New research from several MIT academics casts some doubt on the anti-science nature of COVID skeptics. As reported by Intellectual Takeout, the study paper claims, “anti-maskers often reveal themselves to be more sophisticated in their understanding of how scientific knowledge is socially constructed than their ideological adversaries, who espouse naive realism about the ‘objective’ truth of public health data.”
According to Annie Holmquist, Intellectual Takeout article author, “The (MIT) academics show some curious cognitive dissonance, making anti-mask proponents out to be clever propagandists who create easily understandable charts and graphs to sway the public away from the authoritative opinions of experts. At the same time the academics admit, almost in a puzzled fashion, that these ‘anti-maskers’ do their investigation in a very scientific manner.”
“People can bicker all day long about which side is right on this issue, but in this instance, these straightforward, honest comments from the MIT researchers should give us pause,” Holmquist writes. “They are clearly opposed to the ideas of the anti-maskers, yet they can’t help but begrudgingly respect the scientific methods of their opponents.”
SOURCE: Intellectual Takeout, May 13, 2021