Bloomberg: 'Follow the Science' Is a Slogan, Not a Policy
Faye Flam interviews Jacob Hale Russell in Bloomberg:
Politicians who claim they’re “following the science” on Covid-19 are starting to look disingenuous. Some are using it to stifle debate. “I think it would be wonderful if ‘follow the science’ meant we should bring science into the debate, but what it ended up meaning was ‘Our policy is the right policy and there is no alternative,’” said Rutgers Law School associate professor Jacob Hale Russell, who has been studying the relationship between expertise and populism.
“I think the use of [the phrase] that’s problematic is when politicians are asked an important and tough question by a journalist and their answer is ‘We’re just going to follow the science,’” Russell says.
Read the full article, F.D. Flam, “Follow the Science’ Is a Slogan, Not a Policy,” Bloomberg