Oof. Like I said. Just fyi, for any of the HN'ers left "can we honestly say" is just a colloquialism for "is it reasonable to say, given..." Pretty sure my "given" wasn't nutso anti-science. Especially considering I am a scientist. HN was fun while it lasted. Peace out.
It's probably just a terminology mismatch. But practicing scientists take a lot of care to honestly say what they're saying, so it doesn't land well as rhetoric.
Thank you. That's the exact understanding I was missing. I appreciate that.