More often than not, Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s tweets can be infuriating when it comes to what they say about popular culture. The celebrity astrophysicist’s comments about the Avengers franchise, Game of Thrones and other science fiction film and television titles almost always provoke a reaction. Since the sexual assault allegations against him went public last year, though, Tyson has kept his infuriating tweets to a minimum. That changed on Sunday when he decided to comment on the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
“In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings,” the tweet began. From there, it listed several other prominent causes of death “across any 48hrs” — including medical errors and automobile accidents. However, what really ticked people off was Tyson’s concluding thought: “Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.”
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
Needless to say, people were not happy with Tyson’s evident decision to seemingly tweet against emotional reactions to the horrible events in El Paso and Dayton.
“This is really not the time to be the smug counterfactual guy,” wrote New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb. “Medical errors don’t evolve into ethnic cleansing. The flu didn’t lynch black people to keep them from voting. You’re ridiculously blithe to the implications of ideology-driven violence.”
https://twitter.com/jelani9/status/1158089736411656193
Most of the responses to Tyson’s tweet offered similar sentiments, though with varying degrees of the very “emotions” that he was hoping to lessen.
https://twitter.com/goldietaylor/status/1158091083773034496
Cold take, Neil. 200+ Americans died from gun violence in the past 48 hours. And you list causes of death that are researched, regulated and also happen in other high income countries. Our gun violence crisis is preventable and senseless and driven by a special interest. https://t.co/jua4wH7gOX
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 4, 2019
Here's the data, Neil. While all those errors are preventable in some way, only the gun deaths are wildly outside what should be the realm of possibility during a normal day. The others are risks of living in any country. The gun deaths are a uniquely, distinctly American fact. https://t.co/9ljeT0Od6U
— Jess Phoenix, Lava Connoisseur 🌋 (@jessphoenix2018) August 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/1158079044992282625
https://twitter.com/briankoppelman/status/1158089349382234114
neil you should go to the funerals and say this man https://t.co/6jEkQCXygq
— catturd2.bsky.social (@thetomzone) August 4, 2019
even the smart ones are fucking idiots now. https://t.co/esPB9noXmU
— tracy clayton jr the 3rd (@brokeymcpoverty) August 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/BlairImani/status/1158094732674789376
tfw you just gotta 'well, actually' people being sad about two mass shootings https://t.co/oqaZgWg3u0
— Dana Schwartz – on hiatus (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/TVMcGee/status/1158088834426576897
https://twitter.com/KevinLevin/status/1158093214001324032
https://twitter.com/bowenyang/status/1158076166399504384