In February of this year, a new organization was formed to combat the anti-intellectual, anti-knowledge MAGA administration: Stand Up for Science.
The organization has three policy goals, the most important of which (in my view) is the first: ending censorship and political interference in the conduct of science. As the website reminds readers, science can only thrive when there is open inquiry and evidence-based decision-making. Stand Up for Science therefore demands an end to government censorship, including restrictions on the topics of scientific research that are eligible for federal funding, the restoration of public access to the scientific information that has been scrubbed from federal websites, and full public access to primary scientific sources.
In addition, Stand Up wants legal safeguards against political interference to preserve the integrity of federal research and communication and a commitment to freedom of scientific expression– protection of scientists’ rights to communicate their findings freely, without fear of retaliation or suppression.
The organization also wants to protect government funding for scientific research, and wants the government to continue prior efforts to ensure that citizens of all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to become scientists.
The site describes several activities that citizens can take to display support for unbiased, rigorous scientific research. Most do not require a science background–just a belief in the importance of intellectual honesty. But perhaps the most significant effort currently being launched is Stand Up’s demand that Congress impeach and remove RFK, Jr. for lying to Congress under oath and for failing to uphold the mission of the department under his charge.
You can read the organization’s entire letter to Congress on its website. A couple of paragraphs will convey the tenor:
Since being sworn in as HHS Secretary, Kennedy has falsely claimed that the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine causes death, terminated $500 million in mRNA research contracts, canceled studies in vaccine hesitancy, dismissed all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and dictated changes to vaccine recommendations and timelines without scientific evidence. The list below—which we update daily—outlines key evidence supporting our charges.
During his brief tenure, Kennedy has continued a years long disinformation campaign promoting pseudo-science that has resulted in preventable deaths, the disruption of the world’s preeminent biomedical research ecosystem, violation of medical data privacy statutes and regulations, billions of dollars in economic losses, removal of public data, ethical and research misconduct in the production of government reports, the adoption of public health policies and guidelines that are in direct opposition of scientific evidence, and the unlawful termination of thousands of dedicated public servants.
I spend a lot of time on this platform advocating resistance. I realize that it isn’t always easy to find opportunities to participate in that resistance, but supporting groups like Stand Up for Science by adding one’s name to their declaration is clearly one such opportunity.
It’s probably too much to hope that the invertebrate Republicans currently dominating Congress will actually act in the people’s interest and rid our government of this massively unfit and dangerous conspiracy theorist, but the louder the calls for his removal and the wider the promulgation of information about why he poses such a threat to the well-being of all Americans can only help Democrats dislodge those poor excuses for legislators during the midterm elections.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Signed up and ready for this fight.
How are you doing, Sheila? We care and hope your recovery is going well.
Connie (and others who may be interested): my recovery is coming along. Slower than I’d like (I’m an impatient person, just ask my kids!), but a bit better than I was told to expect. It hasn’t been a full month yet, and I can do more each day.
Thanks for asking!
Standing Up for Science is another way to express the concept of returning to a truth-based society.
It’s easy to overlook the similarity between the Scientific Method and the oath sworn to by those who are called to provide evidence in Courts of Law, both of which are based on uncovering the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about a hypothesis, a criminal charge, or a civil suit. The best human standard for finding what’s true is: does a statement of possibility hold up to rigorous scrutiny by what has been observed by multiple qualified viewers and by measurement of data or through tough adversarial questioning.
The truth is that important, yet sometimes hard to discern, whereas we all have and believe opinions based on more casual processes.
It might even be said that opinion is worthless, but sometimes all that is available. We say it may be the court of last resort, but too often it is the court of first resort, and we settle for it, when what we ought to spend time on is applying more rigor to not settle and believe, but to search and find better evidence. In other words, don’t believe gossip and rumors.
Life is a search for the truth, whole and nothing but.
“Political science is the social scientific study of politics. It deals with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. Specialists in the field are political scientists.Political science is the social scientific study of politics. It deals with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. Specialists in the field are political scientists.”
Trump, MAGA and the current Republican administration is using Political Science against all other Sciences to rule America as a sovereignty; otherwise known as a “coup”. The beginnings of Military Rule in L.A. and D.C. using the excuse of controlling crime is, in effect, controlling American citizens who have only read about Military Coups in third world and terrorist nations. Their stand against all Sciences began long before Trump’s rallying of this nations’ mega-millionaires, billionaires and to support his political campaigns to draw in the uninformed who confuse having wealth as having intelligence.
“Only when the last tree is cut down. Only when the last river has been poisoned. Only when the last fish has been caught. Only than will you find that you can’t eat money.” Cree Indian prophecy
Stupidity is free; that is why it is so popular and so strongly adhered to.
“It’s probably too much to hope that the invertebrate Republicans currently dominating Congress will actually act in the people’s interest and rid our government of this massively unfit and dangerous conspiracy theorist,It’s probably too much to hope that the invertebrate Republicans currently dominating Congress will actually act in the people’s interest and rid our government of this massively unfit and dangerous conspiracy theorist,…”
No idea how that copy and paste was repeated but I apologize. Don’t lose sight of the fact that it is all part of the electronic scientific control we live with these days.
Looked it up, and signed up. Adding to JoAnn’s point: Stupidity is effortless, and just there for the taking.
Sheila, I’m glad to read that you are doing better.
None of the Trump attacks on science will end until he and that corrupt, stupid and backward-thinking SCOTUS members are gone. They are, collectively, the horror show that Sinclair Lewis told us about in 1935.
Done. I’m glad to hear you are healing, albeit slowly.
I guess that just stresses the importance of being active in what your child is learning and encouraging critical thinking from a young age.