Because, in part, he ‘incorrectly defined sex determination as binary’
Not to be outdone in the Godwin’s Law department, over 1,500 faculty from universities across the country recently signed on to a letter condemning the federal government’s alleged “assault” on science … and compared it to Nazi Germany.
According to 1819 News, these faculty and others claim the Trump administration has “defunded areas of research they do not agree with, pushed vaccine misinformation despite widespread evidence, [and] lied about the impacts of climate change” via its “Restoring Gold Standard Science” Executive Order.
The letter also alleges the administration “incorrectly defined sex determination as binary, when biology proves it is not.”
Although the E.O. explicitly calls for science that is
(i) reproducible;
(ii) transparent;
(iii) communicative of error and uncertainty;
(iv) collaborative and interdisciplinary;
(v) skeptical of its findings and assumptions;
(vi) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses;
(vii) subject to unbiased peer review;
(viii) accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and
(ix) without conflicts of interest
the letter’s signatories — which total over 10,500 and may include (many) more college scholars who chose not to identify their place of employment — allege it “co-opts the language of open science” in order to allow Trump’s flunkies “broad latitude to designate many common and important scientific activities as scientific misconduct.”
The reality, they claim, is that the E.O. is “an escalation of the ongoing assault on science,” and “would introduce stifling limits on intellectual freedom in our Nation’s laboratories and federal funding agencies.”
They further claim history shows they’re right; after all, the “danger of state-dictated ‘scientific truths'” led to Nazi Germany’s “science” of eugenics resulting in the genocide of Jews, LGBTQ+ people and those with disabilities. There also were the “interpretations of genetics” by the USSR’s Trofim Lysenko which led to millions dead via famine.
The letter is hosted on the website Stand Up for Science, the main page of which states “Yes! You don’t need to be a professional scientist or a seasoned activist to be a science activist.”
The site’s “Take Action” section includes photos of signs proclaiming “Protect fisheries, not fascism,” “Scientists make America great,” and “Science over stupidity.”
MORE: History prof compares Trump admin’s ‘baby bonus’ proposal to Nazi agenda
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Godwin’s Law logo; Facebook