5 ms·

The growing failure to speak about science, technology, and policy without politically coding the speech has caused irreparable damage to public science, techno

The growing failure to speak about science, technology, and policy without politically coding the speech has caused irreparable damage to public science, technology, and policy discussion. Perhaps the most egregious example was the liberal coding of vaccination during the pandemic, with the self-fulfilling prophecy that vaccine skepticism is for the other tribe of people who are bad. You had people with preexisting conditions terrified of making a private medical decision because of the extreme political coding that both sides egged on to hysterical extremes.

PKop 4y ago
It is a delusion to presume that politics can be avoided, escaped, or isolated. That institutions of power or prestige within society ever can or ever were devoid of politics, that they can exist and operate in a vacuum. This ideological faith clouds judgement, more realism is necessary to navigate these issues.
- wikitopian 4y ago
  I'll see your realism and raise you one. The belief that science, technology, and environmental policy can transcend partisan politics is necessary for western society to function. If you step over that in your eagerness to apply postmodern analysis, you'll introduce even greater challenges than the ones we're already barely capable of addressing.
  - PKop 4y ago
    The challenge is not introduced, it is always there to varying degrees. Again, your statement seems to presume you can have political enemies that will ignore the distinction (that they have existential differences) and put it aside. I'm not saying there is no way to address political reality, but that it cannot be ignored or presumed to not exist. At some points the intractable political conflict must be solved first before you can get back to science and technology amongst friends.
tzs 4y ago
> Perhaps the most egregious example was the liberal coding of vaccination during the pandemic What is "liberal coding of vaccination"?

PKop 4y ago

It is a delusion to presume that politics can be avoided, escaped, or isolated. That institutions of power or prestige within society ever can or ever were devoid of politics, that they can exist and operate in a vacuum. This ideological faith clouds judgement, more realism is necessary to navigate these issues.

wikitopian 4y ago
I'll see your realism and raise you one. The belief that science, technology, and environmental policy can transcend partisan politics is necessary for western society to function. If you step over that in your eagerness to apply postmodern analysis, you'll introduce even greater challenges than the ones we're already barely capable of addressing.
- PKop 4y ago
  The challenge is not introduced, it is always there to varying degrees. Again, your statement seems to presume you can have political enemies that will ignore the distinction (that they have existential differences) and put it aside. I'm not saying there is no way to address political reality, but that it cannot be ignored or presumed to not exist. At some points the intractable political conflict must be solved first before you can get back to science and technology amongst friends.

tzs 4y ago

> Perhaps the most egregious example was the liberal coding of vaccination during the pandemic What is "liberal coding of vaccination"?