NDT on Elon Musk

[Angry Floof]

I don't pay a lot of attention to pop culture, including the more interesting science-related pop culture sometimes. But I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Defends Elon Musk Smoking Weed on Joe Rogan

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=97&v=n6XsBj7qDlA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Underseer]

Such mixed feelings on NDT right now.



Accusations were made during the #METOO thing, and then we didn't hear anything else.

I don't know what to think about Neil right now because I don't know how much stock to put into the allegations. No one seems to be saying anything about him one way or the other when it comes to those allegations. T1J summed up my mixed feelings pretty well.

 

[Angry Floof]

I had not heard about this!

 

[ZiprHead]

He's a badass.

 

[Underseer]

View attachment 17603

He's a badass.

And that's kind of the issue. The #MeToo thing exists because we have a cultural tendency to dismiss allegations like this. We have a nasty habit of simply not believing women when they complain about things like this. That's why #MeToo exists.

T1J suggests separating the artist from the art, but there's a limit to my ability to do that. I tried to do that with Mel Gibson, but in the end I just think of his anti-semitic nonsense anytime Apocalypto or Braveheart comes on. I lost the ability to separate the artist from the art because of the anti-Jewish bullshit Mel Gibson slung around. So far, I'm able to separate the art from the artist with regard to NdT, but am I right to do that? Should I do that?

On the other hand, there's a new generation of science communicators coming up behind NdT. Maybe we should just focus on them.

 

[bigfield]

Tyson is an excellent science communicator and he has worked on many excellent projects, but that does not necessarily make him a good role model or a good person.

Sometimes, bad people make great art or produce great ideas. If we were to boycott every piece of art created by a bad person, or even just those who have been accused of violent crimes, then we would be culturally and intellectually impoverished. We need to be able to appreciate art without knowing whether it was made by good people, and we generally do that by default because in most cases we know very little about the creators.

 

[Underseer]

Tyson is an excellent science communicator and he has worked on many excellent projects, but that does not necessarily make him a good role model or a good person.

Sometimes, bad people make great art or produce great ideas. If we were to boycott every piece of art created by a bad person, or even just those who have been accused of violent crimes, then we would be culturally and intellectually impoverished. We need to be able to appreciate art without knowing whether it was made by good people, and we generally do that by default because in most cases we know very little about the creators.

That is a given. Countless musicians were alcoholics or abused drugs, yet I'm able to enjoy their music, but as previously mentioned, there's a point beyond which I simply can't separate the artist from the art, and I gave Mel Gibson as an example. I really enjoyed those Lethal Weapon movies back in the day, but now anytime I see work by Mel Gibson, I immediately think of his unhinged anti-Jewish rants. Sometimes I can't separate the artist from the art, and I think in some cases, we shouldn't.