Celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson threw down another long Twitter rant against President Trump’s proposed budget on Wednesday, this time diving into the “data” behind cutting funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“Not that anybody asked, but the combined Federal budgets for the NEA & NEH equals what Americans spend annually on lip balm,” Tyson tweeted. He went on to tweet a number of comparisons emphasizing the relatively small impact that the nearly $300 million in budget cuts will have on a $3 trillion budget.
Not that anybody asked, but the combined Federal budgets for the NEA & NEH equals what Americans spend annually on lip balm.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 22, 2017
Cutting the NEA & NEH to save money on a $3-trillion budget is like thinking 1/4-mile is far relative to the width of the USA
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 22, 2017
Cutting the NEA & NEH to save money on a $3-trillion budget is like thinking 1/3-inch is long relative to a football field.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 22, 2017
Cutting the NEA & NEH to save money on a $3-trillion budget is like thinking 3 days is long relative to an 85-year lifespan.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 22, 2017
Cutting the NEA & NEH on a $3-trillion budget is like thinking a 2-min cellphone video is large relative to a 3Tb Hard Drive.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 22, 2017
The annual combined Federal budgets of the NEA & NEH equals 4hrs & 23min of spending on the US Military.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 22, 2017
“Just an FYI,” Tyson added. “Try not to confuse accurate data with Politics. Politics is one’s reaction to data, not the data itself.”
Tyson vented about the proposed budget a few days earlier in a Twitter rant that was a bit more pointed, decrying Trump’s proposed funding cuts for science, the National Institutes of Health and education programs as ways to make America “weak” and “stupid” again — a play off of the Trump campaign’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
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
The fastest way to Make America Sick Again: Cut funding to the National Institutes of Health
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
The fastest way to Make America Stupid: Cut funds to programs that support education.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
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
The fastest way to melt glaciers & flood the World’s coastal cities: Ignore scientists and do nothing to stem the rise of CO2
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
We can all imagine a land that provides no support for Art. But is that a place you’d want to Live? To Visit? To Play?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
The very best way to support and feed your delusions: Surround yourself with people whose world views match yours exactly.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
We all want to Make America Great Again. But that won’t happen until we first Make America Smart Again.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 19, 2017
