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Jerry Coyne on Cancel Culture’s hit on medical science

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Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, at one time a Cancel Culture zealot himself (see the Ball State story, where Coyne himself instigated the Cancellation of Eric Hedin’s course ) is now becoming a useful source of information on the latest shutdown of civilization.

This time it’s Medspeak (courtesy American Medical Association) – insisting that physicians use only Woke terminology in describing problems. For example,:

“Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts,” a strange document that calls for doctors to insert progressive politics into even plain statements of fact…

3/ For example, the word ‘vulnerable’ is out. You’re not supposed to say “vulnerable groups,” because this doesn’t communicate progressive political beliefs. Try “Groups that have been economically/socially marginalized.”

4/ The document doesn’t have any guidelines for doctors who don’t think each and every instance of ‘vulnerability’ can be tied direcly to injusice, but that sort of seems to be the point: to expurgate any language that *could be interpreted* as anything but progressive.

Jerry Coyne, “Jesse Singal: The AMA jumps the Woke Shark, introduces Medspeak” at Why Evolution Is True (November 1, 2021)

The new terminology would make it hard for most family doctors to talk plainly about typical health issues around, say, obesity or substance abuse very clearly. One doesn’t get the impression from any of the Woke rhetoric that the patient can decide to make changes that lead to better health. Yet people in all social groups do that every day.

Anyway, Coyne is way more useful fighting this than fighting design in nature.

You may also wish to read: It begins at last… T. H. Huxley, Darwin’s bulldog, about to be Cancelled – other early Darwinists to get the chop soon, we hear. W. D. Hamilton, Ronald Fisher, and J. B. S. Haldane are also threatened. We never thought it would happen but it is happening… so fast.

Comments
Bad me; I thought "vulnerable groups" in medical parlance were immuno-suppressed people, people with genetic predispositions to disease, or seniors more at risk for medical problems. What does that have to do with "economically/socially marginalized"? On the other hand, I am surely socially marginalized by politically correct thinking. Does that make me part of a "vulnerable group" in their eyes? I rather doubt it. This is just more nonsensical silliness!Fasteddious
November 3, 2021
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The original "woke-speak" was for Darwinism, where every single feature had to be "evolved to do" this or that, even lacking any evidence of the case. No evidence was required to say a mutation was random. No evidence was required to say that something came about via natural selection. So I find it ironic that Coyne is now fighting the existence of such speech after being a de facto proponent of it for years. Hopefully he will gain wisdom from this for the future.johnnyb
November 3, 2021
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"Medicine" switched to Nazi holocaust in 2020. It doesn't really matter what words they use to describe torture and genocide, it's still torture and genocide.polistra
November 2, 2021
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