Plinio Valerio and “Unqualified Science”

Until a few years ago, Plinio Valerio was a journalist focused on spreading Christian values. Before that, he worked in newspaper offices defending what he considered the greatest good: the truth. The press, the good press, guided Plinio's behavior. Although we never worked in the same newsroom, we knew each other.

Plinio's suspicions about NGOs in the Amazon and the interests they hide are long-standing. But Plinio always praised science. So what has changed?

It was a surprise to see the current Senator attacking a group of scientists who warn of a pandemic future by paving BR 319, especially the well-known “middle section,” with its catastrophic consequences for humans because it will lead to the “jump.” Of viruses, fungi and bacteria that can spread and cause new diseases.

Scientists speak based on the expectations that studies allow. They are not troublemakers and they are certainly not against the development of the Amazon. But they have not only a responsibility, but a duty to warn about the emergence of new epidemics as a result of human progress in the forest.

There are many ways to disagree, and the worst of them is to choose the path of demoralizing those who think differently. In the case of scientists, it is their work that is dismissed by the senator and society as a whole is most affected.

Science is made for everyone. Even those who are anti-science benefit from it.

Therefore, we can disagree with what scientists have warned about, but in a civilized manner. To call them “idiots, imbeciles, idiots, idiots” is to cross a line, a line that, when violated, leads to intolerance and chaos.