Chapter 12
“Murderer! Murderer! Smug murderer!” The threatening calls from an unknown conspiracy theorist followed Peter Daszak down the seemingly endless hallway of the US Capitol building.
Peter knew it would get bad the moment US Republicans took control of the House in 2022. They had been campaigning as the party of accountability and oversight. A false promise. In reality, they wanted to direct the emotional energy of voters for political gain, whitewashing President Trump’s pandemic failings by using scientists as scapegoats. They also wanted to use the spectacle of public witch trials as campaign events—the offline version of the omnipresent pile-ons from social media. The agitated online mobs had called feverishly for a party that would exert revenge for the trauma of the pandemic, and Republicans were keen to ensure that it was the scientists and their democratic party “enablers” at the other end of that particular pitchfork.
The HSSCP was not the only Republican-led revenge committee formed to do pandemic revisionism and political propaganda. Virologists would not be their only target either. Ever since 2023, at least four other revenge committees have called public health experts, institutional leaders, scientific journal editors, and even disinformation researchers in front of Congress. Their full-fledged assault on science seems to be highly choreographed and in line with an agenda called project 2025.
Prof. Stephan Lewandowsky has studied how conspiracy theories and misinformation impact democracies. He and others view the rise of anti-science activism and sentiment as a hallmark of democratic backsliding. “Everything that is a counterweight to power is being undermined,” he explained to me. “I think the goal is to abolish accountability as a stepping stone. That means you got to discredit science.” He and his coauthors argue that science is a critical guardrail for the “epistemic integrity of democracy.” We need a shared set of facts to function in a democracy; without them, any collaboration on shared issues becomes impossible.
I’d say that if scientists can indeed be seen as canaries in the coalmine of democracy, the carbon monoxide has already filled the chamber.
References:
Republicans have a plan for scientific institutions: Project 2025
Schoemaker, E. (2024 September 30), Republicans have a post-pandemic plan for the scientific establishment. Politico https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/30/republicans-covid-pandemic-nih-plan-00181512
Project 2025 and independence of science
Guarino, B., Thompson, A., Lewis, T., & Young, L. J. (2024, July 19). Project 2025 plan for Trump presidency has Far-Reaching threats to science. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/project-2025-plan-for-trump-presidency-has-far-reaching-threats-to-science/
On April 4th, HSCCP tweeted a long thread announcing Daszak’s public hearing
“Dr. Daszak and his colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology used taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research. Mounting evidence continues to show that COVID likely originated from a Wuhan lab.”
https://x.com/COVIDSelect/status/1775944399630848126
Joni Ernst crusade against EcoHealth Alliance
Christenson, J. (2024, August 15). Exclusive | Pentagon still funneling money to suspended EcoHealth Alliance, unable to access potential gain-of-function research data abroad. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2024/08/15/us-news/pentagon-unable-to-access-potential-gain-of-function-research-data-abroad-still-funneling-money-to-suspended-ecohealth-alliance/
The highly misleading NYT op-ed from Alina Chan coordinated with the Fauci hearing
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/03/opinion/covid-lab-leak.html
TWIV episode on Alina Chan NYT op-ed does a fantastic job of dismantling her pseudoscientific arguments
MicrobeTV. (2024, June 9). TWiV 1121: SARS-CoV2 still didn’t come from a lab [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz2qFJmpoug
Some reactions to the NYT pushing the lab leak agenda
“The New York Times” is failing its readers badly on Covid | The Nation. (2024, June 23). The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/nyt-covid-opinion-coverage/
HoSang, P. (2024, July 8). NYT unleashes the lab leak theory on the public debate once again. FAIR. https://fair.org/home/nyt-unleashes-the-lab-leak-theory-on-the-public-debate-once-again/
Gorski, D. (2024, June 10). The New York Times promotes “lab leak” conspiracy theories | Science-Based Medicine. Science-Based Medicine. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-new-york-times-promotes-lab-leak-conspiracy-theories/
Renee Diresta points out how the subcommittees leak their private information to allied client propagandists that then smear researchers
Opinion | Renée DiResta: We Are Losing the Battle Against Election Disinformation - The New York Times (nytimes.com) (“Material the subcommittee obtained under subpoena or in closed-door hearings ended up in the hands of a right-wing group that had sued us, which was led by Mr. Jordan’s longtime ideological ally Stephen Miller. We do not know how.”)
A conspiracy myth about disinformation research goes to the supreme court:
Hendrix, J., & Goodman, R. (2024, March 17). A Conspiracy Theory Goes to the Supreme Court: How Did Murthy v Missouri Get This Far? Just Security. https://www.justsecurity.org/93487/a-conspiracy-theory-goes-to-the-supreme-court-how-did-murthy-v-missouri-get-this-far/
Science is fragile.
Casadevall, A., & Fang, F. C. (2024). Fragile science. mBio, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00746-24
“External and internal threats to science can synergistically act to undermine the scientific enterprise. Funding pressures create a misalignment of incentives that can lead to bad science and misconduct. Theocratic and ideological pressures can force scientists to abandon certain lines of investigation. Given that all knowledge is connected, this can impede progress in unforeseen ways
… The job of scientists is to do science and provide society with accurate information about the natural world through careful observation and experimentation. However, sustaining a healthy relationship between science and society will also require scientists to become foot soldiers who protect the scientific enterprise from both internal and external threats. Internally, the scientific enterprise must reform itself to produce better science, which may require major reforms affecting incentives and values. Externally, scientists must engage the public, media, and politicians to spread accurate information, promote science, and counteract anti-science voices. Until now, many scientists have remained on the sidelines, preferring to concentrate on their work and hope that the problems will go away. However, with the survival of humanity on the line, all scientists must take a stand on behalf of science.”
Josh Hawley viral clip attacking Dr. Carrie Wolinetz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Z88APUNt4
House Oversight committee posts an insane report, talking about a cold war with China, blaming institutions for being subverted by the CCP and much more:
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CCP-Report-10.24.24.pdf
HSSCP tweeted; https://x.com/COVIDSelect/status/1849608957024760023
“COVID-19 most likely originated at a lab in China. Serious deficiencies in
@NIH’s grant oversight procedures enabled grantee, EcoHealth Alliance, to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research at this Chinese lab. Defending America against China starts by reforming these deficiencies. Great work by @GOPoversight”
Jamie Metzl of the Heritage’s foundation COVID group tweeted:
“We have a plan to hold China accountable for #COVID19 and help prevent the next pandemic. It involves amending America’s Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to grant US courts jurisdiction over COVID-19-related claims. We have already drafted the legislation.”
https://x.com/JamieMetzl/status/1873239918467776757
linking to:
Ratcliffe, J. M. a. J. (2024, July 3). It’s not too late to hold China accountable on COVID | Opinion. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/its-not-too-late-hold-china-accountable-covid-opinion-1919675
Note: I believe that if citizens learn how their emotions can be manipulated by politicians, influencers and other manipulators, these actors lose power. When all these influence campaigns against scientists happen in the dark, it is hard for researchers to even speak up when they are victimized, because nobody will believe them and they make themselves the next target. (This happened to Dr. Peter Hotez, who after defending Dr. Peter Dazsak online against the HSSCP was called in for questioning himself for no legitimate reason; pure punishment for speaking up.)
These actors will continue to attack, as long as science is their enemy of choice, the false lab leak myth will be kept alive and in the media. But, and this is important too, we don’t need to give these losers any power over us, our agency and our emotions.