Fortunately for the world, the United States has a First Amendment, which guarantees in part, the freedom of speech. This radical concept is coming under fire in an area which depends on the free flow of ideas and concepts; that of science.
In the article linked below, we find a short, concise discussion on those in our society who seem to have or wish to set themselves up as arbitrators of what is permitted and what is forbidden in discussions of science. These arbitrators include social media, the press and even many leaders in the scientific community. If these individuals and groups can “control what science says, they can control what is considered true.”, then we face the decline of science with all that it implies. We have seen that before, in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and today in various authoritarian nations around the globe. When we have a lifelong bureaucrat state that “If you discredit me, you discredit science” we face a serious threat to true science and the benefits that can flow from it.
https://www.city-journal.org/in-defense-of-misinformation-restrictions-of-scientific-free-speech
Science in America and the 1st Amendment
1st of all the First Amendment was never practiced in U.S. science. Scientists that are the funded and most published control all scientific thought in the U.S. Someone like Dr. Fauci for more than 50 years has mentored junior scientists then doled out grants and funding to his favorites especially those doing research he approves. China does not have the 1st Amendment but it invests heavily in science and engineering, in the areas that the CCP deem will be most beneficial to the Chinese Economy and Society. For every 1 U.S. citizen applicant to a U.S. engineering graduate school, there will be 100’s of Chinese Applicants fully funded by China. Whereas many of our graduate school students are funded by private corporations.