Follow The Science
Empire simps love to fire those three words across imaginary aisles but what does it mean?
Follow The Science is a manipulative phrase designed to subvert your critical thinking by exploiting the human tendency to side with power and the dominant tribe, out of fear of being ostracized or classified as unsophisticated (i.e. stupid). It exploits ordinary peoples’ desire to appear right, smart and in the know; an insidiously clever ruling-class con. This mantra has been placed into the public conscience for - you guessed it - social control, ideological division and cultural hegemony.
Follow The Science may appear fact-based and objective but, ironically, its expectation is for you to wholeheartedly accept, and defend, without question, the packaged narrative based solely on its source, usually the establishment, who are well-known liars with harmful agendas.
[W]e should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.
- Albert Einstein
Traditional applications of science involve scepticism and accountability; both are victims of Science today. In fact, science itself may be Follow The Science’s first victim.
Science has been deified, imbued with unquestionable authority. Science is now represented by an exclusive group of individuals - including celebrities and influencers, institutions and corporations. Any disagreement with the representatives of Science is disagreement with Science. You are then anti-science, deserving cancellation, censorship and ridicule. Antagonists of the Science (clique) are a menace to society. They must be mocked into submission.
Although, science, or scientific consensus, is always in flux and never, by definition, infallible. And complicit media, captured institutions and greedy corporations routinely weaponize and abuse the power of Science. Here are some examples:
100 Authors (scientists) denouncing Einstein and his theories
Labelling genocide a biological process, granting imperialism a scientific basis
In each of these cases, the crime was perpetrated or supported by the ruling scientific orthodoxy. So one cannot say Follow The Science. That is an absurd oversimplification. Science has no authority. Governments have authority, corporations have authority. Science is a method of enquiry. It is not science leading society but simply people in power.
It matters who funds scientific activities, who reports on it, who interprets it, who uses its findings to inform public policy. These parties are not beyond reproach. In a democracy - even an alleged democracy such as ours - such individuals must be scrutinized, based not only on their qualifications but their affiliations, influence, backgrounds, conflicts of interest, and capital investments - both social and financial.
Imagine how things would work in a healthy democracy. The scientist applies science to produce potential solutions, with pros and cons. The politician – representing the will of the people – evaluates and applies one of those solutions based on risk/reward. The journalist holds both scientist and politician accountable. You would be naïve to believe that any one of these three elements is not susceptible to corruption. Greed infiltrates, and corporations create a tightly-controlled, profit-driven ecosystem incorporating all the aforementioned elements. This confluence is motivated by – and run on – money. People need money; which is what the scientist, politician and journalist are after all: people.
Mankind has been conditioned to glorify profitable, vertical silver bullets to problems: throw more Science and Technology at it. It was applications of science and technology that created the atomic bomb. What we actually need are applications of morals and ethics; they inform us that such a devastating weapon should neither exist nor be used against others.
