Unpopular opinion: there has been a steady decline of standards in the research community in the past decade or two. First reproducibility crisis. Then, some topics becoming political taboo where the unorthodox opinion would get you fired and canceled. The credibility of the science in the West has been falling, and the recent change of administration is predictably axing something that has a perceived strong bias in the opposite direction.

An optimist in me hopes that we can get back to unbiased science, where it doesn't have to agree with the current side, but both sides perceive it as fair and agree to leave it alone for common good. A realist thinks that it will happen in China, and the West has just run out of steam.

> back to unbiased science

Science has always struggled with biases. There was no perfect time in the past that you are imagining where that wasn't an issue.

If it seems worse today, it's largely because the systemic biases that were already there are becoming more visible, which is a sign of progress.