America dumbs down

[calimary]

26. And beyond!

Everything I see about him is interesting, intriguing, and enticing. He is a WUNNNNderful heir to Dr. Sagan. And we've needed one for awhile. He's a great, and accessible media-personality proponent of science in general, an excellent companion to Bill Nye the Science Guy. He brings a certain amount of sex appeal to the equation - especially for those of us nerds who fancied Mr. Spock over Captain Kirk back in the day (I was one of those). I STILL remember that "TV Guide" issue whose cover photo was of Mr. Spock with the caption - "is it sexy to be smart?" (Answer: FUCK YEAH!!!!!! Hell, I married a guy who takes his algebra books and astronomy magazines to the bathroom with him!) I love smart. I love brains. I think they're sexy as hell! And sex sells. So if the media-savvy and appealing Dr. Tyson can further the fascination with science to the "great unwashed," and bring a little enlightenment to the Dark-Ages crowd, I would say EXCELLENT!!!!!

It's not just the message. It's also who delivers it. An appealing, pleasant, nonthreatening, and sympathetic character as the delivery system - will move that message farther, and help it become more effectively absorbed, seems to me. And if there are folks who start to "get" that science is sexy, then maybe a few more young people will be fascinated enough to pursue it. And they will uplift us all.

Besides, nowadays, we've got an entire planet to save. And we NEED people like Neil deGrasse Tyson to help us make sense of the world as it is - not as fables, or various religious texts based on faith rather than fact, or traditions and trains of thought passed down from three or four millennia ago when superstition ruled the day. You can, as kkkarl rove would advocate, create your own reality. But you can't base the actual reality on your own convenient fantasy version. Not if you expect to be able to make sense of the REAL world/universe.