The real reason people don’t trust science has nothing to do with scientists

The real reason people don’t trust science has nothing to do with scientists

Written by Dan Vergano Edited by Gina Breiner

“We’re all trying to find the guy who did this,” said Hot Dog–Costumed protagonists of 2019 comedies I pretended not to know who crashed the hot dog-shaped car and sketched it.

In this sketch that became a popular meme, bystanders didn’t buy his story. Scientists and the rest of us Now that I think about it, I might follow their lead. A survey of public trust in science conducted by Pew Research Center every November.

According to the Pew survey, 76 percent of respondents expressed “a lot or a great deal of confidence that scientists will act in the public’s best interests.” That’s a slight increase from last year, but still down from pre-pandemic measures, and suggests an additional 1 in 10 Americans have lost trust in scientists since 2019. .

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why? Many news articles about Pew’s statement and its findings somehow missed the obvious culprit: a four-year propaganda campaign. By Donald Trump’s allies shift responsibility to scientists His first government was disastrous; Failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic At least 1.2 million Americans have died so far.

Hot dog shops will also be blue. transparency of scapegoat. It was apparently done to vaccinate President Trump. From voter responsibility for the pandemic. The propaganda started four years ago. impudent USA TODAY screed From Peter Navarro, the administration’s economic advisor (later sent to federal prison). at an unrelated charge). Navarro unfairly blamed Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for countless failures in the administration’s pandemic response. similar stupidity For years, starting with President Trump’s White House of right wing nonsense and a surreal hearing ended by Republicans last June. Pandemic committee members do everything but wear hot dog costumes when questioning Fauci. frown The scientific leader behind COVID vaccine it saved millions of lives in a combative hearing It turned out to be both shameful and insidious.

But Pew results show that this propaganda has had an effect on some Republican voters. According to the survey, the decline in public trust in science is almost entirely within that range, with approval ratings plummeting from 85%. among Republican voters In April 2020, it increased to 66%. That hardly swayed those who weren’t forced to listen to historical revisionists talk night after night in echo chambers. masking, school and business restrictions, Vaccines were not a necessity either. To prevent deadly new diseases. No wonder Republican voters do so. The excess mortality rate was 1.5 times People among Democrats after the coronavirus vaccine arrives.

Pew’s statement about the survey, instead of addressing the role of this propaganda in the survey results, only pointed to the perception held by 52% of respondents that scientists are not “good communicators” and that “researchers are not good communicators.” 47% of respondents said they felt superior. to others,” the survey found.

This explanation echoes the “kicks” that scientific institutions have plastered on the back of their distrust since at least 1985, when the Royal Society warned of “even (cold) indifference to science and technology” in a report.・Reflects the “Me” sign. Public understanding of science. “Scientists must learn how to better communicate with all segments of the population,” he concluded.

This prescription is consistent with the scientific response to the Pew study’s findings, with National Academy of Sciences Director Marcia McNutt telling the Washington Post, “This prescription will do whatever it takes to restore trust in science.” “It gives us an opportunity to reconsider the situation.” And this is consistent with the following advice from the December NASEM report on scientific misinformation: In the wrong context. ” This completely ignores the main type of scientific misinformation that dominates the modern public sphere: the deliberate misinterpretation of science to advance political ends.

It’s no secret what’s going on. Lawmakers and other spokespeople funded by the oil industry have similarly vilified climate scientists for decades in order to avoid paying the price of global warming. A study published in the American Sociological Review in 2016 concluded that the gradual loss of trust in science among the American public from 1974 to 2010 was almost entirely among conservatives. . These conservatives embrace “limited government” politics, which conflicts with the advisory role of science’s “fifth branch” in creating regulations. This can be seen most clearly in the FDA’s resistance to President Trump’s request for mass approval of dangerous drugs to treat the coronavirus. Such political preferences have made mistrust of scientists collateral damage in a half-century of regulatory attacks. The unscientific, limited and woefully inadequate government response to the 2020 pandemic fueled this outrage, fueled by hatred of Mr. Fauci, and the lack of science we see today. It just hurt trust.

“Surveys are good at measuring attitudes and explaining changes in views over time; they are less good at analyzing potential causal relationships,” says Pew. When asked why he refrained from disclosing this apparent link, study lead author Alec Tyson replied: “While beyond the scope of this particular effort, we share an interest in scholarly efforts to understand the role of partisan rhetoric and the broader information environment in shaping opinions.”

Their distaste doesn’t mean we all have to play pretend that the roots of distrust in science are rooted in politics. Perhaps the clearest sign of this propaganda effort is that Republican politicians are excited about their own supply of anti-science hokum. As President Trump returns to the White House, his choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services is completely unqualified. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., His anti-vaccine advocacy contributed to 83 deaths from measles. He received his PhD in American Samoa in 2018. Researchers from Stanford University were selected for the National Institutes of Health. Jay Bhattacharya, 1 of 3 authors About the fatally incorrect 2020 plan—Pressured President Trump at the time.—spur the coronavirus infectious disease According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America, it would have caused “hundreds of thousands of severe illnesses and preventable deaths.” Neither of these hot dog dude choices should be allowed near our vital health institutions.

“Obviously this is the guy,” the officers say at the end of their sketch of the hot dog guy, before starting a chase. It is equally easy to recognize where today’s distrust of science comes from.

This is an opinion and analysis article and the views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the author. scientific american.