It’s not a lack of ability to understand that’s at issue, it’s a lack of trust. Poor, rural, uneducated conservatives don’t doubt the intelligence of doctors, they mistrust them.

Recall that doctors once told pregnant women to take Thalidomide (warning, don’t click on the article about the scandal unless you’re prepared to see disturbing pictures). More recently, the Surgeon General lied to the public about the effectiveness of masks for preventing COVID transmission.

When experts lie to the public, the loss of trust can last for generations. It’s a huge problem that is all too casually dismissed.

[–] melfie@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

This opinion piece from the BMJ entitled “The illusion of evidence based medicine” sets the stage: https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o702.

There is so much corruption and industry capture that it can be genuinely difficult to separate the real, unbiased science from “Big Pharma make number go up”. Telling people they are uneducated dipshits and to just “follow the science” ignores and further degrades the fundamental lack of trust.