![Bill Nye. - [image courtesy Will Folsom flickr]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/1/30/660x290/b_502x220x82/bill-nye-image-courtesy-will-folsom-flickr_1805241.jpg "Bill Nye. - [image courtesy Will Folsom flickr]")
Bill Nye, the so-called “science guy,” is not a stranger to controversy. On one occasion he called for the jailing of so-called climate change “deniers,” the 21st Century version of religious heretics. Some off-putting skits on Nye’s Netflix series have also raised some eyebrows.
However, an act of statesmanship has gotten Bill Nye into considerable trouble with erstwhile allies. A shadowy group calling itself 500 Women Scientists has published an anonymous hit piece in Scientific America that declares, “Bill Nye Does Not Speak for Us, and He Does Not Speak for Science.” Nye’s sin is agreeing to be the guest at the State of the Union Address of Rep.
Jim Bridenstine, R-Oklahoma, the nominee to become NASA administrator.
Bill Nye is guilty of associating with the Boogieman
The trials and travails of Jim Bridenstine in his quest to lead the space agency have been well documented. Essentially, the gentleman from Oklahoma is being accused of climate change denial and of taking stands as a conservative Republican that are an affront to the far left. He has become a kind of right-wing Boogieman, remarkable for a man who is soft-spoken, self-effacing, and is a combat veteran and former Navy Top Gun.
Bill Nye is being accused of tacitly endorsing all of Bridenstine’s sins, even though he has taken pains to claim that he is not doing so. As the head of the Planetary Society, Nye believed that it would be to his advantage to reach out to the future administrator of NASA.
Social justice invades science
The article by the shadowy, anonymous 500 Women Scientists claims that the pursuit of truth and knowledge that characterizes science cannot be separated from the various social justice issues that have roiled American politics. In other words, scientists have to be on the politically correct side of these issues, or they must be cast aside into the outer darkness.
Bill Nye is a nerdy white man in a lab coat
The unkindest cut of all from the shadowy, secretive group of 500 Women Scientists is to accuse Bill Nye of, having “perpetuated the harmful stereotype that scientists are nerdy, combative white men in lab coats—a stereotype that does not comport with our lived experience as women in STEM.” In other words, Nye is to be condemned for being the wrong gender.
He must feel that he is back in middle school being taunted by all the girls.
Bill Nye was even condemned for debating enemies of science, perceived or real, in public forums. On one occasion he jousted with a creationist named Ken Ham, which the authors of the piece claim Ham used to fundraise off of. On another occasion, Nye debated Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show, an event that admirably did not turn out well for the alleged science guy.
Bill Nye has been the target of jokes and condemnation from those who believe that science should be free of politics. However, by rousing the ire of a group of radicals who write anonymous hit pieces, Nye has achieved the unlikely feat of becoming a sympathetic figure.
