Over the last year or so, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has embarked on a quiet but dedicated career pivot from television science man who isn’t Bill Nye to unapologetically problematic pseudo-celebrity. Fresh off an investigation into not one but four sexual misconduct allegations against the Cosmos host, Tyson decided it was time to take on gun violence. It did not go well.
In the wake of the multiple mass shootings that have swept the nation in the past week, including the two back-to-back massacres that occurred over the weekend in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, Tyson took to Twitter armed with some unhelpful statistics that no one asked for.
“In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings,” he wrote in a tweet on Sunday, setting a seemingly innocuous stage for the barrage of tone-deaf data to come. “On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors, 300 to the Flu, 250 to Suicide, 200 to Car Accidents, 40 to Homicide via Handgun.”
Why is this relevant, one might ask? It’s not! But according to Tyson, he littered the timeline with these unrelated body counts in order to remind us that, “Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.”
In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings.
On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose…
500 to Medical errors
300 to the Flu
250 to Suicide
200 to Car Accidents
40 to Homicide via HandgunOften our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2019
Unsurprisingly, no one was interested in this unsolicited “Well actually” from the inexplicably problematic 60-year-old TV scientist. Tyson’s stats were met with a swift barrage of criticism for framing the massacres as a mere “spectacle” and downplaying responses to the country’s ongoing gun violence crisis as undue emotional overreactions.
One user called Tyson’s comments “the most heartless tweet in [the] history of social media,” while Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts reminded the astrophysicist that, unlike the other causes of death he listed, “gun violence crisis is preventable and senseless and driven by a special interest.”
Tyson has since apologized, penning a Facebook post in which he explained the controversial tweet as an attempt “to offer objectively true information that might help shape conversations and reactions to preventable ways we die.”
Editor’s Note: RealClearLife, a news and lifestyle publisher, is now a part of InsideHook. Together, we’ll be covering current events, pop culture, sports, travel, health and the world. Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
