That isn't the hand of government at work. The term "scientist" is itself only ~200 years old. For centuries it was called things like "natural philosophy".
We just haven't figured out a good antonym yet. Unfortunately, with the Latin root scientia meaning knowledge, the natural choice might be ignorantia. But ignorance is already in widespread use. Just try accusing someone unscientific of being ignorantific & see how that goes!
I felt Pirsig quite hit the nail in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, with his Romantic versus Classical dichotomy. I'm not sure I'll explain correctly, sorry, but that's what I often come back to, when I meet disdain or lack of trust in 'science'.
We just haven't figured out a good antonym yet. Unfortunately, with the Latin root scientia meaning knowledge, the natural choice might be ignorantia. But ignorance is already in widespread use. Just try accusing someone unscientific of being ignorantific & see how that goes!