@Npars01 @petergleick this seems most likely. Scientists, educators, and (some) politicians make noise about climate change. Corporations make financial decisions about it. Decisions that are quiet but still, at least, act as evidence. The best way to put a stop to that might just be to destroy research. You can't prove the planet is getting warmer without historical data.

This applies to everything else, too. Science defies the application of cruelty by showing that gender, anatomy, neurology, psychology, society, nature, etc, are diverse and that diversity is beneficial and unique. Cruelty is ultimately how the powerful maintain control. As much as it helps them, science also threatens their control.