The last time we checked in on the American Medical Association, it was advocating that sex be removed from birth certificates. Now Jesse Singal reports that the AMA has just released “Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts.” The word “equity” should throw up red flags for anyone who’s been watching was departments of diversity, equity, and inclusion have been up to in the corporate, government, and academic worlds.
Like much “anti-racist” training, the guide kicks off with a “Land and Labor Acknowledgement,” listing the tribes displaced from where the AMA’s headquarters now stands, and also acknowledges “the extraction of brilliance, energy and life for labor forced upon millions of people of African descent for more than 400 years.”
The American Medical Association has just released "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.https://t.co/bmOdFsQQLf pic.twitter.com/xRg5xXXWpi
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
For example, plain statement of fact: “Factors such as our race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status should not play a role in our health.” The revision: “Social injustices including racism or class exploitation, e.g., social exclusion and marginalization, should be confronted directly, so that they do not influence health outcomes.”
2/ After the lengthy "Land And Labor Acknowledgement" — new to me but apparently the evolution of the land acknowledgement — the document quickly lays out guidelines that would make it very hard for doctors to write or speak clearly. pic.twitter.com/O6EhiSSDEF
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
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." pic.twitter.com/4n7eL7iw3M— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
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.
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
5/ Another example I find telling: "People who do not seek healthcare" is to be replaced with " People with limited access to (specific service/resource)." But poor people don't always know what services they have access to — this is a pretty well-known thing. So in some cases, pic.twitter.com/WeAuwzWWrX
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
6/ yes, they fail to seek healthcare, and it just isn't quite accurate to say they don't *have access* to it. In an attempt to make sure the language is 1000% on board with a fairly coherent vision of progressivism, this guide makes it harder for doctors to speak clearly.
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
7/ I don't think any of this is binding, but it's really striking that the AMA would spend so much of its time creating a document trying to get everyone to sound like a graduate of an elite school, often at they expense of clarity and accuracy.
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
8/ Read literally — and keep in mind that this style of writing and thinking is so muddled that you'e going to have a bad time if you do that — the AMA seems to be saying that a paralyzed person who "does not identify as having a disability" is not disabled. pic.twitter.com/88udzXTzPL
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
9/ An epidemiologist DMs to say "We are not allowed to call it 'violent victimization'. JAMA Psych forced us to call it 'subjection to violence' and JAMA Pediatrics 'experiencing violence'. … harder for us to get cited by criminologists who won't search for the made up names." pic.twitter.com/dK8Wyp2C8W
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
10/ Using language that likely wouldn't be endorsed by many or most members of the group in question, for Inclusion. pic.twitter.com/VSdWQvQ9d1
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
11/ It's nice out and I'm going to touch grass, but last thing I'll say is that the weirdest corner of DEI provides a growing number of full-blown careers, and one of the ways these folks justify their professional existence is the backlash to their weird, stilted language.
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
12/ This AMA thing is obviously going to cause some outrage but the response to the outrage is never "Huh, maybe we should try to reflect mainstream America a bit more," but "This just proves people don't get it and require more Education." It's a very clever business model.
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) October 30, 2021
Singal’s right; the AMA is changing the language to make it difficult to express yourself without subscribing to progressivism — very “1984.”
Related:
‘RIP science’: American Medical Assn. says sex should be removed from birth certificates (and people have thoughts) https://t.co/TMuxAsvFCX
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 31, 2021
