Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson has made himself into a celebrity, in part by making up nonsense to impress a generation of smug millennials who think internet memes qualify as intellectual debate. He is worshipped in certain neck-bearded and fedora topped corners of geek culture.
Of all the preening Science! worshippers, Tyson is perhaps the most annoying. It’s a close call between him and Bill Nye. Nye may hold the edge if only because he’s not even a scientist; at least Tyson got his PhD.
The worst part about people like Tyson is their apparent belief that a background in one narrow area of scientific inquiry qualifies them as experts on virtually everything else.
He went on a Twitter rant yesterday about the budget proposed by President Trump and it was filled with the same inane assumptions made by many rank and file internet commenters who don’t have a piled higher and deeper degree.
The fastest way to Make America Stupid: Cut funds to programs that support education.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
Tyson clearly hasn’t seen the data on this one. Maybe he just ignored all the information that doesn’t support his desired conclusion. That seems popular among political Science! zealots. America has been spending more and more on education for virtually zero improvement in academic achievement. To say education spending makes people smart is magical thinking.
The fastest way to Make America Sick Again: Cut funding to the National Institutes of Health
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
Again, the equation doesn’t balance. He’s literally suggesting that there is a linear relationship between sickness and NIH funding. That’s not even close to scientific.
The fastest way to Make a America Weak Again: Cut science funds to our agencies that support it.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
Yes, shrimp on a treadmill are going to keep Vladimir Putin at bay. The next computer model that falsely predicts climate catastrophe will make ISIS understand who they’re dealing with here.
The fastest way to thwart Earth's life-support systems for us all: Turn EPA into EDA — the Environmental Destruction Agency.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
This is utter nonsense like the rest of his spiel but note the layers of dishonesty. He’s saying that curbing the power of the EPA is equal to literally having an agency dedicated to destroying the environment. He’s also suggesting that a single agency of the federal government is the only thing standing between humanity and a planet that no longer supports life.
There is not one single scientific claim made by Tyson in this rant. It is a series of political slogans and invented realities. CNN described all this as Neil deGrasse Tyson going “Supernova on Trump’s Budget.” A supernova is when a star burns very brightly while most of its substance has been ejected into space. That seems like a fitting metaphor for an overexposed celebrity spouting empty rhetoric.
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