Thread by @dgurdasani1

It's incredibly painful listening to people talking about 'toxicity on both sides of the debate' or 'scientific disagreements that are undermining pubic trust' when my experience on this platform is largely being bullied by, not 'disagreed' with on evidence by other scientists.🧵

Most people I challenge on the evidence don't respond to me on arguments I make at all. They attack me personally with sarcastic or snide remarks or subtweets - almost never clear and evidenced arguments. They never accept or acknowledge errors. This is not 'academic debate'.

This 'both siding' creates a sense of false equivalence between scientists who are being subjected to coordinated bullying just putting out well-evidenced information and those who are either putting out damaging misinformation in a pandemic, and/or bullying other scientists.

I find it interesting that calls for 'civility' often come from those who have bullied and trolled others, or in response to critiques of people (e.g. GBD proponents) who have put out dangerous misinformation that has informed policies costing tens of thousands of lives.

And no this isn't a 'disagreement' or 'different interpretation of evidence'. This is dangerous pseudoscience:
'naturally acquired herd immunity is desirable'
'masks don't work'
'mitigations not needed after vaccines'
'children aren't affected by COVID-19 & don't need protection'

So I do challenge colleagues on misinformation & misinterpretation or presentation of flawed evidence- I'm firm & unapologetic about it. But I'm direct- I don't make snide & sarcastic remarks. I don't lie, slander, or subtweet. So don't conflate me with my trolls. It's offensive.

And it's not helpful when you ask me to 'sort it out via DM' with people who are bullying and trolling me. They may be scientists and colleagues, but they are still bullying me, and asking me to 'sort things out' with people who are being abusive is unhelpful.

It doesn't recognise or validate my experience, which is unrelenting, and painful to the point of being traumatic. Would you ask someone who was being bullied or abused in another context to 'sort it out with their bully' or abuser? If not, why do you expect me to?

I'm tired of being tone-policed. If you don't like outspoken unapologetic direct women, I'd suggest you stop following me now. I'm not going to change my tone to make you or others feel comfortable, so if you're holding out hope for that, it's probably not worth your time or mine