Laura Helmuth: The anti-science movement is "organized, it’s well-financed, and it’s politically motivated. It’s doing a lot of damage to the country and to American science and scientists. And now it’s reached a new level. It’s become a lethal force." --Peter Hotez with @tanyalewis.bsky.social

The anti-science movement is "organized, it’s well-financed, and it’s politically motivated. It’s doing a lot of damage to the country and to American science and scientists. And now it’s reached a new level. It’s become a lethal force." --Peter Hotez with @tanyalewis.bsky.social

Vaccine Scientist Warns Antiscience Conspiracies Have Become a Deadly, Organized Movementwww.scientificamerican.com Vaccinologist Peter Hotez explains how the movement to oppose science and scientists has gained power

That's a useful snippet with Dr. Hotez, but misses the political economy of undermining public health: effective policy requires tax money, which has been attacked by a neoliberal oligarchy for 50 years. The goal is: 'It's cheaper to let peasants die' and Hotez' assailants are the messengers.

Hotez is onto something, but he lacks something most Americans never learned in social studies: class analysis. This is all part of a larger deregulatory political agenda. Our threading of the needle is here: www.panaccindex.info/p/pandemics-...

Pandemics as Opportunity: The Dismantling of the American Regulatory Statewww.panaccindex.info As Many Americans Embrace a "Post-Pandemic" Fantasy, Wealthy Interests Work Overtime to Cripple Public Health

CC: @joho.bsky.social

Great interview! I’d also add that the Biden administration/CDC not educating the public on #LongCovid has helped give rise to the anti-vax and anti-science movement.

At the UK governing Conservative party conference this week we were treated to a poster which exhorted the faithful to Keep the Woke Out Of Science. Perhaps 'cos science generally attempts to discover truths about the world which they don't like. I say: 'Keep the Right Wing Nut-jobs Out of Science'

One of the 14 signs of Fascism

Anything Hotez says about health access is undermined by his own abhorrent views on who does and doesn't count as a human being. Someone eventually told him that everyone can see public Twitter posts, but not before he repeatedly criticized people in the global south for daring to want vaccines.

And disabled people who really do suffer vaccine injuries get cut out of the conversation EVEN IF THEY'RE PRO-VAX.

can we for once have an organized, well -funded and politically motivated "science is real, it makes your smartphone, home, car and society function" campaign ??

Totally normal, functional, modern democracy.

Lethal for whom exactly. The brain drain has to have started right? It must be in full force. I feel it.

There's no way they'll stop at medical science or climate science - it'll be all science. Successive waves of lunatics topping each other on the road to some sort of desired fame.

Welcome to the new dark age !