When Objectivity Backfires combines found footage from TV news, social media videos, and internet images, blending elements of Zoom conferences and video-essays. The diverse media fragments are pieced together to examine the challenges environmental scientists face in countering misinformation and fake news. The work addresses the difficulties of combating the denialist rhetoric used by far-right politicians to undermine scientific data in the Brazilian context.
The narrative centers on Brazilian physicist Ricardo Galvão, focusing on his shift in attitude after being accused by then-President Jair Bolsonaro of manipulating fire and deforestation data in the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro's claims were aimed at discrediting Galvão, accusing him of using scientific data to politically undermine the government. The video analyses a TV debate between Galvão and Ricardo Salles, the then-environmental minister of Brazil in order to outline the deadlock faced by scientific discourse today.
For centuries, science has built its knowledge on the principles of universality, impartiality, and objectivity. However, these ideals, particularly given the deep entanglement between the development of science and colonialism, were proved to be anything from neutral. In an effort to preserve the authority of a supposedly detached, universal perspective, scientists have historically downplayed any political intentionality behind their work.
But today, the ongoing public debate surrounding environmental policy is revealing this longstanding blind spot. Climatologists are under increasing pressure to acknowledge the position they occupy within the current political landscape. Ultimately, scientific community is being pushed to recognize that climate change research inherently challenges the ways of life established by neoliberalism. But, how can they participate in the public debate without their scientific arguments being misinterpreted as ideological rhetoric?
After witnessing his claims about the universality of scientific authority being bombarded by cynical denial on live TV, Galvão was forced to reconsider his stance.
