The so-called March for Science, which is supposed to highlight the importance of science in American life, has already started to go off the rails with social justice infighting. At issue is the selection of Bill Nye as the March’s chair, according to Heat Street. To be sure, Nye’s choice is curious, to begin with, because he is not a scientist but rather an engineer. His main claim to fame was his stint as the host of a children’s science program in the 1990s. However, some of the March’s organizers are objecting to Nye as its leader, not because he is a non-scientist, but because he is a white male.
The March for Science is being consumed with a myriad of pet leftist causes, as illustrated by a tweet issued in January that read, “colonization, racism, immigration, native rights, sexism, ableism, queer-, trans-, intersex-phobia, & econ justice are scientific issues.”
In other words, the “March for Science” is being hijacked by the usual social, justice warrior suspects who want to use the event to promote their pet causes. The message that science is critical (and the real message that Donald Trump hates science) is likely to get lost in the cacophony of yelling about various enthusiasms that have little if anything to do with science, the tweet notwithstanding.
That is too bad. The March for Science was something that seemed like a good idea at the time but is now headed toward being a huge embarrassment for people who really believe science is important.
The March looks to be a bacchanalia of weirdness, much like the Women’s March proved to be.
The primary beneficiaries of the March for Science going off the rails will be Donald Trump and his supporters. The president is hardly going to listen to a bunch of people hollering about how just about every cause under the sun is a scientific issue.
Considering that Trump’s proposed budget makes deep cutbacks in some areas of science research, he needs to hear advice from sober, rational people about the importance of science. He will not get at from the March for Science.
And what about that nerdy white guy bill nye? The March’s organizers solved its whiteness problem by naming two women of color as his co-chairs.
