They love to use hearses on the front cover. It’s effective. Click-bait gone wilder.
Nullius In Verba. In other words, don’t take anyone’s word for it, is the Royal Society of Modern Science’s motto, the leading Academy in scientific research and the publishing home of Isaac Newton, Darwin, Einstein and Hawking. Remember that next time you hear the mantra “Follow the science!” the favored slogan of the science consumer. But when the philosophy of science is open to interpretation and even evidence can be parsed out differently across academic fields and research programs, the advice to follow the science is closer to denial of the scientific method and science itself—to apply healthy skepticism in interpreting evidence rather than following blindly the ‘scientia’ of the day. How do we follow the science when often and by rule of good science, scientists disagree among scientists on the science? Whose science and from what Academy?
No doubt science has influenced philosophy and the social sciences and philosophy has influenced science. The marriage of the two has created an osmosis of language that has infiltrated the public sphere. In many ways this is good and forms a scientific culture, in worst cases, the language of science has been lost in translation, misused or pushed through political agendas (i.e. Nazis, eugenics). As we become consumers of 3rd party scientific publications and media labs drive trickle down science into the hands of conspiracy theorists and obey or die 'follow the science' traffickers, language is the linch-pin with the power to transmit panic or knowledge when a new pandemic arrives. Call it science-fiction preparedness. It would have been useful to know that the coronavirus is less contagious than influenza due to its lower burden and need for longer physical contact than with influenza to spread. It may have eased our minds to know that the geographical scale of a pandemic does not equal its severity. (Madhav N, Oppenheim B, Gallivan M, et al. 2018)
How about following credible science? How do we judge credibility, verifiability? We don’t. We trust authorities because, let’s be honest, unless we majored in physics or pursued paths in medicine and other sciences, most of us non scientists have only a high school level of science background plus or minus a college elective in the bio sciences or biology—the equivalent of a 6 month subscription to Science Magazine and a handful of articles we may have read to feel smarter and navigate through the conundrum of public health guidelines that change daily.
By the time the “science”
reaches the public it has mutated into a dogma of orders, mandates and restrictions with no regard for freedom of conscience, no consideration of human motivation or general understanding of self preservation and the ability of the individual person to make responsible personal decisions during a pandemic.
The missing link is in the interpretation of science through media and journalistic science down to the public, a triage of complicated data that does not answer the broader questions of risk management. In a functional scientific culture, wouldn’t there be a diffused ownership of decision making on public health issues between the CDC, economists, educators, medical professionals and private citizens avoiding a monopoly over social behaviour?
Throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, governments have played the moral obligation card all the while curbing freedom of conscience. But moral obligation is always a matter of conscience because it is through conscience that we encounter moral principals. If we consider that in light of the new social order where private citizens and governments are using coercion and public shaming to downplay individual liberty for the sake of the common good, we lose our civil equilibrium and moral ground. The classical liberal outlook that allows all freedoms as long as those freedoms do no harm just as in the Hippocratic Oath pledged by doctors “to do no harm” is pushed aside in the name of science.
What we learned from Covid-19 is that fear is much more contagious than the virus itself and we witnessed its spark risk in full display by where it began and how quickly it spread to our minds, consciences and livelihoods. This monster that we have created from our interpretations of science has produced a contagion of paranoia and our own virus of social sanctions. The following article is the culmination of this consequence and it always begins with “the State Department of Health”...(I hear an escaped from the insane assylum alarm in those words)...Check out the word cloud on this one...(calamity, force, dictates, raged, peril, restrain, shame, shame, shame, crisis, death march, caskets, detrimental, experts).
Editorial, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 9/5/21:
“The state Department of Health order regarding masks takes effect Tuesday, Sept. 7. It will remain in effect indefinitely.
It should remain in effect until science dictates that it is no longer needed.
As things stand, districts are not allowed to “restrain, use force or physically remove” those who refuse to comply with wearing a mask.
in other words, this “editorial board” wishes people were restrained, forced and physically removed for non compliance
"That’s a mistake. Anyone who defies the order should be sent home. Many school districts do this for violations of dress codes. The stakes in this situation are much higher”
More fear spreading...here is where they mention the “proximity threat”:
“A public health crisis isn’t just on our doorsteps. It has crossed the threshold.
...here comes the “children at risk part” the most successful fear mongering tactic to win over parents so far:
“And the only question before us at this moment is whether we will let this crisis grip the throats of our children. How sick will they get? Will they die? Or will the calamity be limited only (only?) to their learning?
...the Hospital prop is classic:
“What more is needed for reason to prevail? Hospitals overflowing with child-patients? A death march of pint-sized caskets“?
they are really on the children thing, can we get Steve Martin to do that last bit? ....And cut!!!
A similar script was presented in an Atlantic article where the word calamity was actually used, not to mention a hearse parked at a hospital on the front cover. They love to use hearses. It’s effective. Click bait gone wild.
the final spin “Education Advocacy groups” the same groups that wanted schools to stay closed:
“The Education Law Center, a group of nearly 50 education advocacy groups, has pleaded for a universal mask mandate. The Pennsylvania State Education Association has supported it. All public health officials have wanted it”.
Now for the final pitch “the experts”:
“The experts have spoken. The public must listen. The battles must end. Mask up”.
The editorial was published on September 5, 2021 at 5 am (just in time for school). Welcome back kids!!
Behold: the monster. Now tell me who was going to personally sign THAT piece? Hense, the editorial “board”. Here is the State Department of Health. Here are public health officials. Here is the State Education Association. Where are the people? We know how Shelley’s Frankenstein ends, let’s hope that civil discourse, diversity of thought, scientific discussion and freedom of conscience continue to provide the natural immunity to the virus we have created and when we do follow the science, we consider the human approach.
*****CODA******
Bibliography
2. Wang, Chunfa (2018) Scientific Culture and the Construction of a World Leader in Science and Technology.
3. Editorial
4. Madhav N, Oppenheim B, Gallivan M, et al. “Chapter 17 Pandemics: Risks, Impacts, and Mitigation”. 2018 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank.
References
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right. France, Amsterdam 1762.