Trump administration targets certain words, and the bureaucracy pushes back
Last edited Thu Dec 21, 2017, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
Trump administration targets certain words, and the bureaucracy pushes back
By Juliet Eilperin and Lena H. Sun December 21 at 3:15 AM
The Trump administration is waging a linguistic battle across official Washington, seeking to shift public perception of key policies by changing the way the federal government talks about climate change, scientific evidence and disadvantaged communities.
The push drew fresh attention after employees at the Department of Health and Human Services were told to avoid certain words — including “vulnerable” “entitlement” and “diversity” — when preparing requests for next year’s budget. But the effort to disappear certain language and replace it with other terms is much broader, sparking resistance from career officials in multiple federal agencies, outside experts and congressional Democrats.
Climate change, for example, has for months presented a linguistic minefield; multiple references to it have been purged repeatedly at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department. In late summer, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention issued a document to employees and contractors bearing a column of words and phrases to be avoided, alongside a column of acceptable alternatives.
The one-page “language guidance” document recommends using “all youth” instead of “underserved youth,” referring to crime as a “public issue/public concern” rather than a “public health issue/public health concern” and describing young people who commit crimes as “offenders” rather than “system-involved or justice-involved youths,” according to a copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post.
The document also says to avoid “substance abuse disorder” in favor of “substance abuse issue.” That runs counter to attempts by experts to raise awareness that substance abuse is a disease.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-targets-certain-words-and-the-bureaucracy-pushes-back/2017/12/20/3c9bc6c4-e42e-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html
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See also: Justice Department Language Guidance on Criminal Justice Terms (at Document Cloud)
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