Federal science agencies’ gender and race speech codes come under fire

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By CASEY HARPER

THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s speech guidelines for scientists have been criticized for embracing critical race theory and ideas of gender ideology.

The Center Square recently reported on NIST’s “Inclusive Language Guidance,” which tells scientists what words or phrases they can or cannot use in reports.

The guidelines, for example, tell federal employees to avoid using the terms “blacklist” or “whitelist” because of racial connotations and also warn against “the use of terms that assign gender to inanimate objects, such as male/female connectors”.

The guidance also tells report writers to “avoid terms such as master/slave that perpetuate negative stereotypes or unequal power relations.”

“This new language code from the National Institute of Standards and Technology is just one more sign that the Biden administration is only going deeper and deeper into the racialization and sexualization of everything,” said Mike Gonzalez, a expert from the Heritage Foundation, at The Center Square. . “It puts ruinous critical race theory and gender theory on steroids.”

NIST is a federal agency created to help the United States innovate and compete scientifically and technologically with rivals like China. Congress has allocated about $1.65 billion to the group for 2023.

Many scientists and researchers have begun to sound the alarm over the growing politicization of scientific research and related agencies.

“While most people might view science as somehow immune to politics, in fact science has completely taken over science and in doing so has completely corrupted science,” said Scott Turner , which works with the National Association of Scholars. Center Square. “As a result, science is no longer the reliable source of objective knowledge and advice that the public has long believed in.”

NIST is not the only entity devoting its attention and taxpayer dollars to these efforts as it struggles to keep pace with its key mission. The trend has become common across all federal agencies.

“It’s not just a waste of time; prioritizing these absurd issues comes at a cost,” Gonzalez said. “NIST is supposed to help us stay technologically ahead of our enemies, especially China. Looking up from the balloon to conduct a witch hunt for terminology that fits the new orthodoxy is not only an Orwellian foray into language, but it puts us at a disadvantage.

NIST spokesperson Jennifer Huergo defended the guidelines, telling The Center Square that they “were created primarily for the benefit of NIST staff experts…”

“Using inclusive language helps avoid potential gaps in understanding that could result from using colloquial or idiomatic expressions that are rooted in particular historical events or regional dialects,” she said. declared.

Turner, a professor emeritus at the State University of the New York system, said the focus risks hurting the United States’ “scientific advantage.”

“Of all institutions, the National Institute of Standards and Technology…should be immune to politics and ideology,” he said. “The definition of the meter, the determination of the second, the mass of the kilogram, the temperature scale, have no political dimension. Guidelines for controlling the meaning of words and phrases are just the nose in the camel’s tent that will eventually destroy America’s waning technical and scientific advantage.

“Our scientists need to keep their eyes on the ball, focused on their research,” he added. “Issue of this new directive will only have them constantly looking over their shoulder, worrying about how to state this or that fact, rather than engaging in truth-finding without fear of Stalinist dictates. “

Lawmakers recently hammered the Pentagon for investing heavily in critical race theory and gender ideology. The National Institutes of Health have done it too, along with other agencies.

“President Biden and his administration continue to set aside the real priorities of government and drive us deeper into debt by spending taxpayers’ money on woke, militarized and wasteful initiatives,” Rep. Bob Good said. R-Va., at The Center Square. “The Department of Defense is undermining our national security by focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Now that the Republicans control the House, we cannot hand over a blank check to the politicians in the Pentagon.

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