The Perils Of Being Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Thoughts from Charles Cooke:

…the nature of the apology seems to tell us exactly why he did not just own up and move on. He can’t. He’s trapped, having become responsible for the self-esteem and self-identity of millions of adoring followers. Deep down, I bet Tyson wished he could just say, “my mistake.” Instead, he had to embed his note in an avalanche of superfluous pseudo-context; to insist that the whole affair “fascinated me greatly”; to enter into peculiar digressions about the nature of evidence and of memory; and, rather than admitting that a critic was right, to propose extraneously that “the mind is surely the next mysterious universe to be plumbed.” I find this all rather sad, I must say. I like Neil deGrasse Tyson. I’m sure he’s a nice, smart, interesting guy. His most ardent followers, however, are not. And, if his behavior over the past month is any indication, he’s been captured by them.

Yes. This hasn’t enhanced his reputation. Or notoriety.

17 thoughts on “The Perils Of Being Neil DeGrasse Tyson”

  1. The modern etiquette for being caught with a misquote of this magnitude is to either say, “Pay not attention to the man behind the curtain!” or perhaps more simply, “Never mind!”

  2. On reflection, this requires a more serious apology. For whatever his faults, President George W Bush, who had included “mosque” in his list of American places of worship in his “Angel Rides the Whirlwind” First Inaugural address, went to great pains to distinguish between the religion of Islam and the 9-11 attackers, offering that “Islam is a religion of peace.”

    Our esteemed astronomy popularizer was 1) taking a cheap shot at President Bush, who probably lost reelection because he didn’t view the War or Terror in sufficiently Manichean terms, with the idea that “anyone interested in science” regards our 43rd President to be a moron, and 2) using that as an “ice breaker” or an “audience warmup” to explain the contribution of the Arabs to astronomy and the use of stars for navigation fixes.

    Given that the original remark is really a slander against Mr. Bush, the man should offer an “apology apology” rather than a dissembling set of excuses.

      1. You would never know that Bush wasn’t running for another term by how often he was mentioned in the ’08 or ’12 campaigns.

    1. I don’t think NDT appreciates the gravity of his insult. Culturally, calling a white person a racist is the worst insult one can give, which is why Democrats do it so often. It is an attempt to say, and believe, that someone is unhuman, a being that lacks sentience, an animal without capacity for morals or thought.

      NDT misquoted Bush but the real slur was the context in which NDT claims the quote was made. When busted, NDT then claims Bush thinks God named the stars and not astronomers. NDT couldn’t admit that he slurred Bush by claiming he hated Muslims, which is itself bigoted of NDT. Instead of just apologizing, he said he would continue to use the quote out of bigotry toward religious people.

      You are right that he needs to do a real apology. He should also drop the quote and come up with new material. Comedians have to write new jokes when they go on tour, NDT could at least live up to that standard for his performances.

      1. Amusingly, some moron on Twitter called me a “bigot” today because I had the temerity to point out that I (and other heterosexuals) find (male) homosexual activity disgusting. Not that I find gays disgusting, not that they shouldn’t be allowed to do it, not that I think they should be rounded up and imprisoned, just that I am put off by the thought of sex with a man. The depths of his ignorant illogical insults of me got to be sort of hilariously stupid.

        1. They moved on from mere “tolerance” long ago. Now, you must approve, nay celebrate, whatsoever anyone chooses to do, as long as that anyone has the PC police in his or her corner.

        2. And that is another thing, if your enthusiasm isn’t high enough, you become part of the out group. It isn’t enough to simply agree with something, you have to show you are more dedicated than the others through public displays of loyalty.

          SJWs saw all the people “crying” when Kim Jong-il died and took notes for future use.

  3. I’ll admit, when I read the first Sean Davis post; I thought this was a bit of a tempest in a teapot. I never really followed NDT. I did follow Bill Nye as an older kid and liked his show until I started seeing some experiments that I thought were done wrong. That the two had the same adoring fans now a days raised some questions, but I otherwise thought the quotes were roughly paraphrased examples being used to make a larger point that might be more valuable. I understand that stretches the role of scientist and enters entertainment, but few scientist can convey their ideas to others because they can’t speak in terms others get.

    But the Bush quote by NDT is completely wrong. Tyson has gone from a misleading embellishment to an obvious outright lie. Tyson’s argument today is that Bush did say the lines. However, NDT completely fabricated when Bush actually said them. He realizes he’s been corrected on that, but still maintains that Bush’s use of the line was to distance Christians from Muslims; and that’s a lie at two points: Bush never tried to distance Christians from Muslims immediately after 9/11 (or at any point I can think of, Bush was mocked by the right for the “Religion of Peace” sloganeering); and there is no context in the Columbia disaster that includes Islam. Bush didn’t add that context then, no one else added that context, but now NDT is trying to make that context. Finally, there’s what others have noted, that Tyson’s argument originally was that Bush made the statement that “ours is the God that named the Stars” was a suggestion that Bush was claiming the Christian God is somehow different than the Muslim God, when historical scripture is they are the same. To believe Tyson now, you would have to believe that it is actually the Muslim God that named the Stars, and that God is different from the Christian God. The only reason I can come up to change this concept is that NDT still wants Bush to look stupid in some way.

    I see no reason to find Neil DeGrasse Tyson credible at this point. It is no longer a minor issue. He was trying to slander Bush by misquoting Bush. If it was unintentional before; it is definitely intentional now. That type of slander has a simple name: Fraud! And that is what Neil DeGrasse Tyson is; a fraud.

    1. I have little doubt Tyson also distinctly remembers hearing Sarah Palin say “I can see Russia from my house.”

      It’s seared — SEARED — into his memory.

    2. The first two quotes were not worthy of comment, IMO. NDT fans might view the Bush one as not worthy of comment too because of the stereotypes they have for different people and groups. And it is interesting that when NDT talked about memory issues that he didn’t say anything about how preconceived stereotypes can influence how you remember events.

  4. “Son, we live in a world that has science, and that science has to be popularized by speeches using quotations. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Sean Davis? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for creationism, and your curse climate change. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That religion’s decline, while tragic, probably improved science. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, improves science. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that podium, you need me on that podium. We use words like experimentation, falsifiable, reproducible. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent teaching something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very knowledge that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just say, ‘thank you,’ and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggestion you pick up PowerPoint and stand behind a lectern. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.” — Neil DeGrasse Tyson

  5. “You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That religion’s decline, while tragic, probably improved science.”

    Probably? I thought you knew it.

    “We use words like experimentation, falsifiable, reproducible. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent teaching the lemmings to ignore these.”

    FIFY

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