What's Neil deGrasse Tyson Doing on Ben Shapiro's Podcast?
( What a bullshitter and what is wrong with Colbert? ugh )
By Shannon Palus
Oct 11, 20196:10 PM
On Sunday, Neil deGrasse Tyson will appear on an episode of The Ben Shapiro Show. According to a promo clip, theyll be talking about everything from physics to climate change to abortion to transgenderism, Shapiro, the conservative firebrand who is known for antagonizing liberals, says. Well get in all sorts of trouble. Tyson sits in a chair across from him, nodding and bursting into a laugh at the end.
The chumminess between the two men seems to have already bothered some of Tysons co-workers. In my experience, museum-affiliated scientists are required to vet all media appearances through our communications department, tweeted Jacklyn Grace Lacey, an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson heads the Hayden Planetarium. Just Friday, Shapiro covered the Democratic LGBTQ town hall on his show, implied homosexuality is a social viewpoint, and said the town hall was discrimination against religious people. Given those, and other views, Lacey had SEVERAL questions.
Inner PR workings of the museum aside, it actually makes a lot of sense that this beloved (to many) science communicator is cavorting with Shapiro. Tyson is selling a new book, Letters From an Astrophysicist, in which he shares correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers, according to the Amazon page. Going on The Ben Shapiro Show, whose Sunday specials regularly draw 100,000 views on YouTube alone, will likely help him sell books.
But this media tour is about more than just getting his face in front of more people. Tyson has a more delicate task this time around, as its his first book after being accused of sexual misconduct. Last year, Tyson issued a rebuttal
in which he basically admitted to crossing several boundarieslike inviting his assistant to his apartment for a late-night hangoutwhile also claiming not to have done anything wrong. He was allowed to keep his job following closed-door investigations by his employers, the actual findings of which werent shared with the public, a frustrating move given the public-ness of the accusations themselves (from multiple women, including the former assistant, who claims he made lewd comments to her, and a former classmate, who claims he raped her). But after a year of staying (relatively) quiet, at least in terms of major interviews, this week of book press is serving the dual purpose as a mini redemption tour. Whenever Tyson is asked about the accusations, its always along with the fact that the institutions cleared him, which means the question mostly comes in the form of inquiry about what the past year has been like for him, rather than on what he allegedly did or whether hes sorry. The answers hes been giving fit with his original response to the allegationsthat hes just a bumbling dude who wants to help people learn.
On Tuesdays CBS This Morning, he noted that in the past year, Ive learned to care about support that Ive received, from friends, from family, from a fan base, he replied. Then, he seamlessly segues into book promotion: A lot of that fan base is represented spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually in this collection of letters. Its people sharing their deepest issues, angst, about the world. When asked further about his #MeToo experiencewas he surprised?he places his answer in a framework of caring about evidence. You never know whats going to happen, or whos going to say anything about anything.
Theres an understandable urge for people to take sides, to have opinions, even in the absence of information; the entire point of an investigation is to be thorough. For some people that doesnt matter I suppose. Again, missing is an explanation of what conclusions had excused his behaviordoes his employer think the things he was accused of didnt happen, or just that they dont matter? Tyson seems to think the latter: Later in the segment, he attributes any times he may have made people uncomfortable to a spillage of personality, as he waves his arms around laughing.
https://slate.com/technology/2019/10/neil-degrasse-tyson-ben-shapiro-show-why.html
tirebiter
(2,536 posts)Wasnt he?
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Unbelievable
(84 posts)He is exactly as you described him. Sometimes he's not even good at it.
House of Roberts
(5,168 posts)since they won't always come to church.
Judi Lynn
(160,524 posts)it has to be the seriously confused conservatives.
That includes their grotesque racist, fetid tide of trolls who get up each day hoping to find new ways to attack progressives, and, the big jackpot, progressives of color who are also famous achievers.