I borrow a litte part of the title from this very interesting post by @gianluccio, as what I am about to write comes from some thoughts resulting from its reading, and from the consequent exchange of comments.
We are in a very particular historical moment, from many points of view. And no, I'm not talking about the events related to the ongoing epidemic.
For some years now, web and television have been giving more and more space to disturbing and harmful figures that, even after so much thinking, I would not know how to define exactly and therefore, for convenience, I will define Ignorant. Let's be clear, I'm not talking about who is ignorant in a certain field, which is more than legitimate; rather, I am talking about those people who stand out for their high moral, logical and social ignorance. I'm talking about the various conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, nazi-vegans et similia, who spring up everywhere like mushrooms in a damp September forest.
In "times of peace", these disturbed figures are almost nice and funny, giving infinite material with which to have a laugh and feel better about themselves, thinking that, in the end, the world is worse off. In "wartime" however, when things get serious, normal people soon end up getting tired of paying attention to these charlatans, and the fun often turns into anger.
As pointed out by @gianluccio, this is exactly what is happening at the moment. The imbeciles we made fun of until a few weeks ago suddenly turned into enemies to be erased from the face of the earth, or at least from the web; ass shots turned into mutual insults; desperate attempts to redeem them have become criminal complaints.
This happens for several reasons, some purely psychological others more tangible, such as the need to preserve the weakest people from the possibility that the Ignorant make a break in their minds, thus putting them in danger. Because that's what happens.
And here we come, finally, to the madness mentioned in the title. Of course, this is something that, albeit in a more occult way, has crept into our society well before the arrival of this pandemic, but which has now exploded showing itself in all its worrying crap. In order not to go too far, I will examine the two cases that have occurred to me most in these days of forced imprisonment, during I have had to hear people filling their mouths with these statements over and over.
The madness of free speech
Very often, when one of the Ignorant mentioned above is caught in the act by someone who, with science and conscience, debunk the improbable thesis, he defends himself by appealing to freedom of speech.
This fundamental right of the human being is recognized by article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right not to be harassed for his own opinion and to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas through any means and without regard to borders and, by extension, from article 21 of the Italian Constitution: Everyone has the right to freely express their thoughts with the word, the written word and any other means of diffusion. Since these are not laws, they are often interpreted as follows: I can say what I want, how I want, when I want, because I am free to express my thoughts.
This, however, is only partially true. In fact, the limits of these rights are also indicated. In particular, limits are placed which derive from the protection of "morality" or from the existence of different goods or interests which are in the same way protected and guaranteed by the Constitution, with the aim of limiting all those actions that would damage the public safety, the protection of which is one of the immanent purposes of the system.
I especially dwell on the existence of different goods or interests that are equally protected and guaranteed by the Constitution; one of these goods, for example, is people's health. If someone spreads messages that undermine the health of others, then his alleged freedom of expression decays. If I went mad and tried to make the world believe that tachipirine hurts, then I should be stopped. In the same way, those who without any scientific basis try to convince the masses that vaccines are bad, or that the virus responsible for the current pandemic is not dangerous, must be stopped and sanctioned. Maybe recluse.
Science is doubtful, whoever does not doubt is a fool
This is one of the most cherished phrases for scientists around the world, but it is increasingly used by the Ignorant to defend the existence of their stupid theses: "science is not certainty, and therefore it could also be as I say".
No, it doesn't work that way. Of course, science is also doubtful, and this doubt is intrinsic in the modalities of science: those who want to make a statement must necessarily base it on a series of observations and experiments that are adequately described and repeatable; in this way, if someone wanted to doubt, he could retrace the path followed by the one who made the statement, finding differences or confirming the observations. This is the doubt. Doubting does not mean getting up in the morning and formulating an alternative theory without any scientific basis, also because a bizarre theory without any foundation is not in turn "doubtful" (pass me the term), and therefore cannot be verified. There is a risk of falling precisely on the point that was intended to be used as defense, that is science is doubtful. It is doubtful only when it is convenient for you, tell the truth.
I will give an example. Several works have now been published in support of the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2 (I will adequately deal with this in a future post). These works, like all scientific publications, contain a detailed description of how this conclusion was reached, and make it possible to repeat the experiment infinite times. The opposite thesis, to date, is not based on any scientific evidence. There are no verifiable elements or repeatable experiments that can allow to verify these theses. And therefore, those who propose such a thesis are inventing.
Wanting to be precise, the elements are there and demonstrate the inconsistency of the thesis, but this is another story.
Yes, science is doubtful. But all is not science.
In conclusion, this is the madness I referred to in the title of this post. It’s foolish that ignorant people without adequate knowledge are allowed to speak freely by spreading false information that generates confusion and fear. It’s foolish that there are doctors and scientists who, for a bit of notoriety, pull out of nowhere thesis not supported by any scientific element, sometimes lying on the data. It’s foolish that people follow and defend these imbeciles without understanding that they are the ones who lose out first of all. It’s foolish that fundamental rights such as freedom of thought and speech are used to arrogate the right to say nonsense. It’s foolish that institutions do not take action by silencing and punishing these people. This world is foolish, a world in which science has been downgraded to a common speech, so anyone feels entitled to define their own stupid as science.