thesem replied: BUT INDEPENDENT THINKING WE'RE ALL JUST SHEEPLE FOR HIDING BEHIND OUR SOURCES– I Literally Cannot hahaha
So before I wrote this, I went to the person’s blog, as I often do when I come across one of those infamously blistering hot takes, to try and glean some more context on their views. And what I found essentially was they were suspicious of gatekeeping, particularly in the medical field as it pertains to the lack of empathy extended to marginalized people in healthcare. And that this person was very concerned about people whose stories and experiences are not believed because they have not, or have not yet, been backed up by published academic research.
Those are valid concerns about a valid issue. This person seems well-intentioned and reasonable on this basis.
Then I looked back at what this person wrote. And it is insane. It is crazy. It is summarily dismissive of the basis of modern epistemology - that claims about reality require real evidence. And it is employed, not in the defense of (for argument’s sake) women of color who are mistreated by their doctors, but in defense of ding-dongs on tik-tok who think that The Lathe of Heaven is a documentary. And in particular, it is in the defense of one such ding-dong who asserted that the phenomenon of reality-shifting was in fact accepted by science, and who then faced the very reasonable reply that if the phenomenon is accepted by science, then the ding-dong should be able to demonstrate that by citing a scientific study.
The road to hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions. In this case, hell is what we inflict on our neighbors by choosing not to be better educated about how science works before serving up our hottest takes.