Russell Seitz
also followed the tobacco industry playbook. By claiming that the TTAPS research was illegitimate because it was based on simplification, he preyed on the public’s ignorance about how science is done—
all science depends on simplified models. Similarly, he exploited people’s misunderstanding about how scientific proof works: discrediting the TTAPS researchers’ method wouldn’t mean that their conclusion
must be false, but only that they
failed to prove it. For instance, if someone uses terrible reasoning to argue that the earth is round, disproving their reasoning doesn’t mean that the earth flat—instead, it just means that they have found the wrong explanation for the right conclusion. Finally, Seitz accused legitimate scientists of exactly what he was doing: lying to promote a political agenda. Since both sides were accusing the other of the same thing, it became extremely difficult for the public to decide who was telling the truth. This is why Oreskes and Conway say that Seitz reduced science to politics: with the science so muddled, it became easier for the public and policymakers to just choose the conclusion that fit with their political views.