Thread by @Ayjchan

Going up against experts who believe in a natural origin is tough because their field expertise & seniority are often enough to convince non-scientists of a particular argument.

Many who can’t understand the science put their trust in established experts. This is reasonable.

But what’s even tougher is dealing with the small anti-science crowd that believes in a lab origin and is out to get scientists. As a result even true experts who want an investigation of lab origins are painted with a broad brush as unscientific or even responsible for violence.

If you see anonymous people attacking scientists, regardless of which side, I urge you to ask them to stop or report them. These attacks distract from the scientific issue at hand and make it more difficult to hold scientists and leaders accountable.

Why is it important to stop attacks on scientist from people “on your side”?

First of all, these attackers make the people “on their side” appear science illiterate, unreasonable, and dangerous.

Second, everyone is distracted by having to address the excessively uninformed and abusive attacks. This gets in the way of informed and appropriate efforts to seek transparency and accountability.

We will get to the truth of the matter much faster if we all stop with the name-calling, doxing, threats, false accusations, and abusive attacks.

Anyone engaging in the above behaviour is selfishly setting everyone back.

Please, to anyone deciding whether or not to harass a scientist, consider if you are really just making this about you and will actually give your opponents ammunition to call your “side”unscientific, unintelligent, and uncivilized.

Imagine who a regular person would rather put their trust in.

On one side, you have top experts publishing papers in reputable journals who report being attacked and threatened violently.

On the other side, you have people photoshopping scientists’ faces onto bats and viruses.

I can give you a concrete example of how attacks on scientists obstruct an investigation into a lab (or natural) origin.

I’ve seen FOIAs blocked because of threats to personal safety. This means that experts who have important info can cite belligerent threats to withhold info.

So if you have a friend or acquaintance that has a habit of threatening scientists, anonymously or not, privately or publicly, please advise them that their current approach is completely counterproductive and can be used by their opponent to block inquiry.