Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Dave-W]

made a tweet about the mass shootings over this weekend and got a LOT of flack for it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is facing backlash after tweeting about shooting deaths - CNN

He is a leading astrophysicist; an exceedingly intelligent man. Perhaps the tweet was ill-advised; but I think he has an important point. He does not look at emotion. As a scientist, he has to deal ONLY in hard numbers.

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 Handgun

Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.​

 

[Tom 1]

made a tweet about the mass shootings over this weekend and got a LOT of flack for it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is facing backlash after tweeting about shooting deaths - CNN

He is a leading astrophysicist; an exceedingly intelligent man. Perhaps the tweet was ill-advised; but I think he has an important point. He does not look at emotion. As a scientist, he has to deal ONLY in hard numbers.

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 Handgun

Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.​

He's got a point, but I'm not sure if it is a useful point. There are things being done, to one degree of effectiveness or another, about all of those causes of death. Lots of people die all the time for all kinds of reasons. There are a number of more important points to consider though - why does this happen so often in the US, for one example, what is being done to address the problem of white nationalist terror groups, how can deaths be limited by restricting access to the means to kill large numbers of people, and so on. Pointing out that people die of other things is a bit redundant.

 

[Dave-W]

It reminds me of the people saying to the Viet Nam protesters that many more people died in car crashes every year than were lost in the Viet Nam war.

 

[brinny]

made a tweet about the mass shootings over this weekend and got a LOT of flack for it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is facing backlash after tweeting about shooting deaths - CNN

He is a leading astrophysicist; an exceedingly intelligent man. Perhaps the tweet was ill-advised; but I think he has an important point. He does not look at emotion. As a scientist, he has to deal ONLY in hard numbers.

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 Handgun

Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.​

He has a point.

And NO ONE should be fearful of "flack" because there is disagreement.

Kudos to Tyson for posting it.

 

[A_Thinker]

He has a point.

And NO ONE should be fearful of "flack" because there is disagreement.

Kudos to Tyson for posting it.

What is his point ... in your opinion ?

That "people die" ... get over it ?

 

[brinny]

What is his point ... in your opinion ?

That "people die" ... get over it ?

"selective compassion".....

for instance, where is the outrage for the on-going, wanton murders in, for instance, Chicago? Perhaps he had that in mind as well.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

It reminds me of the people saying to the Viet Nam protesters that many more people died in car crashes every year than were lost in the Viet Nam war.

Yes, I remember that. I think what Tyson ignores is the shock value to the violence we saw this weekend. The whole nation responded with one gigantic breath of incredulity at the blatant cruelty of the shooters.

 

[Dave-W]

I think what Tyson ignores is the shock value to the violence we saw this weekend.

Perhaps. As a man of science, "shock value" does not have a statistic associated with it nor does it fit into an equation.

But he may also have questioned why 29 people dying is shocking when 500 dying from medial mistakes over the same period is not.

 

[bèlla]

I suspect it’s because of the absence of other qualifiers which explain violent behavior that don’t exist in these scenarios.

The killings aren’t the result of turf wars or drug infested areas where crime is common. Nor are they the result of disagreements or vendettas. In most instances the victim didn’t know the shooter at all.

They’re in a public place. The reality is we see ourselves in these situations. We have challenges and disappointments but they don’t turn us into the terminator. That’s something else.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Perhaps. As a man of science, "shock value" does not have a statistic associated with it nor does it fit into an equation.

But he may also have questioned why 29 people dying is shocking when 500 dying from medial mistakes over the same period is not.

The deaths of 500 scattered over 50 states at different times a day does not have the same effect as 20 people getting gunned down in one location at the same time.

 

[Dave-W]

The deaths of 500 scattered over 50 states at different times a day does not have the same effect as 20 people getting gunned down in one location at the same time.

Not the same emotional effect. That is not the way a person of science would look at it.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Not the same emotional effect. That is not the way a person of science would look at it.

Yeah well, science is cold and unemotional. Maybe he is just too scientific.

 

[The Faceless]

Yes, I remember that. I think what Tyson ignores is the shock value to the violence we saw this weekend. The whole nation responded with one gigantic breath of incredulity at the blatant cruelty of the shooters.

It's more shocking that people are even shocked.

 

[Snoder]

made a tweet about the mass shootings over this weekend and got a LOT of flack for it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is facing backlash after tweeting about shooting deaths - CNN

He is a leading astrophysicist; an exceedingly intelligent man. Perhaps the tweet was ill-advised; but I think he has an important point. He does not look at emotion. As a scientist, he has to deal ONLY in hard numbers.

