Starry messenger
Neil deGrasse Tyson is my favorite astrophysicist, and one of my favorite people. I like him because he's condescending on Twitter. He knows more than most of us, unlike other Twitter users, so he's allowed. The problem with Twitter, it's a radio station/printing press in your pocket. The temptation must be great to shout the first thing that occurs to you and have it reach thousands, millions, in seconds. It invites abuse but needs to be used with restraint.
Tyson pissed off a lot of people with his statistical analysis of sudden death in America hours after 34 people were killed with military weapons in El Paso and Dayton. He pointed out that in the same 48-hour period there were 250 suicides and 200 car accident fatalities, and 40 people were killed with "ordinary" handguns. "Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data," he chided, because he's a scientist. Sometimes it's more important to be a mensch. People were in pain.
Nevertheless, at least thirteen countries have now advised their citizens not to come here -- possibly based on "spectacle," possibly on the fact that eight Mexican nationals and a German died in El Paso. This provoked the expected squeal from Trump about retaliation and other countries "taking advantage" of us -- the usual empty threats. What's he going to do, order sanctions on Japan? Trump once lamented that Norwegians don't immigrate to the United States anymore. Soon they won't even come here to see Disneyland before rushing back to their socialist hellhole.
Dr. Tyson, they mass-murder because it gets attention. The daily murders don't make the news unless a celebrity is involved, just like the daily suicides. Kill five anonymous people and the world will read your manifesto, and the beat goes on. Some asshole "inspired" by El Paso and Christchurch attacked a mosque in Baerum, Norway, but he only succeeded in wounding one person, so don't expect to see it on the "news." Unless it bleeds a lot, it no longer leads. You have to believe in reason, you're a scientist. This is not an age of reason.
Tyson pissed off a lot of people with his statistical analysis of sudden death in America hours after 34 people were killed with military weapons in El Paso and Dayton. He pointed out that in the same 48-hour period there were 250 suicides and 200 car accident fatalities, and 40 people were killed with "ordinary" handguns. "Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data," he chided, because he's a scientist. Sometimes it's more important to be a mensch. People were in pain.
Nevertheless, at least thirteen countries have now advised their citizens not to come here -- possibly based on "spectacle," possibly on the fact that eight Mexican nationals and a German died in El Paso. This provoked the expected squeal from Trump about retaliation and other countries "taking advantage" of us -- the usual empty threats. What's he going to do, order sanctions on Japan? Trump once lamented that Norwegians don't immigrate to the United States anymore. Soon they won't even come here to see Disneyland before rushing back to their socialist hellhole.
Dr. Tyson, they mass-murder because it gets attention. The daily murders don't make the news unless a celebrity is involved, just like the daily suicides. Kill five anonymous people and the world will read your manifesto, and the beat goes on. Some asshole "inspired" by El Paso and Christchurch attacked a mosque in Baerum, Norway, but he only succeeded in wounding one person, so don't expect to see it on the "news." Unless it bleeds a lot, it no longer leads. You have to believe in reason, you're a scientist. This is not an age of reason.
posted by Buttermilk Sky at 3:05 PM
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