Neil deGrasse Tyson Blasted for Incredibly Tone-Deaf Tweet on Shootings: ‘Was Your Brain Abducted by Aliens?’
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson faced heavy criticism for his tweet that seemed to minimize mass shooting deaths by talking about various causes of death.
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
Social media users wasted no time in pointing out the scientist was minimizing the deaths of over two dozen people in El Paso and Dayton less than a day after both shootings.
Is the flu murder? https://t.co/TxMBDrWITz
— Kerith Burke (@KerithBurke) August 4, 2019
So if I follow Neil deGrasse Tyson’s logic here: other things kill more people, so no reason to get emotional of hate crimes. This dude is so chatty for a guy who admitted to unwarranted sexual behavior and has been accused of a rape since 2014… https://t.co/IOTSU0eyXw
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) August 4, 2019
not only is this in incredibly poor taste but it’s also wildly stupid. of those 250 suicides, 1/2 involve a gun.
so the toll, by neil’s numbers is:
40 pistol homicides
~125 firearm suicides
39 mass shooting:
204 gun deaths in a day
tl;dr, shut the fuck up you idiotic creep https://t.co/fGMiQBraNI— Jack Crosbie (@jscros) August 4, 2019
Jeez. When even the most brilliant minds in America spew this kind of deflective crap after gun massacres, there really is little hope of anything changing. https://t.co/GrEvhAQFCb
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 4, 2019
This is like when Walter White gave the insensitive speech at his school following the plane crash. Neil, you gotta chill. https://t.co/lCz8hR1yp5
— FERRARI SHEPPARD (@stopbeingfamous) August 4, 2019
neil you should go to the funerals and say this man https://t.co/6jEkQCXygq
— LVL 45 CHAOS POTUS (@thetomzone) August 4, 2019
Was your brain abducted by aliens? You really have to scour the “Cosmos” to find a take this tone deaf, dumb and weird. https://t.co/gV3d7uLc32
— Hector Becerra (@hbecerraLATimes) August 4, 2019
Currently googling how to delete someone else’s account https://t.co/ilsYA4c2tA
— Tracy King (@tkingdot) August 4, 2019
Irrelevant. You are saying, even if we can do something about reducing the number of deaths, there is no point because it’s not significant? You are an ass. https://t.co/imow4Rz7rG
— Mitch Kosterman (@MitchKosterman) August 4, 2019
Eat shit https://t.co/AGdIw4ZXrl
— Drew Beringer (@drewberinger) August 4, 2019
What other kind of violent deaths should we chill out about because of … “data”? Good lord, man. https://t.co/gV3d7uLc32
— Hector Becerra (@hbecerraLATimes) August 4, 2019
Both of these shootings took less than 30 minutes total.
Maybe check your work the next time you want to make a stupid remark immediately after two heinous crimes shattered countless families forever. https://t.co/ywwEvbQb5A
— Tim Fullerton (@TimFullerton) August 4, 2019
tfw you just gotta ‘well, actually’ people being sad about two mass shootings https://t.co/oqaZgWg3u0
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 4, 2019
very cool dude, don’t you have a Disney movie to fact check? https://t.co/VyRFJR0ogZ
— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 4, 2019
If there were a simple legislative solution to people getting the flu that had no downsides for anyone but a bunch of wingnut wackjobs and we still didn’t pass it I’d be pretty mad https://t.co/ZVJ9HzcHfY
— Arthur Chu (@arthur_affect) August 4, 2019
[literally anything happens]
Neil deGrasse Tyson – “ok but how can I make this about me?” https://t.co/aV5IuA77iJ— Fred Delicious (@Fred_Delicious) August 4, 2019
Cancelling this guy.
[Parents who have lost children to gun violence/ People who have lost loved ones: we see you and hear your grief. We are thinking of you this horrific weekend.] https://t.co/Xm83JHZMad
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) August 4, 2019
[Image via Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Onward18]
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