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 Handgun

Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.​

It was something about which I reminded myself. I realized it makes people think "American is dangerous" but the odds of dying by a terrorist attack or a shooter, or someone going crazy in no way compares to the random deaths that kill most healthy people.

I am more likely to die in a freak slip on water in a store than an active shooter.

That being said, there is a problem with people turning into zombies. The genre has become popular over the last decade or two. An otherwise healthy person creates a scene of panic in an instant, killing those around them.

Something is wrong. Some is seriously and alarmingly wrong. Kids had easy access to firearms in the 20th Century. Kids saw westerns, yet, they didn't load themselves up with pistols and mow down their school.

 

[Dave-W]

Something is wrong. Some is seriously and alarmingly wrong. Kids had easy access to firearms in the 20th Century. Kids saw westerns, yet, they didn't load themselves up with pistols and mow down their school.

I know that. Kids brought hunting shotguns to school all the time where I grew up. No one ever shot up the school.

I believe it is a spiritual situation - some kind of devilish influence has been unleashed in this country to incite violence.

 

[dzheremi]

Something is wrong. Some is seriously and alarmingly wrong. Kids had easy access to firearms in the 20th Century. Kids saw westerns, yet, they didn't load themselves up with pistols and mow down their school.

I dunno about that. Arguably this kind of psychopathic violence started in our modern era over 50 years ago in 1966, when Charles Whitman took rifles and other weapons up to the main tower of the University of Texas at Austin and spent 96 minutes shooting at random people, killing 14 (including one unborn child) and injuring 31. This would seem to check off all the boxes we'd find in a modern school shooting (happening on a campus, obviously, with multiple weapons, many deaths, the murder of the gunman's family members beforehand, etc.), with the notable difference that any modern event that it would take 96 minutes to stop would result in everyone in charge of stopping such things being fired immediately, and surely many, many more deaths than 14.

 

[Snoder]

I dunno about that. Arguably this kind of psychopathic violence started in our modern era over 50 years ago in 1966, when Charles Whitman took rifles and other weapons up to the main tower of the University of Texas at Austin and spent 96 minutes shooting at random people, killing 14 (including one unborn child) and injuring 31. This would seem to check off all the boxes we'd find in a modern school shooting (happening on a campus, obviously, with multiple weapons, many deaths, the murder of the gunman's family members beforehand, etc.), with the notable difference that any modern event that it would take 96 minutes to stop would result in everyone in charge of stopping such things being fired immediately, and surely many, many more deaths than 14.

"Modern era" is key. Human have lived for much longer than 50 years. There is an ever increasing pattern of this behavior in what is a fraction of human existence.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

I know that. Kids brought hunting shotguns to school all the time where I grew up. No one ever shot up the school.

I believe it is a spiritual situation - some kind of devilish influence has been unleashed in this country to incite violence.

I agree. Years ago, my son noted that there was something wrong with the 90's babies . The young man that shot up the Walmart in El Paso was only 21 years old.

 

[joshua 1 9]

As a scientist, he has to deal ONLY in hard numbers.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Very few people have died. Our mortality rate for young people is extremely low. Our success rate for immunization for disease is extremely high. The zinger though is that these are acts of violence and terrorism and this makes them higher impact compared to sickness and disease where the health care professions try to soften the impact.

My father served our community for over 50 years as a pediatrician. He worked tirelessly 6 days a week 12 hours a day. I often think about how many people are alive today that would not be alive if it were not for the immunization program. After all the death of WW2 people were glad to do something to protect the children and keep them healthy and safe from disease. We do all we can to protect them as best we can, we try to protect them from themselves and a high risk lifestyle we try to protect them from adults and being attacked by wild animals. Now it looks like we have to step in and do something to protect them from each other.

Who would have thought that the best protection we can give our children is a bullet proof backpack?

 

[joshua 1 9]

Kids brought hunting shotguns to school all the time where I grew up.

I use to bring a switchblade to the school. The teacher told me to leave it in my pocket and don't take it out. A classmate carried a stiletto and she though that was a lot more scary looking. Those are serious offences now a days. I had a little tie clip that fired blanks and when I let a classmate look at it somehow he pulled the trigger and it went off in the hallway. It really scared the teacher because there was a lot of echo. She sent me to the principal and he got a good laugh out of it. Again I am sure that today they would suspend people over something like that.