Thursday, March 31, 2022

Science, Scientists and the Press

 First of all, the Press is out to sell a story. They want eyes and they are driven by internal political world views. The Press is not some benign organization of truth seekers. It a group of ego driven characters who want to get as much personal benefit as possible.

Second, scientists and in this I would include physicians, do not understand the press, but the younger generation feel they can push their own world views along with their view of what science says.

Third, science is ever changing. What is accepted today may be rejected tomorrow. History is filled with examples.

Now Science has a piece bemoaning the attack on these poor scientists when they expose themselves via the press. They note:

When Marion Koopmans, a virologist at Erasmus University Medical Center, visited a museum in Amsterdam with her family last year, she was spotted by the wrong crowd: people who hate Koopmans because of her work on COVID-19. “They started really yelling, banging,” she says. “Security locked the doors.” Since early in the pandemic, Koopmans has found herself targeted by people who believe the pandemic is a hoax, the virus was created intentionally to cause harm, or vaccines are dangerous. She has received death threats, been accused of belonging to an elite network of pedophiles—a belief held by devotees of the QAnon conspiracy theory—and told she should be tried for crimes against humanity. Now, Koopmans no longer makes public appearances without first alerting the police. As a frequent guest on Dutch TV, “I cannot go out on the street anonymously,” she says. Her family is not comfortable walking outside with her, and they worry about her ever traveling to the United States, where much of the vitriol originates.

 These scientists fail to understand the common person, the one who lost their job, have been quarantined and lack food or human companionship. The scientists pontificates from their safe sinecure while the press positions and promotes their world view. The naive scientists has no idea what their pompous words will do to the masses. The become characters out of "The Big Bang Theory", oblivious to the human race. 

Perhaps the best solution is to stick with their science and avoid the press.