Since he became famous hosting his children’s TV show, Bill Nye, aka “the Science Guy,” has spent the last couple of decades being an insufferable scold on climate change and other charged political topics. Aside from appearing on TV, Nye often has no particular expertise on the topics he’s weighing in on. He does have an undergraduate degree, but “the Mechanical Engineer Guy” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Nonetheless, we find ourselves surprised and pleased to note that Nye attended the State of the Union last Tuesday as the guest of the Trump administration’s NASA administrator nominee Jim Bridenstine, with the ostensible goal of promoting space travel.
We’re agnostic on whether this is a good use of resources—NASA projects frequently entail so much pork-barrel spending that the agency has been jokingly called “pigs in space.” But we do commend the normally hyperpartisan Nye for reaching across the aisle for a shared scientific goal.
For making nice with a Republican official, Nye has been roundly condemned over at Scientific American in a broadside by the grassroots group called “500 Women Scientists,” who “speak up for science and for women, minorities, immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA.” For them, no amount of support for NASA will allow them to overlook the “expressly xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, racist, ableist, and anti-science” Trump administration. Bridenstine in particular is alleged to have “worked to undermine civil rights, including pushing for crackdowns on immigrants, a ban on gay marriage, and abolishing the Department of Education.” But these are, of course, wholly political objections that have nothing to do with science. If “500 Women Scientists” don’t see it that way, we await their attempt to provide empirically sound proof that America’s education system has improved since the creation of the Department of Education. Best of luck with that one.
Alas, the problem can be distilled down to this: “As women and scientists, we refuse to separate science from everyday life.” Well, in everyday life—at least everyday life for those of us that don’t live and work in blinkered monocultures such as academia—normal people have messy relationships that involve finding ways to work together when you don’t agree. God forbid Nye and Bridenstine actually have honest conversations that lead to compromise. Or are “500 Women Scientists” so lacking in confidence in their arguments that they’re afraid a well-known spokesman such as Nye will be won over to the dark side?
Ultimately, if you look around in the present moment of material abundance and unprecedented tolerance and yet still believe “our ability to do science and our ability to live freely are both under threat,” the problem isn’t the existence of Republicans. The problem is you.
