Courage and respect in new media science communication

This article will articulate what it means to be morally courageous in online discussions of science by distinguishing between different fields of action appropriate to “technical deliberation” and “public deliberation,” while placing respect as a vital constituent of courageous action. These distinctions and focus help reveal the cowardice in superficially courageous action (e.g., "turning off the comments" to cut naysayers out of the discussion) as well as the hidden courage in actions that might seem cursorily to be rash (e.g., “turning on the comments” to allow nonexperts to chime in on science).