What’s Gone Wrong - Science needs Open Debate, not Fact Checkers
1 minute read
Science moves forward through an open debate of different ideas. It is not ‘static’. Ideas and theories ebb and fall away when there is no good evidence to support them, and they crumble on being challenged.
Through the Covid era, many fell into the trap of believing that only a single narrative had the right to be aired. What came from government ‘experts’ and the BBC were seen as THE truth, which could not be questioned. Fauci even said he was ‘THE SCIENCE’ (1).
Anything that did not fit the single narrative was labelled ‘misinformation’ on social media, and scientists and medics who questioned the narrative were vilified and smeared, despite being eminent academics in their field, such as those who led the Great Barrington Declaration (2). Censorship is not how science or a democracy operate. It is does not serve the advancement of science or the protection of the public.
Take for example Pfizer’s role in funding the partner company to Facebook checkers (3), as recently revealed by a National Pulse investigation (4). There is a clear conflict of interest with a drug company linked to fact checking. ‘He who pays the piper, calls the tune’. Pfizer have a vested interest to serve its shareholders, and not to permit any criticism of their products in the public arena. Allowing powerful corporations the opportunity to control the narrative in relation to public health is an absolute disaster. Power must lie with experts and institutions independent of vested interests. This is so critical for the best health outcomes, I am staggered any who believe in democracy and optimum health, seek to justify otherwise.
Information labelled as misinformation or removed from social media, later has become accepted by the establishment. For example, in late spring 2021, a large group of Israeli doctors wrote an open letter (5), to release initial information, suggesting young males were at higher risk of getting myocarditis following the Covid shot. This was valuable information, but rather than an open examination of the issue - which is good science - social media penalised people for posting about it. I received ad hominem attacks for doing so, and the doctors letter was removed from the public domain. Today, that this problem of myocarditis exists post Covid shot, is accepted by the establishment, and is highlighted on the government’s own website.
Censorship of new and different scientific ideas belongs to communism. We are witnessing the same attempt to present a single narrative on ‘climate’ change and mislead the public that the science is settled on this, when many scientists don’t agree. Just recently over 1100 scientists published a report to say they did not accept human activity is leading to a climate emergency (6).
Pushing a single narrative whilst shutting down debate of different views belongs to totalitarian societies. It is anti science and anti democratic. I am a bit like a stuck record on the subject because it is vital to have open debate in an open society. If this is too painful for some, I suggest they move to China.
References
(1) https://launchliberty.com/watch-fauci-claims-i-am-science-in-bizarre-and-insane-rant-against-evidence/
(2) https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/08/02/the-smear-campaign-against-the-great-barrington-declaration/
(3) https://www.icfj.org/our-work/burns/sponsors
(4) https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/02/25/pfizer-funds-facebook-fact-checking-partner-combatting-covid-19-misinformation/
(5) https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/304124
(6) https://clintel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WCD-version-06272215121.pdf