The latest example of an academic institution partaking in this ritual is the American Society of Human Genetics – publisher of the prestigious American Journal of Human Genetics. ...Everybody says that science was misused to support eugenics a century ago. Maybe that is true, I don't know. I have not seen examples of science being deliberately distorted for political reasons, as it is now.Anyway, one paragraph in the statement did catch my eye. It outlines some of the “challenges” facing human genetics, one of which is “denouncing the warping of science for advocacy agendas”. Here, they’re presumably referring to the misuse of science to justify racism and eugenics.
What’s remarkable, though, is that the very same paragraph includes this sentence: “ASHG encourages individual members, peer societies, academic centers, agencies, industry partners, and others to reflect on how everyone’s contributions will help foster inclusive equity agendas.”
So on the one hand, we must denounce the “warping of science for advocacy agendas”. But on the other, we must “help foster inclusive equity agendas”. You can’t make it up! They even managed to use the same word “agenda” in both places.
Scientific American has published for 150 years or more. Only in the last several years has it gotten overtly political.
Roger,
ReplyDeleteOpen inquiry is as much a mirrage as a reality.
Science has been misused for political purposes all along, you just need to know your history and the context and where to look. Often these political purposes were in other parts of the world, like with Lysenkoism in Russia, which resulted in millions starving to death for the sake of the State being unwilling to admit it bet on the wrong horse. Galileo ran afoul of the Church not because the Clergy didn't know about various alternatives to heliocentric models (They did, they often taught those alternative models in universities run by the Catholic Church) but because Galileo unwisely shot his mouth off challenging political authorities of his day and mocking them openly...Much the same as present day where any doctor or researcher who spoke out against ridiculous government policies about Covid being contained by masks and 'six feet apart' magical thinking and fradulent pharmaceutcal claims designed to rake in billions of government money...perpetually it now turns out by encouraging and manipulating fear. The CDC and Saint Fauci actually orchestrated the professional blacklisting of many epidemiologists and researchers who were just trying to figure out the damn origin of the disease... just like all other diseases before it. Who knew that tracking the origin of a disease could be considered practically political sedition and 'DISINFORMATION'. Sheesh. Me thinks the scientists need to get out of the bed their politicians lie in. Pun intended.
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose