The Public Good and Conflicts of Interest: Dr. Cockle, NCI (CD)

For related content, see the companion website https://constructivedissent.ca/

A Discussion of Ethical Responsibility: the Corporate Capture of Public Institutions as a Driver of Harm Throughout the Declared Pandemic

The other day, a friend and I were discussing the talk that I would give here at the National Citizen’s Inquiry, and with her talent for powerfully concise formulations she provided what I think is a perfect introduction to my topic.
"When I think about our universities, I can’t help thinking about their sad and
harmful failure over the past three years. Since March 2020, they have failed
to provide public access to much needed information. And they’ve failed to
foster and host balanced debate about the decisions being taken and the
policy measures being implemented in response to COVID-19. It’s not like
these decisions and policies were of no public significance and therefore
somehow beneath academic discussion. On the contrary, these decisions and
policies threatened all aspects of society--economic and political, social and
cultural, education and health. These decisions and policies suspended and
sometimes extinguished rights, they forced mass submission to medical
experimentation, they destroyed small businesses, they mandated loss of
employment and dis-entitlement to employment Insurance, they denied timely
access to medical diagnosis, they denied access to medical treatment,
including access to early or effective COVID treatment, they criminalized non-
compliance and lawful opposition, and they denied access to effective
remedies and to due process. In relation both to COVID-19, and our national
and provincial policy response to COVID, our universities could have provided
public access to much needed, balanced, evidence-based information. Our
universities could have provided forums for balanced, interdisciplinary, public
debate. Instead, our universities bullied, suspended, and fired faculty who
questioned or criticized."

To this, I would add, that after three long years, a great many Canadians are tired of being continuously ashamed of our universities. We want to see representatives of the university community taking the steps necessary to restore ethical integrity in their institutions. We want to see our universities make amends for the terrible harm they have done–harm they have done not only by implementing coercive, harmful policies, but by championing compliant obedience over critical thinking and informed debate, and thereby failing to serve the public good.

Having prepared an academic paper, Dr. Cockle was caught off guard by stiff resistance to this genre of presentation. This recording has been edited to include only the presentation material--the wrangling over format has been removed.