April 24, 2017
On Saturday I took part in the March for Science here in PDX, one of 600 sister marches across the country and, for that matter, the world. Tens of thousands of people raised their voices in favor of supporting science and in protest of undermining it for nefarious goals.
The discussion about scientists becoming advocates has been around for a long time. Below is the source and an excerpt of an article that brings some of the arguments to the point: let’s not upset the applecart, so we don’t lose our already endangered funding….
(http://theconversation.com/should-scientists-engage-in-activism-72234)
In October, a remarkable editorial appeared in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The essay, by University of California, Berkeley engineering professor and Water Center Director David Sedlak, ES&T’s editor-in-chief, expressed concern that some of his colleagues in the field had crossed the “imaginary line” between scientist and advocate.
“Speaking out against a corrupt or incompetent system may be the product of a culture where idealism, personal responsibility, and Hollywood’s dramatic sensibilities conspire to create a narrative about the noble individual fighting injustice,” Sedlak wrote.
By becoming “allies of a particular cause, no matter how just, we jeopardize the social contract that underpins the tradition of financial support for basic research.” In other words, don’t cross Congress – which many scientists already view as hostile to their profession – and risk retaliation in the form of budget cuts. That’s no small pie, either. Through its oversight of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Energy and other agencies and programs, Congress holds the strings to a research purse worth nearly US$70 billion a year.
I am, of course, a firm believer that social contracts need to be re-negotiated if they don’t work for the social good. And it is more than short-sighted to think that budget cuts won’t happen anyhow, even if we are on our “best behavior.” Below are two more articles that provide informative summaries of the arguments used for or against our role as “neutral” bystanders. But the ultimate advice comes from someone who was smarter than the rest of us combined:
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it. -Albert Einstein
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/science-march/
Photographs captured numerous signs, several of them ad hominem against Trump&Cronies, some funny, some memorable. The age of participants ranged from 3 month to 90+ years, which was encouraging.
And this one was carried by a 6 or so year-old who was probably told: write down what you care about….. 
Martha Ullman West
thanks since I could not go. swell pix, sweller signs!