Scientific disagreements are very common, as are folks who take these personally. When the ‘facts’ are tenuous, each side claims victory even though there is no resolution. Most of the time, these debates are esoteric. No one (else) cares. 1/
The debates play out, sometimes quite viciously in the pages of scientific journals. “Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics because the stakes are so low.” (Sayre) But we are now in a new reality. The stakes could not be higher. 2/
Every single piece of news about covid19 plays out in the front pages of the worlds newspapers. Every person with a computer fancies themselves a virology sleuth (some are very good tbh). From masking and shutdowns, then vaccines, these debates drive our politics. 3/
How could they not? So many people have died. Now the conversation has moved to the origins of the virus. But what is true now is that the debates are no longer academic or public health debates. National security interests are at play. It is hard to be dispassionate. 4/
But, here’s the thing, we still need the best minds at work here. The pandemic is not over. Channeling violence through words or actions against scientists you disagree with is wrong, full stop. To do so blithely ignores the reality of actual violence being visited upon them. 5/
It is not a moral victory that a talented scientific leader, even one you think is completely wrong, has chosen to stop engaging and has been forced to expunge his Twitter history. Let’s call it what it is: a shame which I fervently hope does not lead to something worse. /fin
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