Tuesday, May 28, 2019

The Clampdown: Or How Not to Handle a Crisis of Confidence

Interesting post by Gelman recently. I am on the mailing list from where the quoted email came. It was in reference to revelations about the Zimbardo prison experiment that cast further doubt on its legitimacy. As someone watching HBO's Chernobyl series, there is something almost Soviet in the mindset expressed in that email. The thing about clampdowns is that they tend to generate further cynicism that erodes the edifice upon which a particular discipline or sub-discipline is based. If I could, I'd tell these folks that they are just making the changes they are fighting more inevitable, even if for a brief spell the life of those labeled as dissidents is made a bit more inconvenient.

The title for this and Gelman's post is inspired by a song by The Clash:

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