Scientists, it’s time to pay your taxes.
I study addiction. I study addiction because my family was destroyed by the opioid crisis in Ohio. I shopped for my wedding dress alone, none of my family attended any of my graduations, and I have mothered motherlessly because of the thing I study. My research is deeply personal. And yet, I decided to lay down my scientific research because there existed such a gap in the political machinery of the scientific ecosystem that fascism was about to walk through the threshold and decimate it.
Today, I am asking for your help.
It is no secret that Holden Thorp and I have had some public discourse about how to fight for science during Trump’s attempted fascist takeover. I’ve said this before, Thorp and I have discussed it, and I’ll say it again: this broad conversation is good for us all. Activists should challenge the status quo in ways that make more senior folks uncomfortable and more senior folks should elucidate goings-on to new-to-the-scene activists. I have found our ongoing discussions productive and insightful. As such, I come to the table again with a bone to pick.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been noodling on Thorp’s point that doing the science that the Trump administration so wants us to stop doing, is an act of resistance.
He’s not wrong. Part of the resistance is to find ways to keep the scientific ecosystem alive under hostile circumstances. This is critical, especially in instances where data collection has stopped. One recent victory in this area was the team who catalogued the climate crisis, even after federal funding was pulled. Talk about resistance!
However, as I have laid out elsewhere, I think scientists use “work is resistance” to avoid action.
I would have a greater appreciation for Thorp’s point if scientists weren’t so damn hard to mobilize. The problem with Thorp’s “work is resistance” line is that it assumes a version of scientists that isn’t widely true. His point is predicated on the idea that continuation of work is intentionally defiant. Now, there are absolutely folks for whom this is true—federal scientists, folks who are using their expertise in new ways, faculty who are mentoring future generations of diverse scientists. The problem is, that is not most scientists. Many are avoidant—I’m talking clinically maladaptive, anxiety inducing patterns of avoidance—and avoidance isn’t resistance.
Further, baked in is an ego problem. Stand Up for Science has been practically begging people to call or email their House Representatives to ask them to co-sponsor articles of impeachment against RFK Jr., using our easy tools. You can do both in less than 4 minutes. That is 0.003% of your day.
But, many view their work as too important to stop. The time is too important to waste. The energy is too valuable a resource to spend on politics. “My funding is secure, I don’t need to waste my time calling senators.”
If everyone is resisting by doing the work, who then is doing the fighting so you can do the work?
The burden falls on a small portion of scientists to fight and work. I am one of them and I have come to know others—they are dedicated to our ecosystem, wear an impressive assortment of hats, and are working very hard, very long hours to throw sand in the gears of fascism. I’m trying to finish my dissertation while building an organizational fighting arm for science on a shoestring budget without institutional support of any kind. This arrangement—where a small number of dedicated scientist activists fight for the whole of the ecosystem—isn’t sustainable.
The only way Thorp’s point works is if scientists and societies/organizations pay their science activism taxes. I will buy his argument when:
1. We collectively agree to contribute to the fight.
We need to think of science activism as the tax of being fortunate enough to get to do science in the US. Four minutes per day; that’s a 0.003% yearly tax rate! That’s exceptional! In aggregate, this is one 24-hour day, per year, dedicated to science activism.
If we all agree to put in a little, we can protect our colleagues from being a small minority carrying the weight of the entire scientific ecosystem on their backs, while more privileged scientists can claim immunity from activism because “their work is, in itself, resistance.”
Not to mention, we will get more done this way!
“I don’t know where to start…”
Great, here is your assignment:
I want you to call your House Rep, on your drive into work every single day. Tell them to co-sponsor H. Res 944. Then, when you sit down for lunch, send an email to them saying the same thing. That’s your four minute tax for every weekday, leaving you with ~7 hours of protest time per annum.
Call: https://fight2win.standupforscience.net/sign_up/13983/?
Write: https://fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/153512/
2. Scientific societies and organizations invest in the fighting arm.
Your scientific home that you pay dues to should be supporting you in more ways than hosting a yearly conference. They should be fighting so you can focus on what you do best: science. I think we have all seen their capacity, or lack thereof, for fighting in the last year. And listen, I know that we all have our places…BUT! If they won’t stick their neck out, perhaps they should support the organization who keeps their neck out and head up all day, every day!
Despite all the “support”, not a single scientific society has donated to Stand Up for Science. We do not take member dues and we run almost entirely on donations from individuals (with several exceptions, thank you to the Lasker Foundation and NRDC for your support). In several instances, this has included groups using our intellectual property (e.g., name, photos) for their own fundraising or “advocacy” purposes.
If every scientific society donated a basis point (or even half a BP!) or 0.01% of their yearly budget to fighting for science—I’m not talking about paying their own lobbyists—we would be dominating the war on science. But I can’t even get a response to my emails. So again, we have an example, now of organizations, being granted the privilege of “work is resistance” while freeloading off the heavy lift of the fighting arm.
Right now, a small group of us are pulling levers that are new to scientists and critical to the fight…but we need your help. We need you to pay your science activism taxes. Otherwise, a few of us carry the burden of the threat to all of our work.