(06-05-2020, 09:07 PM)BostonCard Wrote: It goes both ways. Trump supporters can’t seem to fathom that his opponents might be interested in the truth no matter whether it helps or hurts Trump. Keep in mind that 2006alum was the first to report today’s job numbers even though they are unambiguously good for Trump. I pointed out weaknesses in the hydroxychloroquine paper before the provenance of its data came under question, and I was the one who posted questions about the paper, the statement of concern, and then the retraction. I actually would love for Trump to be proved right about hydroxychloroquine, because that would mean that doctors would have a cheap and relatively safe (QT issues aside) treatment for COVID-19. I have defended the motives and methods of Ioannidis and Bhattarcharya, (and critiqued the conclusions when merited). I firmly believe you have to follow the science wherever it leads. And I have no doubt that the editors of the Lancet feel the same way, just as I don’t think the editors of JAMA are biased because they published the serology paper. I think it is pretty ridiculous to think that the editors would sacrifice scientific integrity because... Trump. The world does not revolve around him, and for those of us working to defeat COVID-19, the imperative is the thousands of people dying from it, full stop. If hydroxychloroquine really were increasing the risk of death in patients with COVID-19, that’s an important finding. It’s unfortunate that some studies were put on hold due to the results of the paper, doubly so because it might have relied on fraudulent data, but the opposite scenario (delay in publication leading to delay in finding a harmful effect of hydroxychloroquine would have been just as bad). Bottom line, especially in these fast moving and uncertain times, we cant let let politics bias our understanding of the facts. We just have to understand that in the rush to publish and disseminate knowledge about COVID-19 as quickly as possible, inevitably we will jump the gun on some things. That we do so is not a problem, so long as we are able to self-correct when flaws are uncovered.
BC
It absolutely does go both ways, which is why, for example, I find quite a few of the commentators on Fox News just as frustrating and difficult to take as those on CNN. Nevertheless, I don't believe whataboutism is a principled justification for a position. And, unfortunately, it does seem to me that quite a few Trump opponents -- not including you, from what I've read -- are more interested in what hurts Trump than they are in the truth.
That 2006alum was the first to report today's good economic numbers wasn't lost on me [indeed, I double-checked to see who posted it since it really did catch me by surprise] ... but neither was the stream of posts thereafter questioning the numbers, expressing skepticism that things were really improving, interpreting them as evidence that the lockdown really wasn't so bad after all so all those folks complaining were probably wrong, and otherwise generally leaving a distinct impression that many of the posters were -- though they would likely never admit it -- kind of disappointed in the good news for the very reason you note -- if good things happen, the chances of Trump's defeat are lessened.
All that being said, I don't mean to imply everyone who appears obviously opposed to Trump falls into the "two wrongs make a right" category -- and, indeed, my impression from several of your comments, BC, is that you don't. Your comment here regarding the possibility of Trump being proved right on hydroxychloroquine, for example, is one that I don't believe, based on what I've read, to be universally shared here.
Also, while I'm willing to accept that the editors of The Lancet "would not intentionally sacrifice scientific integrity because...Trump," that's not really my argument. My point -- "Too good to check" -- arises when someone is inclined to believe something because it aligns with what they want to be true, such that they don't spend the time and effort to subject it to the same amount of scrutiny that they would if they, for example, were trying to disprove it. Actually, isn't that basically why scientific findings favorable to organizations that funded the research leading to such findings are treated with such skepticism in the scientific community?
Finally, you mention the need to get things published quickly, and I understand that. However, in an environment where it is a foregone conclusion that any study having anything to do with Trump is going to be immediately broadcast far and wide by the mainstream media [and twice as fast and loudly if it places him in a bad light], shouldn't there be an even greater effort made by scientific journals to verify accuracy and legitimacy before publishing, precisely to avoid this kind of thing?
You state: "
Bottom line, especially in these fast moving and uncertain times, we cant let let politics bias our understanding of the facts."
I agree, although with the caveat that some of those "facts" are, themselves, political questions. Science can tell you what may happen in certain situations, but it can't tell you, for example, that the risk of that happening is unacceptable in a 200-person church service but acceptable in a 10,000-person civil rights protest. Is forbidding the first of those events on the basis of "science" while allowing [indeed, encouraging] the other on the basis of "civil rights" appropriate, or is it "letting politics bias our understanding of the facts"?