The World Is Healing, One Step at a Time

Anybody smart enough to read my posts regularly knows that I have a particular interest in science and total disdain for what the woke have done to ruin it. 

While almost every science journal, academic institution, and even the National Science Foundation have been destroying themselves by wokifying, none has gone as far as the once-great magazine Scientific American. 

The wokeness quotient has been rising for years but went into overdrive when, in the midst of pandemic hysteria, Laura Helmuth was appointed as Editor. 

Yesterday she “resigned,” although the word is that she was encouraged to do so. 

Laura Helmuth leaves as editor of Scientific American. This follows several profanity-laden diatribes about Trump voters that she tweeted out on election night. She later apologized. I wish her well, but hope the magazine can get back to doing what once made it excellent. pic.twitter.com/IUHKKJHmcq

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) November 14, 2024

I can’t speak to that, but Helmuth herself, in her post announcing her exit on Twitter/X, showed precisely why she needed to go. She outlined the articles of which she was most proud, and every single one of them was social justice warrior BS, and none of them was actually about science. 

I would link to the posts, but in the spirit of scientific inquiry and the spread of knowledge, she has locked her posts behind a wall so most people can’t see them. But as with most things on the internet, when there is a will, there is a screenshot. 

On her way out the door Laura Helmuth detailed what she sees as the most important pieces she shepherded through in her time as editor of Scientific American, and her list was dominated by the anti-scientific social commentary that’s put the magazine’s reputation in the toilet https://t.co/Y7e5tu4NNZ pic.twitter.com/O6NDWOzZpq

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) November 14, 2024

None of that is recognizably scientific, and that is the point. The Science™ has been turned into a political tool used to propagandize people who mistake credentials and titles for intelligence and wisdom.

It is a perfect example of the phenomenon David Burge, in his inimitable way, summarized in a tweet. 

Scientific American was a respected institution and Woke killed it. Twice now, it has ventured into endorsing candidates. Helmuth explicitly chose to politicize the magazine and use it to attack Republicans and even common sense.

Helmuth finally crossed the line after the results of the election came out. She said the quiet part out loud. It’s not like she said anything we didn’t know she thought, but committing a Kinsley Gaffe can cost you big. 

Series of posts by Scientific American’s Laura Helmuth who turned America’s oldest magazine into her personal political blog of bigotry and hate.

When you’re so disconnected from American reality don’t be shocked that trust in your magazine evaporates.

Science is not politics. pic.twitter.com/kgsCEUIomU

— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) November 6, 2024

Helmuth’s departure from Scientific American will not come close to solving the problem of Woke Science™, but it is as good a place to start as any. 

The Trump administration will no doubt ruthlessly axe any grants for DEI BS, Woke idiocy, and the politically correct science that asserts that sex does not exist. 

It all has to go, and what happened to Helmuth is a valuable example. 

If anybody thinks Helmuth was canceled, she wasn’t. She destroyed the credibility of a once-great brand, and it was for that reason she was forced out. Helmuth can believe whatever nonsense she likes, but if she imposes those nonsensical views on an institution, then she should be judged for her actions. 

She discredited Scientific American, drove away readers, undermined faith in science itself, and should have been fired long ago. 

Not all good things happening in the world are attributable to Trump’s win last week, but quite a few are. Trump moved the Overton window closer to reason, and there is less room for crazy leftism. 

Good.