The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters

by Tom Nichols

The available evidence does not so far suggest that the protests created a major surge in COVID infections, but to argue that the demonstrations did not result in more infections is a post-hoc rationalization—and, for experts, a trap. At the time, medical guidance was clear that people should not gather in large groups or be in close proximity, and certainly not while singing and shouting. Thus, if the doctors believed that the risks of such gatherings could be mitigated with masks or by being outdoors, they should have already been pressing for the lifting of the strictest measures everywhere with the same advice they gave the protesters. If, however, they were still holding to the theories that underpinned the lockdowns—and especially the school closures—then their approval of the demonstrations meant they were consciously setting aside those concerns in the name of a cause with which they agreed. Either way, they were acting as political advocates rather than scientists, and in the words of retired environmental scientist Peter Sandman, they “clearly damaged the credibility of public health as a scientific enterprise that struggles to be politically neutral.”48