Bill Nye, the harmless children’s edu-tainer known as “The Science Guy,” managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.
As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.
But don’t tell that to the good people of Waco, who were “visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence,” according to the Waco Tribune.
Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College’s Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.
But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”
The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.
At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled “We believe in God!” and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they’d always suspected.
This story originally appeared in the Waco Tribune, but the newspaper has mysteriously pulled its story from the online version, presumably to avoid further embarrassment.
Great, now we have another crop of uneducated hillbillies to deal with. I suggest that will call them the 'mooners' If they can't believe that the moon reflects light then they can never be convinced of any other scientific 'fact' you tell them.
Why is it that the stupid story of 'Noah Ark' is totally taken without question by these people just because it is written in a book of Bronze Age fairy tales?
Can't they see the sheer impossibility of loading up all those species in a relatively small boat and surviving at sea for forty days? They weren't there to verify the truth so why believe that balloon juice in the first place?
Why are the reflective proberties of the moon even an issue for these chuckleheads? Are they afraid that if they give into one proven scientific facts (like evolution) then the whole stack of cards they have build their belief system upon will suddenly crash to the ground?
Is the word of nine men who have stepped on the moon and reported that the surface does not give off light just another conspiracy? The level of ignorance here is astounding.
Let's not even get into the topic of evolution. How does one explain the fact that there were no dinosaurs mentioned in the bible? Was God holding that piece of information back so that the movie 'Jurassic Park' would be a more interesting?
I feel most sorry for the students who are denied a proper understanding of their world because such fairy tales are taught as historical fact. How many kids will never have developed the critical observation skills they will need as an adult?
We can see the kind of people these children grow up to be. They are the ones being manipulated by the political right for political gain. They are not interested in learning about both sides of the issue because they can't believe for a second that the god-fearing politician talking to them could ever be wrong. It says so in the bible. This is no longer the superstitious Middle Ages, people. I just wish you would pull yourself into the 22nd Century.
Is is all just so stupid.
