溫和主義
用证据说话
周刊讲了几句实话难道不行吗？
http://dailynews.sina.com 2020年09月15日 06:17 中国新闻网
参考消息网9月14日报道
美国《科学》周刊网站9月11日发表该刊主编赫伯特·霍尔登·索普的署名文章《川普在科学问题上说谎》，文章指出美国总统川普多次在科学问题上对美国人民撒谎。这些谎言打击了科学界的士气，使美国付出了无数生命代价。文章摘编如下：
今年2月和3月，当川普总统开始公开谈论新冠肺炎时，他似乎对疫情威胁认识不足，这令科学家感到震惊。我们以为他要么是拒绝听取白宫疫情简报，要么是在故意回避信息，为联邦政府的不作为制造合理借口。
现在，由于《华盛顿邮报》著名记者鲍勃·伍德沃德给川普录了音，我们才能听到他亲口说他完全清楚新冠肺炎是致命的，以及新冠病毒通过空气传播。当川普轻描淡写地向公众谈论病毒时，他并不糊涂，也并非未充分听取汇报，他完全是多次在科学问题上对美国人民撒谎。这些谎言打击了科学界的士气，使美国付出了无数生命代价。
多年来，本刊对美国总统在科学问题上的小缺点多有评论。但现在，一位美国总统故意以一种对人类健康极其危险并直接导致美国人大量死亡的方式在科学问题上撒谎。
这或许是美国科学政策史上最可耻的时刻。
2月7日，在接受伍德沃德采访时，川普说他知道新冠肺炎比流感更加致命，而且通过空气传播。但是，3月9日他在推特上却暗示“普通流感”比新冠病毒更严重。与此同时，白宫经济顾问拉里·库德洛和总统顾问凯莉安妮·康韦向公众保证新冠病毒已得到控制。
3月19日，川普告诉伍德沃德，他不想诚实坦白地告诉美国人民关于病毒的危险。他说：“我希望一直淡化处理。我仍然希望淡化处理。”淡化处理意味着事实上的撒谎：他其实知道美国处于极度危险之中。
这还意味着要让试图说出真相的卫生官员闭嘴。2月25日，国家免疫与呼吸道疾病中心主任南希·梅索尼尔说：“现在的问题不是这是否还会发生，而是何时再次发生以及美国究竟有多少人会感染重症。”她说的是对的，而川普也知道。但是，他让她闭嘴。川普还试图限制美国最著名的传染病专家福奇发声。我们现在有电子邮件的确凿证据证明他们受到了压制。
川普还深知新冠病毒对年轻人来说可能是致命的。3月19日，他告诉伍德沃德：“不仅仅是老年人、更年长的人，年轻人也一样，很多年轻人。”然而，他坚持中小学和大学必须复课，而且要恢复大学橄榄球赛事。
他最近还让斯科特·阿特拉斯——一名没有流行病学专长的神经放射学专家——加入新冠疫情顾问团队。此人提倡一种危险而具有误导性的办法：隔离年老体弱者，让病毒在年轻人中自由传播。高校和中小学复课加速了病毒传播，同时也意味着学生及其他感染者苦不堪言。
【编辑:王诗尧】
（https://dailynews.sina.com/gb/international/chinanews/2020-09-15/doc-ifzzxynp3836050.shtml）
Trump lied about science
H. Holden Thorp
See all authors and affiliations
Science 11 Sep 2020:
eabe7391
DOI: 10.1126/science.abe7391
When President Donald Trump began talking to the public about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in February and March, scientists were stunned at his seeming lack of understanding of the threat. We assumed that he either refused to listen to the White House briefings that must have been occurring or that he was being deliberately sheltered from information to create plausible deniability for federal inaction. Now, because famed Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward recorded him, we can hear Trump’s own voice saying that he understood precisely that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was deadly and spread through the air. As he was playing down the virus to the public, Trump was not confused or inadequately briefed: He flat-out lied, repeatedly, about science to the American people. These lies demoralized the scientific community and cost countless lives in the United States.
Over the years, this page has commented on the scientific foibles of U.S. presidents. Inadequate action on climate change and environmental degradation during both Republican and Democratic administrations have been criticized frequently. Editorials have bemoaned endorsements by presidents on teaching intelligent design, creationism, and other antiscience in public schools. These matters are still important. But now, a U.S. president has deliberately lied about science in a way that was imminently dangerous to human health and directly led to widespread deaths of Americans.
This may be the most shameful moment in the history of U.S. science policy.
In an interview with Woodward on 7 February 2020, Trump said he knew that COVID-19 was more lethal than the flu and that it spread through the air. “This is deadly stuff,” he said. But on 9 March, he tweeted that the “common flu” was worse than COVID-19, while economic advisor Larry Kudlow and presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway assured the public that the virus was contained. On 19 March, Trump told Woodward that he did not want to level with the American people about the danger of the virus. “I wanted to always play it down,” he said, “I still like playing it down.” Playing it down meant lying about the fact that he knew the country was in grave danger.
It also meant silencing health officials who tried to tell the truth. On 25 February, Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), said, “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness.” She was right and Trump knew it. But he shut her down. He also tried to control messaging from Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost leader on infectious diseases. Trump’s supporters insisted that Fauci and Messonnier were not being muzzled, but now we have clear evidence in emails that they were.
Trump also knew that the virus could be deadly for young people. “It’s not just old, older,” he told Woodward on 19 March. “Young people, too, plenty of young people.” Yet, he has insisted that schools and universities reopen and that college football should resume. He recently added to his advisory team Scott Atlas—a neuroradiologist with no expertise in epidemiology—who has advocated for a risky and misguided course: somehow isolating the older and more vulnerable while allowing the virus free rein among young people. The opening of colleges and schools has accelerated the spread of the virus and will mean untold suffering among both students and the people to whom they are now spreading the virus.
Monuments in Washington, D.C., have chiseled into them words spoken by real leaders during crises. “Confidence,” said Franklin Roosevelt, “thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance.”
We can be thankful that science has embraced these words. Researchers are tirelessly developing vaccines and investigating the origins of the virus so that future pandemics may be prevented. Health care workers have braved exposure to treat COVID-19 patients and reduce the death rate; many of these frontline workers have become infected, and some have died in these acts of courage. These individuals embody Roosevelt’s call to faithful protection and unselfish performance.
They have seen neither quality exhibited by their president and his coconspirators. Trump was not clueless, and he was not ignoring the briefings. Listen to his own words. Trump lied, plain and simple.
（ https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/11/science.abe7391 ）
