Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did we see during COVID and BLM?
[flagged]
What specifically happened to who?
Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
201–210 of 245 posts
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Just going up to people you don't know and handing it to them? Standing in a hallway handing them out and discussing? I’ve seen it at aerospace conferences aplenty. > giving it to people you know, or are already talking to? This, too.
Another thought: There could be some people who are afraid to be seen as involved in criticism of the administration, either for themselves or students/staff in the lab, for immigration or funding reasons. Not sure how relevant this is or how aggressive the approaches are. It would be helpful to hear from a neutral eyewitness.
> It would be helpful to hear from a neutral eyewitness
Agree. In the meantime, I’m glad their article is seeing daylight. I would have edited it a bit more neutrally. But the shenanigans it calls out are damaging to diabetic care and research and almost certainly illegal.
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How do you stop that? Better minds than mine have debated the paradox of tolerance (a name only given in the 1950s, but a concept recognized for longer). Also, not tolerating something doesn’t mean forcefully censoring it. Norms and conventions largely keep e.g. frowned-upon slurs out of common usage. The person getting told to shut up for using the N- word isn’t being censored by the state, but they are being enco…
In practice, it seems that whenever someone is told to shut up for using the N- word, they react by saying it many more times. So it doesn't work very well.
> whenever someone is told to shut up for using the N- word, they react by saying it many more times
One, not my experience. (Indian family.) Two, people spouting out the N- word have generally caused themselves to be ignored, which sort of solves the problem as well.
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#204Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm no doctor, but I suspect the conference organisers wanted the conference to focus on diabetes. Rather than exploring whether the USA is a "free" country where anyone can say anything about the government, without consequences.
> suspect the conference organisers wanted the conference to focus on diabetes The article they were distributing is pretty clearly about diabetes. If the actions it describes continues, significant efforts towards treating and even curing diabetes will be lost.
It wasn't in any way an article, and much less an article about diabetes.
They were distributing an Opinion Piece which title was (yes, this is the full title): Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#206I think you have to start from: - the organizers are doing what they think is best for the attendees, and what the majority of attendees want And, you should consider: "what if everyone did that?" I gather they had a paper they thought was important, but was not accepted to the conference (so they had no formal chance to present it). What would happen if everyone who's paper was rejected could just wander around pass…
> you should consider: "what if everyone did that?" Literally every academic conference. > but was not accepted to the conference (so they had no formal chance to present it) One, source for it not being accepted to the conference? It was accepted to the conference organizer’s journal. Two, again, literally every academic conference. Folks handing out their papers, including preprints not published at the organizer’s…
They were not handing an Article, they were handing an opinion piece titled :Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
If they wanted to be political in a scientific conference, they could have done so by handing the opinion piece outside the venue at the entrance. Whoever wanted to get into their politics could do it, and whoever wanted to be left alone and be there for the science could do it as well.
It's extremely disrespectful to be pressuring the other people in the conference with their ideology.
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#207> “They physically grabbed us, forced us out of the conference center, and now are telling us we can no longer attend this meeting,” Kelly told MedPage Today, which first reported the incident. “They’re taking our lanyards. It really has come to this in America. Censorship is real. America needs to stand up. Scientists, stand up. Physicians, stand up.” It's become very evident from the outside that the best time to s…
So much grandstanding based on a single persons account? You might do very well in HR
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#208[flagged]
The editor-in-chief of a journal handing out a paper that was published in that journal at a conference for that journal... is quite different from ranting about space lizards in a public square. Your argument is a strawman: you are refuting an argument different from the one actually under discussion. The argument isn't "is protesting at a conference acceptable?" The argument is "does this behavior constitute an una…
They weren't handing a paper published in the journal (which implies some kind of scientific paper); they were handing an opinion piece titled :Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#209> “They physically grabbed us, forced us out of the conference center, and now are telling us we can no longer attend this meeting,” Kelly told MedPage Today, which first reported the incident. “They’re taking our lanyards. It really has come to this in America. Censorship is real. America needs to stand up. Scientists, stand up. Physicians, stand up.” It's become very evident from the outside that the best time to s…
This might be reading too much in to minor drama at a diabetes conference. The gentleman in question could have gone to protest outside (and probably did). The article linked doesn't even say what exactly they were protesting (beyond a rather vague "attacks on scientific research" which could mean a lot of things).
Conferences have dozens of people distributing pamphlets, papers, ads, and all manner of literature. To share a publication from an authoritative body with peers is a common action.
Re: Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
If Adria Richards and PyCon can make a such fuss about a joke [1], then other conferences can do the same about current political events. I personally wouldn't mind or better said I wouldn't be offended because the topic might be boring for me. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donglegate
> If Adria Richards and PyCon can make a such fuss about a joke Your takeaway from Donglegate was that Richards was in the right?
For what it's worth, I laughed at that joke.