What is science?
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently testified during a House hearing about the Covid-19 pandemic. Fauci has been a favorite whipping boy for conservatives.
They have accused Fauci of inconsistent messaging. Masks are necessary? Wait, now they are not, but we should practice social distancing? Is it spread through hands? No, wait — through breathing?
They accused Fauci of supporting government overreach. Fauci was seen as the intellectual origin of business lockdowns, remote work and schooling, quarantining, and mask mandates.
Fauci is the face of “the jab.” Many conservatives, powered by personal values (which are by definition never wrong) and conspiracy theories (which by definition are always wrong), developed an unhealthy rejection of vaccines and vaccine mandates.
Prominent members of the Republican party, equal parts fomenting that discontent and finding value in pandering to it, saw the Fauci hearings as a time to virtue signal. Witness Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) antics, including refusing to call Fauci a doctor during the hearings. No one was surprised when the delegate from Georgia opted for buffoonery.
As much as I find Taylor Greene and the man who made faces behind Fauci during the hearings detestable, the point of this piece is not to talk about Fauci’s testimony. Instead, this piece is me presenting…
