• About
  • Team Members
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Journal News
No Result
View All Result
  • US
  • News
    Mark Levine powers Manhattan BP run with unpaid interns

    Mark Levine powers Manhattan BP run with unpaid interns

    Asian man sucker-punched in unprovoked Central Park attack

    Asian man sucker-punched in unprovoked Central Park attack

    Long Island woman dies after car rolls over her in own driveway

    Long Island woman dies after car rolls over her in own driveway

    Off-duty MTA workers caught spray-painting van in NYC: cops

    Off-duty MTA workers caught spray-painting van in NYC: cops

    Cuomo signs law granting families increased visitation to nursing homes

    Cuomo signs law granting families increased visitation to nursing homes

    NY’s Legoland hit with $600K in environmental fines

    NY’s Legoland hit with $600K in environmental fines

    Trending Tags

    • Commentary
    • Featured
    • Event
    • Editorial
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Travel
  • US
  • News
    Mark Levine powers Manhattan BP run with unpaid interns

    Mark Levine powers Manhattan BP run with unpaid interns

    Asian man sucker-punched in unprovoked Central Park attack

    Asian man sucker-punched in unprovoked Central Park attack

    Long Island woman dies after car rolls over her in own driveway

    Long Island woman dies after car rolls over her in own driveway

    Off-duty MTA workers caught spray-painting van in NYC: cops

    Off-duty MTA workers caught spray-painting van in NYC: cops

    Cuomo signs law granting families increased visitation to nursing homes

    Cuomo signs law granting families increased visitation to nursing homes

    NY’s Legoland hit with $600K in environmental fines

    NY’s Legoland hit with $600K in environmental fines

    Trending Tags

    • Commentary
    • Featured
    • Event
    • Editorial
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Travel
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Biden isn’t ‘following the science’ so much as leading it

admin by admin
March 5, 2021
in Opinion
0
NYC starting door-to-door Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines
0
SHARES
5
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

[ad_1]

In our increasingly secular age, being on the side of science is similar to being on the side of God — a way to settle an argument by not actually making an argument. Just enlist an unassailable authority and move on.

That’s how Joe Biden campaigned for president, vowing to “follow the science” on the COVID-19 pandemic wherever it led him. Only now it seems like he’s leading the science as much as the science is leading him. And that was inevitable.

First, as with God, it’s sometimes difficult to know what science says. This isn’t meant as an anti-science talking point. Science is good. Science is real. But science doesn’t speak on every issue with a booming voice that clears all doubts like a thunderclap scattering pigeons. Sometimes scientists — the high priests charged with telling us what science says — disagree with each other. (Priests also have their disagreements. You can look it up.)

And sometimes science gets things wrong. Phrenology — basically palm-reading applied to your skull — was briefly considered cutting-edge science. It’s now widely recognized as pseudoscientific quackery. Today’s “settled science” is often tomorrow’s “I can’t believe we said that.”

Then there are politicians. They rely on the experts. But they tend to rely on the experts who tell them what they want to hear or advise them how best to do what they already want to do. Liberal presidents rarely hire right-wing economists, and vice versa. This doesn’t mean anyone is necessarily acting in bad faith. It’s just how things tend to work.

There’s also the problem of scientists trying to think like politicians. In any given year, public health officials — at the CDC, NIH, etc. — issue all manner of advisories and guidelines. It’s important work. Doctors and local government officials heed this stuff. But you know who doesn’t? Most Americans.

In 2009, there was a major swine flu pandemic. Do you remember sitting on the edge of your seat for the latest CDC guidelines or advisories? You might if you had special health considerations or a job that required it. But for most people, such statements were the equivalent of the white noise Charlie Brown’s teachers would make in the old Peanuts cartoons.

The COVID-19 pandemic is different. The lives of Americans have been disrupted on a mass scale not seen since World War II. So everyone is paying attention. This must be a heady experience for many public health officials. If your normal experience involves desperately trying to get the attention of the public and the media, and suddenly you have the opposite problem — people hanging on your every utterance — you approach things differently. This isn’t a point about inflated egos or power going to anyone’s heads, though I think that would be a natural point to make (with some merit). Rather, it’s a point about a very real policy challenge.

