What Herstel-NL does with the image of science

A number of senior economists are (or: were) against the current lockdown. The British variant of the virus is not too bad, they say. One explains: “In December I also performed detailed calculations and models for the distribution of the UK variant. I feel like fear has been wrongly sown about this. What does this statement do about the perception of science?

1

They look so awesome, these RIVM models. But what exactly does such a model represent? Apparently you’ve assembled a model like this, you might think – between Christmas turkey and oliebollen. Plus, this economist does this on his own – you don’t need an entire institute for that.

2

This economist model is also much better. The RIVM calculations are so wrong that there is “fear”.

3

And then the “I” in that statement. Normally, a scientist submits his model to fellow scientists. They look for weaknesses and the model takes advantage of them. You only come out after a positive judgment. But here the economist comes out immediately. What is the consequence? Scientific colleagues are forced to criticize in public, which is not tender: “fundamental error”, “absurd”, “stupid”.

The image: each scientist has his own model and scientists are fighting in the streets. Science is only an opinion.

With a smart term, you can not only describe reality, but also create it. Hans de Bruijn is an expert in public administration and a specialist in debate. It analyzes the guiding language of policy makers every week.