Bill Nye explains the moon to Fox News

[Magis]

I didn't see anyone else post this, so enjoy.

youtube video

I personally get a kick out of how Bill Nye has to speak to the Fox News person as though he were five years old.

[HMS Sophia]

What the fuck was that...
We haven't been burning fossil fuels up there so why are there volcanoes?

This is my first experience of fox news, really... And fuck me, I'm terrified...


(Edit: This is also my first experience of Bill Nye. He's kinda awesome)

[Serafina]

Now i admit that orbital mechanics can be quite complicated, but the basic concepts of gravity and the tides are really simple. I managed to explain them to a 4-year old back when i was working at a daycare.

When O'Reilly said "you can't explain that" he should have added "to someone who takes the bible literary".

[Eternal_Freedom]

My only comment is, wow, that's some amazing dumbness.

Also, I recognise that guy from Stargate Atlantis

[Darmalus]

Also, I recognise that guy from Stargate Atlantis

Bill Nye was on Stargate Atlantis? Which episode?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Season 5, "Brain Storm." It's either him or his identical twin who happens to also play a TV science presenter person.

[dragon]

Rodney McKay: "Watch who you're correcting, Science Guy! My Ph.D. is not honorary!"
Bill Nye: "Hey, look! I'm an engineer! I can do math!"

from the show in question
Nye appeared in an acting role as himself in the fifth-season episode "Brain Storm" of Stargate Atlantis alongside fellow television personality and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

[DPDarkPrimus]

When Bill Nye is dumbstruck for a moment you can see him shift into children's television host mode.

[Singular Intellect]

When Bill Nye is dumbstruck for a moment you can see him shift into children's television host mode.

Yes, that was an incredibly obvious and amusing observation, and the funniest part is they didn't seem to have the faintest clue that he was adopting a manner used to address children in order to explain simplistic shit to them.

[PainRack]

The part that really made my day was "That's a great question, that's a fabulous question."

Then the small rocks and big rocks bit... lol

[Ahriman238]

...

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of America's major mainstream news outlets.

I loved how he said the moon has a smaller area, as if he didn't expect his host to understand that either.

[Caiaphas]

That was the funniest thing I've seen in two weeks so far.

Was I the only one who burst out laughing when I saw the look on Mr. Nye's face during that little pause in the beginning?

[bobalot]

When Bill Nye is dumbstruck for a moment you can see him shift into children's television host mode.

He must have been living under a rock if he didn't know that the Conservetard Fox News Network is full of dumbshits who don't know anything about science.

Although, I must admit, it is breathtaking to actually be confronted in person by such monumental stupidity.

[Dave]

So, while it's all fun and games to harp on Fox News for not hiring the sharpest pencils in the box, would the same conversation have taken place on, say, MSNBC or CBS?

I don't imagine anchors who majored in video journalism or whatever are quite as well versed in science (and more specifically astronomy) as our beloved engineer here. (With no slight intended the journalism majors in the audience.)

[Mayabird]

Does MSNBC or CNN have a quota of right-wing talking points to throw in at no particular moment? How much of this is "stupid guy sitting there" and not "stupid guy writing the teleprompter" or "stupid guy giving the orders to the teleprompter" or "evil overlord giving them all their marching orders" or so on?

Also at being dumbstruck - just because you've heard plenty of other examples of utter stupidity doesn't mean that the newest one, which is so stupid that you couldn't even have imagined it, won't shock you. That kind of question wouldn't even occur to anyone with even the most basic scientific literacy about volcanoes, like a five year old who knows the word "lava." Actually kudos to Nye for being able to bounce back so fast.

Anywho,

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah. If he hadn't mentioned global warming, the FOX guy could have gotten through the conversation without disgracing himself- and I find it hard to believe that CNN or NBC would want their people to randomly throw in something about global warming.

[Purple]

Looking at that video I can honestly say that I have been scared for life. Newer in my life had I imagined such stupidity could exist. And it's not the lack of general education I am talking about. It's the self complete lack of comprehension on their part. Like in the end where they joke about number crunching. You can see it clearly. They don't just lack knowledge, they lack the biological tools to acquire it.

I... I am shocked. Now I have to go now and sit in a corner of a dark room crying for the fate of human kind.

[Simon_Jester]

...What is this, Purple? Did SM93 hack your account or something?

I mean, melodrama aside, no you are not looking at "they lack the biological tools to acquire knowledge." You are looking at people who lack the incentive to acquire specific knowledge which is not applicable to their daily lives, who are given no particular incentive to remember concepts like this, and who are then put in a line of work where their lack of knowledge achieves high profile.

There is nothing in this interview that tells you any meaningful information about "the future of human kind."

[Purple]

My post was 100% melodrama. I was just shocked that's all. This is my first exposure to idiotic television promoters. I was just dumbfounded by it all.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah. I was wondering if SM93 had hacked your account or something.

[FaxModem1]

I noticed the Billy Nye 'switch from one mode to another' pause. Bill Nye is awesome. I loved his show as a kid.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

My post was 100% melodrama. I was just shocked that's all. This is my first exposure to idiotic television promoters. I was just dumbfounded by it all.

I feel compelled to suggest you look up the "Why Do People Laugh At Creationists?" series by thunderf00t on YouTube. If you think this is dumb, you should see some out the outright wacko stuff Creationists can pull out. Makes this seem positively tame by comparison.

[StarSword]

Then there's the one I found while researching for a high school paper on the extinction of the dinosaurs. This moron had the idea that Earth's gravity had suddenly increased, and the dinosaurs all collapsed under their own weight.

Saw that, burst out laughing, got a dirty look from the librarian.

[Napoleon the Clown]

So, while it's all fun and games to harp on Fox News for not hiring the sharpest pencils in the box, would the same conversation have taken place on, say, MSNBC or CBS?

I don't imagine anchors who majored in video journalism or whatever are quite as well versed in science (and more specifically astronomy) as our beloved engineer here. (With no slight intended the journalism majors in the audience.)

This isn't college level stuff. It's stuff you should know from high school.


And quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if MSNBC, CNN, et al had people just as stupid. The thing with Fox is that they're proud of being ignorant of the actual science involved. They pander to the uneducated and validate them. This is a bad thing.

[Covenant]

I work for a broadcaster part time, and I can assure you that they'd be just as dumb almost anywhere on average for basic "talent," but that people with a reputation for being 'smart' are less likely to have such a woefully thin education. It also varies wildly per person, but it's kinda funny how consistent the lack of science knowledge is. Funny and sad. The difference between peoples would be that MSNBC or such people are likely to go "Moon volcano huh? What's that mean? I thought it was just a, you know, but dusty thing and had no air or anything."

FOX's issue is they're as dumb as everyone else, but they reject science as a fundamental governing principle and want to jump from ignorance to supposition. If Bill had done his talk to an even DUMBER person who was stuck guest-hosting a session on MSNBC, the most liberal of current news stations, it's extremely unlikely they'd be making snide comments about global warming or anything. I'm never surprised when people don't know stuff. What's alarming is when they don't know stuff and they think that justifies them assuming entirely other things are true.