We’ve created something in science, and scientists, that I don’t think scientists would ever have wanted in a pre-pandemic world.
The ideas that A) science is factual. B) science is always right. C) there is ‘best science’ and ‘worst science’ and the category it falls into is based on some unknown factor which has stopped being solely about the methods used to formulate the hypothesis. D) Everyone is supposed to blindly follow the science without question. E) Anyone who doesn't lacks education / critical thinking, or are conspiracy theorists / tin hatters.
None of these things have ever been expected of us or science until, apparently, now.
Just as this mindset that anyone not being completely altruistic is shunned as selfish has never happened until, apparently, now.
Again I disagree on this.
This is something that I would argue has been going on for at least the last 30 years if not longer and is part of the rise of the 'culture wars', neoliberalism, issues with big pharma, the 'commercialisation of morality' and the huge use of spin in politics so that it has become increasingly difficult to hold certain groups and organisations to account.
There are a number of people who have raised concerns about the quality of science out there in various areas and how ideas have been marketed and data which doesn't align with the message has been suppressed. Margaret McCartney is one who has drawn up concerns and the other particularly famous name on this is Ben Goldacre.
I've personally been banging on like a broken record about some of these issues on MN for well over a decade now.
McCartney's premise is that we have created a culture of the 'worried well'. This is where people who have better health to begin with are increasingly getting more time and attention from doctors - and not always in their own interests. And people with more complex and difficult health issues struggle to get proper access to good healthcare at all even though they need it more. This has created something of a two tier system which runs along poverty and educational lines. Where public health interacts we have deliberately created the idea of 'virtuous behaviour' and behaviour which falls outside this and isn't invested in (because there is little financial or political benefit to doing so). And thats creating huge problems in various ways.
We have got ourselves into a huge mess where theres often not the level of scrutiny and accountability there should be. One of my pet hates is how the media report various new papers on scientific studies. They almost always publish just the press release and don't bother to read the actual paper. The trouble is what a study actually says in the detail can all too frequently be completely at odds with the press release but no one bothers to check! It drives me nuts. Instead you end up with ideology dominating more than it should over the science and no proper room for debate about what the science really says or doesn't say.
The trouble is over a long period of time this has created almost this idea of the 'undeserving and difficult patient' in the same way as the 'undeserving poor' which is a basic failure to understand the social issues and a general long term failure of public health which hasnt adequately targeted the much more complex social needs of the people who need it most.
This has led to a growing lack of understanding and a division within the country.
Disinformation thrives on fear and long term neglect of problems. People turn to it because authority has failed them.
We can talk about altruism and altruistic societies here a lot but part of that involves a relationship with the state and the concept of ourselves in relationship to the state. Fear again plays a part in that relationship. Authoritarian states which demand loyalty aren't necessarily getting more altruistic behaviour - if you fall out of line with the state's desired behaviour you suffer personally. Thats more individualistic than we acknowledge. That doesn't necessarily protect the public either - it means there is less likely to be whistleblowers who highlight medical scandals or crisis. (See how China initially handled the outbreak of covid by trying to suppress knowledge of it).
The single central problem here that underpins all of this is the decline of critical thinking and the decline in acting in the common interests of all and instead focusing on the easy wins for most applause and quick reward rather than putting in the harder graft to address the more difficult issues in society. Problems are swept under the carpet and ignored and left for the next group of people to tidy up.
None of its healthy. But PR and marketing wins. Its rife in the charity sector, the pharmacy sector, the nhs generally and in politics.
To say that covid is the start of an undermining of science is grossly out of touch. Covid has shone a spotlight on it but it also coincidenced with a moment in time where the cracks in the entire facade of the PR commercial complex are starting to show and the public at large are starting to distrust it.
I'd also add that for all the talk of the uk not being altruistic on this, we still have one of the highest rates of vaccination in the world - over 80% of adults having a first dose so far isn't to be sneered at and I think in time our eventual full vaccination rate will be the envy of many other countries. I believe this already exceeds the hopes of public health officials and our general compliance with regulations has exceeded what was hoped for and factored into behavioural planning. Where this has failed most has been in areas with highest deprivation issues and the least ability (rather than willingness) to socially isolate generally and this in turn has led to greater distancing and quicker breakdown and discipline on regulation (because there is no benefit to people in this group who already feel perhaps 'deliberately sacrificed' for the benefit of others and have carried the burden of altruism by continuing on the front lines).
I probably sound like the most boring person on the planet but i do think these forces and trends are not instant and are never as simplistic as people try to make out they are. The complexity of the is the very reason why the problems we have today seem to be long term entrenched and ingrained.
Just this week ive seen comment that if you compare a map the covid hotspots with a map of victorian child poverty they are very similar. Make of that what you will.