I had a lot of respect of Neil deGrasse Tyson when he was the host of Discovery Science channel shows.
When he stayed in his area of expertise, he was awesome.
The fame went to his head and now he goes on Twitter and social media with the dumbest and most embarrassing shit. I’ve lost a lot of respect for the man.
In the wake of the Parkland shooting, this is what he Tweeted.
Evidence collected over many years, obtained from many locations, indicates that the power of Prayer is insufficient to stop bullets from killing school children.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 16, 2018
This is the kind of shit take makes people believe that atheists are misanthropes.
Any religious person would tell you that in situations like this, prayer doesn’t stop bullets. Prayer is a succor to help with the emotional fallout.
Even modern psychology (SCIENCE!!!) agrees that there is an emotional benefit to prayer.
But when you are full of anti-religious, scientism snark and a feeling of superiority to religious people, why let decency or empathy get in the way?
Never miss an opportunity to make a bunch of grieving church goers feel look like ignorant, superstitious fools for going to church.
Somebody, please, take Neil deGrasse Tyson to church and help him find Jesus.
http://mcthag.blogspot.com/2018/02/ask-and-ye-shall-receive.html
Absolutely. Tyson was much more respectable when he was a planetarium guy who showed up every now and then. The somebody claimed he was the next Carl Sagan and he’s been an insufferable asshole ever since. Getting worse with time.
Sagan, though, was an actual scientist who participated in important NASA missions, while a planetarium director is kind of a narrator.
I lost absolutely all respect for the man when he (on some show he was narrating/hosting) was arguing against Intelligent Design theory, and used the example of human anatomy, and in particular, breathing.
He was saying that the average person breathes in, and uses something like less than ten percent of the oxygen in the air (in their lungs) with each breath. And this is, of course,ridiculously inefficient, and therefore proof that there was no intelligent creator behind it, because who would purposefully design such a system to be that inefficient. Right?
Except of course, there are literally dozens of ways that “inefficiency” benefits us. Like being able to hold your breath, while swimming, for example. Or because the air is full of some sort of pollutant, like smoke.
Running vs merely walking would be impossible if we used one hundred percent of the oxygen in the air with every breath. Walking would be next to impossible vs resting.
Making a fire (the old fashioned way) would be impossible if every breath you took in used all the oxygen in the air in your lungs, because the air you breathe out would be oxygen-free and of no use to the spark/embers/flames.
The man is a f***ing idiot.
Tyson is apparently in competition with Richard Dawkins for the “most ignorant smart person in the world” trophy. Dawkins definitely has set the bar pretty high, with his monumentally ignorant Twitter remarks about Americans and our gun culture, but Tyson is getting closer and closer. I think Tyson will eventually win out, only because he is younger and still has plenty of time to become even more bitter and arrogant.
My link didn’t take, but I’ve posted a pic of someone taking him to task over the statement on my blog.
That would be the “sweet and shy” Nicki Kenyon. Hell, she held herself just using one bad word.
Take him to church? It would be both more satisfying and more productive to take him out in the swamp and leave him to the ‘gators.
Our Scientists who art in Universities and Federal Government, who art in D.C.,
hallowed be the names of who you tell us to listen to,
thy utopian kingdom come,
thy controlling will be done,
on earth as it is in the US.
Give us this day our daily food stamps.
And provide us safe spaces and sanctuary cities to harbor our trespassers,
as we force those
who trespass against us to comply with us.
And lead us not into temptation of subverting your will,
but deliver us from the evil of those that do not agree with us.
For in my mind, thine is the kingdom control,
and the power to enforce, and the glory of utopia, and academia
for ever and ever.
How about this prayer?:
Lord, make me fast and accurate.
Let my aim be true and my hand faster
than those who wish to harm me and mine.
Let not my last thought be “If only I had my gun”.
and Lord, if today is truly the day you are to call me home,
Let me die in a pile of brass.