From the beginning there were a couple of 'concern trolls' who took issue with Coyne's aggressiveness--even before he said what he said to the editor at the Spectator which for many was a bit over the line.
I don't care. Which is not to say that I don't care if someone had their feelings hurt, or that I don't care because it was taken as sexist (yes, that tweet bothered me quite a bit, seemed unnecessary, and was taken in the worst possible way without much distortion of meaning). What I do mean by that is that every once in awhile this guy, who is a human being after all, may say something that people don't agree with, perhaps even something that reasonable people may have a problem with.
This leaves us with options. We can disavow him, which may have already happened in the case of the concern trolls; we can accept that he may say things that we disagree with on occasion; or we can support him unconditionally.
I go with option 2; over the course of the past few months, and hundreds of tweets, he has, in conjunction with others, done a tremendous job, the likes of which were simply not possible before. Not because people didn't try, not because we don't have science on our side. We don't have politics on our side, and he's firmly planted in that world, and has more sway than just about anybody who's ever advocated for us.
I don't say that to denigrate the efforts of people like, say, Malcolm Hooper. But Hooper could easily be dismissed by the powers that be, so few have heard the obvious truth that he has pointed out. Coyne has more credibility with the world of science in general, and he has the advantage of being able to challenge PACE from a standpoint that happens to resonate quite loudly in the larger science community at this time. So, we are in uncharted waters, and that's a good thing.
I'm not sure I would've gone so far as this tweet, and some others, but I'll live with it. If that's the bad I have to take in order to benefit from the good, it sure beats where we've been for, well, forever. I don't have to like or agree with every single thing. Of course, nobody has to agree with me, either. That's just my perspective. What's the title of this thread? I agree with it wholeheartedly.