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> To rebuild public trust. Hongoltz-Hetling argues that institutions must respectfully engage with unconventional beliefs and offer inclusive frameworks instead of dismissive critiques.

No, we don't need "inclusive frameworks" because some beliefs are idiotic.

We need experts who put reason and data before political agendas and they need to be able to say "I don't know" instead of lying.

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It’s bad when an expert doesn’t say “I don’t know”. It’s worse when they lie because “we don’t want the public thinking dangerous thoughts”.

Nearly every example I've encountered of experts allegedly lying under that rationale was actually a case of the public being effectively illiterate.

E.g. experts saying "we don't know if masks work" (stated over and over) the general public heard as "we know that masks don't work" (I've found exactly one instance of this being stated by a US public health expert, USSG Jerome Adams).

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