Friday, August 31, 2012

Bill Nye vs. Mr. Akin (Scientist vs. Creationist)

So, yesterday there was a very funny and very profane piece posted online about Bill Nye, the Science Guy, totally losing it when being told by an interviewer that Todd Akin, would-be senator from Missouri (the guy who doesn't think women can get pregnant by being raped), blamed Nye for Hurricane Isaac. Much to the horror of his hosts, interviewers from the Smithsonian, Nye let loose with an expletive-filled rejoinder to Akin. The piece went viral and was so popular that the website hosting the story crashed.

Except it never happened.

The set-up seems true enough: that a week ago Nye made a public appeal for people not to teach their children creationism. As one wd expect from Nye, it's a well-reasoned, impassioned, yet polite call:


Unsurprisingly, this provoked some outcry from the people who disagree with him, but Nye stuck to his guns and remained polite in his rejoiner:


I think at this point the hoaxers decided to have fun writing up what they imagined Nye must really be thinking beneath the polite, mild mannered facade. In any case, they clearly tapped a vein. I suspect their profanity-laced rant corresponds all too well to what the great majority of people think but, like Nye himself, are too polite to say.

Here's the link to the original 'scoop'. Be warned that the original contained a lot of foul language (somewhat censored here), if such things offend you, and also that it's merciless towards Akin and those who share his belief in 'creation science' (which is after all an oxymoron, like 'dry water').



I think my favorite part of the whole dust-up was that it spawned one online image of Nye wearing a t-shirt with the great slogan:

"You and Me.
Any Time. Any Place.
Debating Science. Mano-a-Mano.
I'll Bring the Facts."

I think "I'll Bring the Facts" might be a new tag-line of mine.

--JDR


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