For instance, last summer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked by TheStreet.com why health officials had publicly downplayed the importance of masks given that the science is clear about their efficacy. He explained that masks were in “short supply,” and officials wanted to make sure there were enough for the health-care workers who needed them most. It was a perfectly legitimate concern. It was also an admission of a lie.

One could argue it was noble lie, but you can’t say the same about the Biden administration’s various equivocations, denials and misdirections on the issue of schools reopening.

Last month, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said science was on the side of kids going back to school as quickly as possible. The next day, the White House — no doubt chastened by teachers unions — walked that back. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Walensky was speaking in her “personal capacity.”

This week, the governors of Texas and Mississippi announced they were lifting lockdowns and mask mandates. I think that was a mistake but not an outrageous or obvious one. Florida lifted such rules long ago, and it has performed better than California and New York. Biden called the decisions “Neanderthal thinking,” the insinuation being that he has a monopoly on the science.

He doesn’t. And even if the science is mostly on his side, politics is about more than following what scientists say. It’s about balancing competing notions of the public good. Science must have a voice in that conversation, but it’s just one of many.

Twitter:  @JonahDispatch

[ad_2]

Source link

READ ALSO

Letters to the Editor — April 3, 2021

Letters to the Editor — April 2, 2021

Related Posts

Letters to the Editor — April 3, 2021
Opinion

Letters to the Editor — April 3, 2021

April 2, 2021
Letters to the Editor — April 2, 2021
Opinion

Letters to the Editor — April 2, 2021

April 1, 2021
Biden’s ‘jobs plan’ is a horrific con job
Opinion

Biden’s ‘jobs plan’ is a horrific con job

March 31, 2021
Biden’s insane new spend-fest is a recipe for national disaster
Opinion

Biden’s insane new spend-fest is a recipe for national disaster

March 30, 2021
Comparing Georgia’s new voting law to Jim Crow is a disgusting smear
Opinion

Comparing Georgia’s new voting law to Jim Crow is a disgusting smear

March 29, 2021
End the corrupt NYC homeless-services madness
Opinion

End the corrupt NYC homeless-services madness

March 28, 2021
Next Post
Passengers banned over mask mandate claim Spirit is bluffing

Passengers banned over mask mandate claim Spirit is bluffing

POPULAR NEWS

Rutgers makes COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for students

Rutgers makes COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for students

March 25, 2021
The best Suez Canal memes the stuck ship Ever Given inspired

The best Suez Canal memes the stuck ship Ever Given inspired

March 25, 2021
Buffstreams UFC 260 Reddit Live Stream Reddit Free Crackstreams for Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 Fight

Buffstreams UFC 260 Reddit Live Stream Reddit Free Crackstreams for Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 Fight

March 28, 2021
‘Tik Tok Doc’ accused of sexual abuse in $45 million lawsuit

‘Tik Tok Doc’ accused of sexual abuse in $45 million lawsuit

February 28, 2021
Dr. Fauci says people with COVID vaccine could soon socialize

Dr. Fauci says people with COVID vaccine could soon socialize

February 26, 2021

EDITOR'S PICK

Harlem stabbing is latest NYC subway attack

Harlem stabbing is latest NYC subway attack

February 21, 2021
Biden can’t defend China’s abuse of Uighurs as another ‘norm’

Biden can’t defend China’s abuse of Uighurs as another ‘norm’

February 20, 2021
New Met Jerad Eickhoff off to rocky start for rotation spot

New Met Jerad Eickhoff off to rocky start for rotation spot

March 4, 2021
Three shot at illegal Long Island Airbnb party

Three shot at illegal Long Island Airbnb party

March 2, 2021

About

We bring you the best Premium WordPress Themes that perfect for news, magazine, personal blog, etc. Check our landing page for details.

Follow us

Categories

  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • National
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • US
  • World

Recent Posts

  • How to Watch Masters Golf 2021 Live Stream Online From Anywhere and TV Listings
  • Rangers pack Globe Life Field for home opener
  • The plan for post-pandemic life in England includes free testing and Covid certificates.
  • 55 firms paid no federal income tax last year, report finds
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy

©️ 2021 Journalwild.com Powered by BritMedia360

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • Politics
  • National
  • Business
  • World
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Science
  • Tech
  • Travel

©️ 2021 Journalwild.com Powered by BritMedia360