Guys, we don't know how to break this to you, but trust in science is declining (along with 'adjacent' fields like media and higher ed.
Shocking, we know.
Trust in science is declining. Same for adjacent institutions (higher ed, media). I guess it's hard to link it to any one event (like it's hard to attribute any one weather event to climate change). But these things have a cumulative effect.https://t.co/RNQfvqRjLA https://t.co/AfyNYLN1Ff
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 7, 2023
When it comes to the standing of scientists, 73% of U.S. adults have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests. But trust in scientists is 14 points lower than it was at the early stages of the pandemic.
The share expressing the strongest level of trust in scientists – saying they have a great deal of confidence in them – has fallen from 39% in 2020 to 23% today.
As trust in scientists has fallen, distrust has grown: Roughly a quarter of Americans (27%) now say they have not too much or no confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests, up from 12% in April 2020.
Gee...what happened in April 2020 that could have undermined the public trust?
Is all that the scientific community's fault? No, definitely not. The right-wing and general anti-intellectualism play a role. But this was a HUGELY influential paper on the most important pandemic in a century, and the authors *didn't believe what they wrote*. It's a huge deal.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 7, 2023
'Right-wing' and 'general anti-intellectualism' isn't it.
To be clear, the tragedy is not that the public has lost their trust in institutions. The tragedy is that the institutions are not trustworthy.
— Ken Smith (@smithkl42) December 7, 2023
Exactly this.
Institutions lost trust. The 'right-wing- and 'anti-intellectualism' are not to blame.
So-called "climate change" is irrefutably a scam. You lose all credibility using that angle.
— JWF (@JammieWF) December 7, 2023
Most "science" has joined it.
Once credibility is gone, it's not coming back, at all.
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Since the 70s, they have told us the world was cooling, then warming. Cities were supposed to be underwater by now. The ice caps all but melted.
And that hasn't happened.
Never mind that the world's elite jet off the Dubai while telling us to eat bugs.
Stop calling people experts when they clearly are not would be a good start.
— Dog guy (@Catsorange1) December 7, 2023
This would be a good start.
How in the everloving f* is media adjacent to science?
— Ed Ruffin (@Ruffin_Shot) December 7, 2023
That's the most telling part: that media is 'science adjacent'.
If so, it's only in the sense that both are untrustworthy.
The most important part of that thread is the first tweet, where he says “media” as a field is science-adjacent.
— NOVA_Sabre (@novasbre) December 7, 2023
Understand that, and understand the root of the problem.
This is a brilliant observation. Both clearly have an agenda now, and people see it. Which is why both are losing public trust.
The criticism for Silver would land better if his observation was unequivocal, to your point, noting that it has been the political left's persistent and brazen distortions of "Science!" as a non sequitur of policy arguments.
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) December 7, 2023
Exactly.
It's worse than just being terribly wrong about the consequences of alarmist claims made about anthropogenic global warming and an escalatory rebranding of that under the name of climate. It's their totalitarianism, demonizing of dissenting views on policy.
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) December 7, 2023
And they suddenly forget science when it's time to talk about things like, oh, say, gender.
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) December 7, 2023
Yeah. How many genders are there, according to The Party Of Science that is the Left?
There are at least two problems causing distrust of scientists:
— Boo (@IzaBooboo) December 7, 2023
1. Ultracrepidarianism, i.e., scientists and other experts using their status as experts in one area to claim expertise in another area. Typically for political argument.
2. This, which is basically lying. https://t.co/0OmouSJAoo
Nailed it.
Yeah, that's what happens when you lie all the time. People stop believing you. https://t.co/aGLi4r6nXt
— Eric Spencer (@JustEric) December 7, 2023
It's really that simple.
Science 'experts' have lied to us for ages. Usually for political gain.
Why is anyone surprised we don't trust them?
Science™️ is nothing more than a sect of progressivism making utterances of faith and pretending they’re objective, testable truths. https://t.co/BVtQs10nOh
— Hooch (@CompanyHooch) December 7, 2023
A religion of the Left.
kinda happens when the "institutions" are repeatedly caught in lies https://t.co/SuE2rfagxd
— Ahmed Al Asliken 🕋☪️✈️ (@assliken) December 7, 2023
And you can't unring that bell.
Trust in science hasn't declined. Trust in *scientists* has declined. Rightfully. Because they have abused their position to pursue politics, instead of science https://t.co/lJ0gIwkulz
— David Boxenhorn (@davidboxenhorn) December 7, 2023
This is getting more to the heart of it: it's the people, the scientists, who have damaged science.
Trees, meet Forest https://t.co/STxaL07XEf
— The Streeter (@thestreeter) December 7, 2023
Update:
— themirroredtruth (@mirror4truth) December 7, 2023
It is not in fact hard to link it to any event/s
"we're all trying to find the guy who did this" https://t.co/191G4bBX6k
COVID, climate change, transgender issues. Very easy to link to events.
It's a shame, really, because science is important. And it's been corrupted by the Left.
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