[gibba999]

Science is a process, not a democracy. Overall consensus is irrelevant.

I know perfectly good scientists who believe cloth masks are useless. They're in the minority, and I disagree with them, but I can't classify reasonable opinions I disagree with a "misinformation."

I went against the scientific establishment early in the pandemic advocating for masks, when consensus was that they were useless. The evidence and confidence hasn't changed very much since then; the party line has. I'm glad for that change, but it'd be hypocritical of me to complain that I was censored then, and support censorship now.

I'm also glad for freedom-of-speech, and sad when it's taken away. I think it's okay to restrict freedom-of-speech when people lie -- and there's good precedent for that -- but not for differences of opinion, even (and especially) ones I disagree with.

[16bytes]

IIRC, the early consensus wasn't that they were useless, it's that there was no RCT that said they were effective. That's a big difference. Our understanding now is different.

If this was Sen. Paul's only statement--that most masks are ineffective--that would have been a bigger judgement call.

Sen. Paul, however, continued by saying that not only is it a fact they are ineffective, but Dr. Fauci knows this and is thereby lying to the American people.

That's way out of bounds for scientific discourse, and even for differences of opinion in normal discourse.

[gibba999]

I read the studies back in March 2020. There was pretty evidence from:

* Studies on the spread of flu virus

* Case studies of COVID in Asia.

We know a little more today, but not a lot more. We have replicated the flu results with COVID19.

I didn't hear anything in that interview which felt out-of-bounds for normal discourse. It certainly was a step higher than discourse I hear from liberals all the time in my community, and discourse I hear from other conservatives.

I disagreed with a lot of what he said, but it didn't deserve to be censored. It was intelligent, reasoned, and I just happen to have a different opinion.

[pnt12]

He's not a scientist, he's a politician.