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When the physicists need burner phones, that's when you know America's changed

(www.theguardian.com)
267 points giuliomagnifico | 1 comments | 29 Mar 25 18:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.2s | source
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tredre3 ◴[29 Mar 25 19:32 UTC] No.43517965[source]▶
The title is trying to imply that people are being targeted for being physicists or other "benign" scientific work, but that is not the case; Their expressed political opinions are why they're targeted. It's still wrong, it's still bad, but there's no need to mislead people.
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nedamd ◴[29 Mar 25 19:41 UTC] No.43518043[source]▶
Being scientist is ideally a quest for finding truth or at least try that. We are in an era where the truth is considered very political and there are very clear indications that in the US funding science and scientists in general is not welcomed anymore. Calls for dismantling NSF/NIH is not hiding or their proponents are shy from expressing what they are trying to pursue.

The idea that politics and science as a practice is separated is a myth.

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1. ryandrake ◴[29 Mar 25 20:46 UTC] No.43518599[source]▶
Also, griefing scientists, academics and the "educated elite" has been a priority to Republicans for at least a decade. They specifically run on platforms of "sticking it to those snobby experts," and their electorate eat it up. We've seen a huge anti-intellectual and anti-expertise cultural shift in the last 10 years.