"Science, since people must do it, is a socially embedded activity. It progresses by hunch, vision, and intuition. Much of its change through time does not record a closer approach to absolute truth, but the alteration of cultural contexts that influence it so strongly. Facts are not pure and unsullied bits of information; culture also influences what we see and how we see it. Theories, moreover, are not inexorable inductions from facts. The most creative theories are often imaginative visions imposed upon facts; the source of imagination is also strongly cultural." [Stephen Jay Gould, introduction to "The Mismeasure of Man," 1981]
Interesting to contrast this definition of science by Stephen J. Gould, with the term Antiscience and how it is often used.
Here is an example, ironically titled: "Boris Johnson warns of the dangers of technology..."
"There are today people who are still actually antiscience; a whole movement who'll be anti-vaxxers, who refuse to acknowledge the (emblance) that vaccinations have eradicated smallpox and who by their prejudices are actually endangering the very children they want to protect." Excerpt from PBS News Hour, Boris Johnson's speech at the UN on Sept. 26, 2019. https://youtu.be/OSp85oS11Z4
At one point Johnson used the word 'benign' in his discourse. This I submit is the actual seed of the controversy.
It seems to me that what Johnson calls antiscience is a healthy component of the science Stephen Gould defined. A healthy struggle between viewpoints, opinions, imaginative visions, etc. Questioning, resisting and opposing popular cultural beliefs seems to me to be a healthy and necessary component of true science. If this struggle is not allowed, then the magisterium of science is in great danger of falling into erroneous dogmas as history has recorded of the magisterium of religion in some cases.
"In the world of nutrition and health, scientists are not free to pursue their research wherever it leads. Coming to the 'wrong' conclusions, even through first-rate science, can damage your career. Trying to disseminate these 'wrong' conclusions to the public, for the sake of public health, can destroy your career." - Dr. T. Colin Campbell PhD., The China Study, p.256