I was joking with Ed about his interview with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. I teased him that I was furious that he got to chat with one of my heroes, about whom I have written many times, while I was only allowed to watch the interview.
Grrr.
Oh, well, I am happy for Ed and everybody who gets to watch the interview. My ego will bounce back.
I admire Bhattacharya because he was one of the relative few in the public health establishment to stand up for sanity, speak clearly about what science can and can’t tell us, and give policy advice to those who would listen (he advised Governor DeSantis and helped shape Florida’s policies during COVID).
Along with his colleagues Dr. Sunetra Gupta and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, he created the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued for focused protection rather than sweeping and harmful policies that imposed outrageous policies on the billions of people who were not at great risk from COVID-19.
For this, he was vilified and called a “fringe epidemiologist” despite being one of the most respected and prominent practitioners in the world. He is a professor at Stanford Medical School, and his colleagues who framed the Declaration were at Harvard and Oxford, which are hardly fringe institutions.
Colleagues at Harvard (@MartinKulldorff) and at Oxford (@carlheneghan) wrote to defend my position. Grateful for these brave scientists who were willing to tell the truth in the face of an unreasoning mob.https://t.co/JaLzlANHs8
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) December 3, 2023
The attack on Bhattacharya and his brave colleagues was about as antiscientific as they were vicious, but he stood firm in the face of outrageous pressure to recant. Being associated with as radioactive a figure as Ron DeSantis was an unforgivable sin, as was speaking the truth in an environment in which truth was seen as the enemy.
It is impossible to overstate the amount of effort that was expended to destroy Bhattacharya and anybody who was willing to speak his mind. Recall the counterexample of the scientists who wrote the “Proximal Origins” paper that “debunked” the lab leak theory. Those scientists knowingly lied at Dr. Fauci’s behest–their internal correspondence while writing the paper makes clear that they didn’t believe what they wrote–and they were rewarded with plaudits and millions of dollars in grants.
Bhattacharya was punished for speaking the truth, and others were rewarded for lying. This is The Science™, not science.
Dr. Bhattacharya did not stand alone–there were other brave truth-tellers–but I have a special affection for him because he has spent the past several years building an audience and spreading the gospel of rational inquiry, honest science, skepticism in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform, and above all freedom.
He has turned his experience into a mission, and it is a mission that needs to be done.
Along with Rav Arora, he has started an excellent podcast called The Illusion of Consensus, which I highly recommend. It isn’t just a podcast about COVID or medicine but also about the politics of science and the need for freedom of speech.
The freedom of speech issue led him to be a plaintiff in the famous Missouri vs. Biden case about free speech. So far our free speech rights have been vindicated in the courts thanks to him, and should the decision be upheld at the Supreme Court the victory will be enormous.
We have much to thank Bhattacharya for, and I expect we will have even more in the future.