Tweeting about politics undermines scientists’ credibility in the eyes of the public — gotta leave the takes to trained professionals. warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ... - ThreadSky

mattyglesias.bsky.social • 84 days ago

Tweeting about politics undermines scientists’ credibility in the eyes of the public — gotta leave the takes to trained professionals.

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/wp735.2024.pdf

Comments

brianchang.bsky.social•84 days ago

@bretdevereaux.bsky.social said, about historians but it applies to all experts, that activism isn’t public engagement. Public engagement builds public trust, activism spends it.

daveadams.bsky.social•83 days ago

So, you just take unreviewed working papers as truth, now?

zuul9ghostbusters.bsky.social•84 days ago

fuk ur elitism!!! 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨

zuul9ghostbusters.bsky.social•84 days ago

is 3rd worlders being ded from dogshit working situation still fair to you as long ass u display out le cultural relativism card?

galiahalpern.bsky.social•84 days ago

Except, what is being viewed as a political post?

Vaccines (public health is fully politicized)?

Community health equity (also fully politicized)?

LGBTQ+ care (also fully politicized)?

Unfortunately, care of the body- and the body politic- has been fully politicized at this point.

thirdpeculiarity.bsky.social•83 days ago

My now right-wing friends were all largely politicized by the 'it's okay for BLM protests to happen, racism is more pernicious than Covid' attitude (and open letters!) from health professionals in 2020.

The line might not be easy to draw, but we usually know it when we see it.

complemental.bsky.social•84 days ago

Climate change?

aaronmp3.bsky.social•84 days ago

When your values come into the equation. Social distancing being effective is non-political. Saying that social distancing is appropriate given the tradeoffs is political.

galiahalpern.bsky.social•84 days ago

Nah. We got to a point where merely saying a mask in the supermarket while shopping for groceries was in and of itself a political statement.

aaronmp3.bsky.social•80 days ago

Someone can make anything political if they want to. Nothing you can do about that.

kafkasghost.bsky.social•84 days ago

Hey, let us take a whole section of smart people out of the public debate. Makes sense. Scientists use data and rationality, we certainly don’t want their opinions.

iloveoof.bsky.social•84 days ago

We need credentialing that requires years of training for anyone that wants to post takes.

jeanbaudrillard.bsky.social•84 days ago

Hot takes from post-docs only

nrbq.bsky.social•84 days ago

Where's the dislike button?

complemental.bsky.social•84 days ago

Are you saying scientists should stay in their lane?

complemental.bsky.social•84 days ago

And when a scientific field is politicized: https://bsky.app/profile/colognaviktoria.bsky.social/post/3lbemhwvsbc2l

tkland1.bsky.social•84 days ago

Someone needs to publish a companion study how the credibility of politicians is undermined when they tweet about science. Plenty of data out there.

prashantgarg.bsky.social•84 days ago

Tell me more. I’m trying to understand science communication by politicians.

tkland1.bsky.social•84 days ago

In 2020-21, someone was telling the nation to use Ivermectin, bleach and bright light to kill the Covid virus. Another guy who has been nominated to head the Health & Human Services department has told everyone who listens that the MMR vaccine causes autism.

circusshot.bsky.social•84 days ago

We all know full well that we’re bathing in muck and hoped our intellectuals were somehow better.

fffanatic06.bsky.social•83 days ago

Does it hurt you to know that if you got Brian Thompson'd there'd be a similar period of celebration?

fffanatic06.bsky.social•83 days ago

(for anyone reading and curious why I'm being so harsh, check to see how this paper will be cited within the sciences as opposed to how Yggy is using it over here)

theonetruedoink.bsky.social•84 days ago

Ya know, I don't worry much about how things look "in the eyes of the public." The National Literacy Institute writes that 54% of the American public reads at the sixth grade level. They probably are not even capable of reading a serious scientific paper, and even less capable of commenting on one.

supfusco.bsky.social•84 days ago

What’s the solution? Some issues can be settled by experts weighing in - sorta requiring scientists to enter the political fray.

File it under “reality has a liberal bias”

superdooperpooper.bsky.social•84 days ago

I think your social media usage undermines your credibility ab awful lot too

jeanbaudrillard.bsky.social•84 days ago

Breaking news: people put emotional biases over fact

stephenschiavone.bsky.social•84 days ago

So stop posting Matt.

scottpal.bsky.social•83 days ago

Is this an attempt to quantify trust? Or put a huge chill on opinion?
Putting a “certified out of your lane” on commentary?

we-are-toast.bsky.social•84 days ago

An authoritarian political party uses a vast propaganda machine to undercut, deny, and go to war against science. In this case, it becomes the DUTY of scientists to explain the science and point out the source of lies trying to undercut the science.

davecl.bsky.social•83 days ago

Is this paper refereed yet? Has it been accepted by a significant journal? Or has it just been pushed out as an internal publication to get a few clicks and headlines? If it has been refereed and accepted please supply citation.

prashantgarg.bsky.social•84 days ago

Here’s a full thread https://bsky.app/profile/prashantgarg.bsky.social/post/3lcmvfycer22f

nbeaudrot.bsky.social•84 days ago

yeah, Cliff Mass was cool when he was just blogging about the weather for geeks.

amydoghouse.bsky.social•84 days ago

Read this aloud while looking in the mirror

mattyglesias.bsky.social•84 days ago

An important and non-obvious finding here is that posting about politics reduces your credibility in the eyes of people who agree with you politically, just not to as large an extent as it does for those who disagree.

sturmlliouville.bsky.social•84 days ago

I find this pretty obvious

kilog013.bsky.social•84 days ago

My friend you undermine you’re own credibility more often lol

laurentguy.bsky.social•84 days ago

Expressing too many opinions cheapens them? Makes sense.

Won’t stop me though.

jeanbaudrillard.bsky.social•84 days ago

‘I only trust humans who act like robots, but I’ll only vote for a person who expresses strong opinions that reaffirm my biases’

pwnyslaystation.bsky.social•84 days ago

Remember this?
After the messaging was "don't go to church, don't visit your dying mother, don't gather at all" etc
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/health-care-open-letter-protests-coronavirus-trnd/index.html

phintellectual.bsky.social•84 days ago

Interesting but does it get to the heart of the matter? Scientists have always had strong political views (the earth orbits the sun-those were the days!) maybe the problem is we have to much science and it gets picked up by the takers before it has a chance to ferment properly.

tinguspingis.bsky.social•84 days ago

I think it humanizes them as opposed to leaving them as an abstract egg-head in their ivory tower, turning like a cog in the wheel of Science. People are much more fallible in our eyes (and in truth) than systems with some measure of accountability and scrutiny that they operate in (Science, here)

tinguspingis.bsky.social•84 days ago

Which makes me wonder how it affects favorability(ie how much do they *like* you). I would assume it increases or decreases according to their political/social alignment. Tweeting things you agree with increasing favorability and vice versa.

oneoneder.bsky.social•84 days ago

Good point. I know humans, humans are idiots.

(Except for the HVAC guy, he is a magician who dispenses hot and cold air when I propitiate him with money)

dtipson.bsky.social•84 days ago

...who rolled over drunk and don't have any fucking clue what they're taking about most of the time

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