How many times have we heard “listen to the scientists” now?

It’s become the mantra. You hear it from people like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) like a command. “We must listen to the scientists,” she exclaims. As though President Donald Trump were not (even though he has been).

But the mantra has become like the demand about climate change. It’s morphed to not just listen, but that we must follow without question leaving aside any considerations other than the virus, downplaying everything else, ceding all political decisions to unelected scientists. You must obey and not question anything or you are an apostate and want to kill grandma. There’s no room for questioning, there’s no room for nuanced response. In short, no room for the basic principle of real science, which is questioning and testing your hypotheses, not simply accepting on belief.

With that prelude, I give you this picture from Eric Feigl-Ding. He is a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a health economist. He ran for Congress as a Democrat and didn’t win. He is a progressive who added his wife’s name to his own.

In Dr. Fauci We Trust. #TrustFauci pic.twitter.com/zxSgmSjHQ3

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 12, 2020

Yikes! Could there be anything much more cult-like? There’s the fist, the child, the obligatory cult wear. Even the stealing of the “in God we trust” phrase, substituting Fauci. Talk about creepy and disconcerting.

Feigl-Ding did admit Fauci was not “flawless idol” but said that we must trust him.

3) We trust Dr. Fauci not because he is some flawless idol, but because he is a man of science. We are in a fog of war with pandemic and we need to lead by science not by politics. “Trust Fauci” is a symbol of “trust science” and “trust evidence based public health & medicine”

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 12, 2020

He then added a link to where you could get Democratic cult wear.

2) For those asking where to get the mask, goto: https://t.co/8KjWjMMO4u. No personal profit. Part of proceeds goto fighting for public health justice to help end the pandemic. (https://t.co/8KjWjMMO4u)

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 12, 2020

As some reminded him, science isn’t about “trusting scientists” but about observable facts and evidence and testing theories through the scientific method.

Fauci and many of the scientists have been demonstrably wrong on multiple occasions in this pandemic. Even Fauci would say he would adjust for the facts as opposed to the models which were hysterical and based on unreliable information out of China in part. Fauci in March said the public shouldn’t be wearing masks. In April, he said that they should. In May he defined that further to say that the primary reason for wearing a mask was not to give it to anyone else if you had it, when he explained why he wasn’t wearing a mask during a briefing.

Feigl-Ding is wrong in his basic hypothesis. You have to “lead by politics” because this isn’t just about the virus or what the scientists may believe about the virus. The scientists are not elected to make those decisions. The virus has to be considered by the elected politicians in the proper context of balancing threats, yes, taking what the scientists say, but evaluating it in the greater context.

This is the basic problem of those on the left saying “trust the scientists” or we can’t open until there’s a vaccine or no one will get sick or whatever goal post moving they’ve done now. The “trust scientists” crowd downplay every other danger to life and every other risk. That’s neither scientific or smart.

The idea was to flatten the curve to not overwhelm the hospital system. We’ve done that. Now this decision may be somewhat different depending upon the state or area but let the people who are at more at risk stay in. Let the people who are not return responsibly to work. People who believe that don’t want to kill grandma, they want to make sure grandma is fed and actually has a house to live in and isn’t out on the street along with the rest of the family. They want to make sure grandma gets her necessary, delayed medical procedure so she doesn’t die. Indeed, it’s the people who are considering all the facts who are caring, because they’re not downplaying every fact other than the virus.