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I don't know how to put it without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but I think eventually society really needs to reevaluate its attitude to science in general. Scientists have this elevated status, and naturally people try to exploit it. But everybody can call themselves a scientist, and even getting credibility by attaching to supposedly reliable institutions is not that hard anymore. It seems to me people are not sufficiently aware yet of "scientific studies" being used as a political tool. Maybe if they read a news article in some magazine, they may be aware it could be ideologically tainted. For "studies", that seems to be much less the case so far.

Psychology also seems like an immediately scary example to me. I worry for example that "experts" can simply bypass the legal system by diagnosing people as "mentally ill" and having them locked away. Is there legal recourse for such a thing?




Is there legal recourse for such a thing?

It should fall under libel. Matt Taibbi has spoken recently about how the media in particular have no fear of committing libel:

https://youtu.be/T2uptyJrdu4

They will straight say certain things without any fear that someone might sue them for libel/character defamation. That link is a little topical due to the Rittenhouse case, but for many years they labeled Trump a variety of things on one side, and the right-wing labeled their targets in the same fashion on the other side. I’m pretty sure they also said Joe Rogan was taking horse medicine, which was a low blow. Well, not as low of a blow as insinuating Trump took part in Golden Showers (him pissing on girls, or vice versa, actual pee, if anyone needs to ask) in Russian hotels.

They don’t give a shit, and that’s just the media. Your average person now uses the same appeal to authority attack tactics in every day encounters.

What can you do if someone says you are toxic or __insert psychotic tendency here__ at work, in a relationship? The way we communicate seems to have shifted to the label being thrown out first, versus objectively walking through issues.

I don’t know, I have no answers honestly, and generally find this too exhausting to even try to dissect. I guess only Peter Thiel successfully launched a counter attack:

https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/11/peter-thi...

In summary, you need some dope lawyers if you want recourse.




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