief in the contradiction.
The three slogans of the party — “War Is Peace; Freedom Is Slavery; Ignorance Is Strength” — are obvious examples of doublethink. The act of doublethink also occurs in more subtle details throughout the novel.”
In a way, the CDC rules are beyond doublethink in that these rules actually forbid language that describes reality. Perhaps we are entering a new world of “virtual unreality.” Certainly it will become harder to describe what’s real as our government forbids reality based language. So virtual unreality and doublethink may go hand in hand as our institutions become weaker and weaker.
Bad enough, and terrible at that, that this double think now is included in the CDC or in the news but it is a whiff away from our classrooms and universities, ie centers of learning. This is terrifying as to its damage to young generations. I presume that all critical thinking skills and using one’s voice will soon be “locked up” but what do you THINK?
It’s 1984–the Texas Republican platform during a recent election banned “critical thinking” in the schools.