Hacker News

Al-Shamahi, 41, who describes her politics as “wokey-progressive — definitely left-wing”, said scientists who do not fit the political mould increasingly keep their heads down for fear of the response. “A lot of them feel that they have to hide their thoughts and their opinions.”

“Where are the deeply, deeply devout religious scientists? Where are the right-wing scientists? If all our biases are not in the room it leads to worse science outcomes.”

The definition of rightism is appeal to authority - but only the chosen in-group authority - above all else and at all costs. It is utterly and fundamentally incompatible with the search for knowledge and truth.

Where are the religious and right-wing scientists? They either deconstructed because they realized fairy tales aren’t real or they are twisting themselves in knots to convince others of their bizarre (and often hateful) foregone conclusions, which is anti-science.

The article goes on to mention the mask debate during COVID while completely missing the fact that the topic itself was literally science (masking to protect yourself and others) versus a murder-suicide cult (rightists).

Leftism is not a monolith the way rightism is. There are many different leftist ideals and theories, but rightism is exclusively about the consolidation of power.

A rightist scientist would be a comic book villain, believing in science and using it to harness power for themselves. The book The Authoritarians by Dr. Bob Altemeyer would call this type of person a “Social Dominator”, and they aren’t scientists because science is not a useful tool for controlling others and amassing power for yourself.