Yesterday I tweeted criticism of Trump, and I dropped a F bomb. Some have complained in the replies about how this vulgar display of uncontrolled emotion, as well as me expressing my political opinions, hurts my credibility.

My response? Fuck that. https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1254228301779881984

Pandemics are political. Policy making is political. Public health is political. Scientific research doesn't occur in a vacuum. Thus, when the president makes dangerous and false statements about science, correcting him is both political and necessary.

Scientists are also not emotionless lab robots who operate in some kind of intellectual Switzerland, where we only think in the cold mathematical language of logic. We are human beings. We have emotions. We can take sides on important issues. We have political opinions.

When the president makes a statement about unproven or outright dangerous treatments, people will take him at his word, because he is the president. He has automatic credibility based on the office he holds. It's reasonable for me to be horrified, angry, and worried by this.

I am a US citizen. I vote. I am entitled to have an opinion about the US president's job performance, particularly when it's within my area of professional expertise. I'm entitled to feel so strongly that I can swear when expressing this opinion. That doesn't negate my expertise.

Let me be clear: I give ZERO fucks whether or not random Twitter people think I'm "classy" or "credible" because I said "fuck off" about POTUS pushing dangerous misinformation that could literally kill someone. Do you think people dying is less offensive than me swearing? IDGAF

Also, I know this might surprise some people, but virologists do use swear words from time to time. Yes, even women virologists like me, despite the fact that it's not ladylike or "professional." Perceived "classiness" is not a metric that my job performance is evaluated on.

I'm also very curious to see how many of my male colleagues have been told to mind their language and their emotional tone. My guess is, disproportionately fewer. Men are less likely to be accused of hysterics that negate their professional expertise.

So stop holding scientists to a ridiculous standard of neutrality that denies our humanity & diminishes our expertise. Scientists should point out how the president continues to fail the public he was elected to serve. We're allowed to be critical. We're allowed to correct lies.

We're also allowed to decide what language we use, including swear words. When the president says we should look into injecting disinfectant, I'm allowed to have feelings about it in addition to a professional assessment, and to use naughty language to express that.

So, if you still think it's cool to say "you're right, Angie, but your emotional use of swear words makes you lose credibility IMHO" then perhaps you should reconsider why you think scientists SHOULDN'T be upset by politicians pushing misinformation that could cost actual lives.