._________.

[Rocket50]

http://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blogs/bill-nye-bood-in-texas-for/

tldr; Bill Nye went to a school to talk about global warming and astronomy, he says the moon doesnt actually emit light, but reflects the sun, and he got boo'd for it because it differs a bible passage.

Adults. Really ._. Rejecting proof because the bible told them otherwise. I dont want to live on this planet anymore

[Prox]

[Astropilot]

That made me facepalm so hard that it was considered more like punching my face

[Ἆxule]

One of many reasons why I prefer to not deal with religion

[coolzeldad]

[Cake Faice]

[๖Ϝцzsioᴎ]

Are you fucking kidding me?

[ursus]

[Supertoaster]

[Shockah]

Good show btw

[The Ghost Of Anony Mouse]

[Xrain]

I'm Christian, and I don't have any problems with the moon reflecting light from the sun. (Tho technically the moon is a pretty poor reflector (albedo 0.136 for comparison, old asphault has an albedo of .12, and fresh snow is .90) , that's why they had to put the reflecting arrays on the moon during the apollo missions to allow us to use laser range finding to determine the distance to the moon accurately.)


Honestly, stories like this are bullshit. That's just a group of kids being assholes, not anything really religious related.

If you really want to find something backwards, you will find it.

In reality those kids should study the bible a bit more, if I remember correctly, attempting to humiliate someone was pretty much universally frowned upon.

[Rocket50]

Honestly, stories like this are bullshit. That's just a group of kids being assholes, not anything really religious related.

Wait a minute, these aren't just KIDS. They're ADULTS.

What the fuck.

[Xrain]

*Sigh* I just looked into that article, and the original story behind it.

This is why you are careful about stories you read on the internet.


That article pretty much just flat out lied to you. They put spin on the story, reinterpreting what was said in the original source to support whatever political view they were supporting.

It's called Spin, sites with politically charged titles, and some major news sources do it on a regular bases.


Here let me show you what I mean.

First let me collect the Spin from the ThinkAiethest reporting.

Step 1: Title exaggerating for effect:

Bill Nye Boo'd In Texas For Saying The Moon Reflects The Sun

Step 2: Portray the side you support as defenseless, innocent, or similar position:

Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer...
He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.
The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.

Step 3: Portray the opposite side, as villanous, acting without reason, or ignorant. (make opposite sides, reaction "shocking" to those who would read it.)

As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun
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.
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.

So there is the spin they put in that article, to cause you to have a stronger reaction to what is going on.

Here is the original story from a local newspaper http://web.archive.org/web/20100110212547/http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/06/04062006wacbillnye.html?

It's actually not even on their site anymore, as it was originally published in 2006.


Now lets look at how it was originally reported.

Audience members who expected to see Bill Nye “The Science Guy” conduct experiments and wow their children received quite a surprise Wednesday when Nye spoke at McLennan Community College.

Nye instead addressed such topics as Mars exploration, global warming and energy consumption, particularly oil and gas. He even ruffled a few religious feathers along the way.
More

    Q&A with Bill Nye

The scientist with a background in stand-up and sketch comedy kept spectators interested, entertained and at ease with his funny, sometimes hilarious, delivery.

Speaking as part of MCC’s Distinguished Lecturer Series, Nye spoke to two audiences, one at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., of about 600 each. He said the first audience, though littered with young children listening to some rather adult scientific topics, “was very supportive.”

The second group also was rapt from the beginning, greeting the scientist with a raucous standing ovation upon his introduction.

“You haven’t heard the presentation yet!” Nye told them.

It seemed most in attendance were pleased to hear Nye speak, and some were even awed by the presence of a childhood icon.

“How cool is that, to be face to face with the man, Bill Nye?” said Jared McClure, who worked sound and video for the event. “And he’s funny, too.”

This was how Bill Nye was really received on stage, most people at the end of the speech were happy he was there and loved him.

Here is the negative group of people

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse 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.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children

FYI Irrevrance: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/irreverence
1. lack of due respect or veneration; disrespect
2. a disrespectful remark or act

So, this is where the spin came it, people didn't STORM out of the theater they left.  It also wasn't the MAJORITY of the people in attendance either, but it was more than a few. They also didn't BOO him, they just left the auditorium.

I suspect it also wasn't because they didn't believe that the moon was a reflector.

More that they were just directly targeted by a speaker for no real reason. There were plenty of other segways that Bill Nye could have used, Honestly while getting angry about what he said wasn't justified. Bill has an ample imagination to come up with something not so direct at a group of people.

In all honestly Bill probably didn't even realize that we was targeting someone like that when he came up with his speech. Or the reason he did it was mis interpreted.



In conclusion, this article was horribly misused in-order to exaggerate the events in order to "make a fuss", and make it shocking.

I personally find this the lowest form of journalism possible.

But just remember, if you find a story that seems unbelievable then go find the original source, to really see if that was the case, or if it was just some "creative journalism"

[Dale Feles]

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