Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: There is a troubling new expansion of antiscience aggression in the United States.It's arising from far-right extremism, including some elected members of the US Congress and conservative news outlets that target prominent biological scientists fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.A band of ultraconservative members of the US Congress and other public officials with farright leanings are waging organized and seemingly well-coordinated attacks against prominent US biological scientists.In parallel, conservative news outlets repeatedly and purposefully promote disinformation designed to portray key American scientists as enemies.As a consequence, many of us receive threats via email and on social media, while some are stalked at home, to create an unprecedented culture of antiscience intimidation.Over the spring and summer of 2021, four major incidents stand out.First, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced house bill 2316 [1].The "Fire Fauci Act" called for halting payment of Dr. Anthony Fauci's salary as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and auditing his digital correspondence and financial transactions.Greene's follow-up press conference on 21 June 2021 included 13 Republican House supporters or co-sponsors, possibly the largest congressional delegation in modern times to single out and attempt to humiliate a prominent American scientist.Also in June, the Republicans organized a House Select Subcommittee on the origins of COVID-19 with the presumption that it was ignited by gain-of-function genetic engineering research from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.Despite evidence pointing to spillover from a viral infection in bats to additional mammals and ultimately humans accounting for previous coronavirus epidemics [2], the hearings took on a sinister tone, pointing fingers at virologists both in the US and China.Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), stated that Dr. Fauci was "afraid of something" and falsely claimed that he was covering up the engineering of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus [3].The far-right media harasses or stalks other prominent US scientists, including Dr. Peter Daszak who heads the EcoHealth Alliance and conducts research on the zoonotic origins of human virus infections [1].
Source: PLoS Biology
Author: Peter J. Hotez
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,000
OpenAlex ID: W3183141864