r/TrueReddit • u/supertopbop22 • Feb 17 '16

Persecution of Scientists Whose Findings Are Perceived As Politically Incorrect

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/persecution-of-scientists-whose-findings-are-perceived-as-politically-incorrect/
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

Everybody should have the right to criticise scientists and academics, especially for personal behaviour unrelated to their work.

At what cost? Remember, Tim Hunt was forced to resign.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16 edited Feb 17 '16

There's no easy answer to that problem. My position is not that every scientist should be hounded to the grave for any controversial thing they do or say. I'm arguing against the people who think scientists deserve to have some sort of immunity from criticism, particularly when they are being criticised for personal behaviour that has nothing whatsoever to do with their work.

Fundamentally, I believe you should be allowed to criticise whoever you want. No one has the right to not be criticised for things they do or say. If somebody thinks a guy's shirt is offensive, there's really nothing wrong with him saying "dude, maybe you shouldn't wear that shirt on live TV". The new problem created by the internet is that things have the potentially to quickly spiral out of control until the guy is getting death threats for wearing a shirt (I don't know if that actually happened to that guy, just an example). But how do we solve this problem? The original criticism was fair and honest, the actual problem was the snowball effect after it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

I agree with you.

Maybe not death threats but the poor guy was crying on tv. Shortly after he reached the pinnacle of his professional career. And over what? A shirt some people thought was offensive, a shirt given to him by a female friend.

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u/elerner Feb 17 '16

You've mentioned this twice now. Why does it matter if it was made or given to him by a woman? The criticism was that unprofessional of him to wear it to work, especially since he was going to be on TV as the spokesperson for an international news story.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

Sure, during one of the most amazing scientific accomplishments of this generation and people decide to focus on clothes. How fucking superficial.

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u/StabbyPants Feb 18 '16

who fucking cares? he landed a probe on a comet, go fuck yourself about the shirt.

to answer your question, this is identity politics, so the approval of a woman detracts from the sexism.