Neil DeGrasse Tyson descends into Dan Rather territory

NeilDeGrasseTyson.jpg


Neil DeGrasse Tyson descends into Dan Rather territory. For years he has attributed to George Bush the following words after 9/11:

“Our God is the God who named the stars.”

Trouble is, nobody else on Planet Earth ever heard Bush say that, nor can anyone document him saying it. Added to various other things Tyson seems to have made up, it makes you wonder if the Cosmos star has a dependable connection with reality. Tyson’s response:

“I have explicit memory of those words being spoken by the President… Odd that nobody seems to be able to find the quote anywhere.”

Odd indeed.

J.P. Travis: Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1976 graduate of University of Michigan, father, grandfather, husband, founder and CEO of Travelyn Publishing (http://www.travelynpublishing.com/), and passionate anti-government believer in individual liberty.

View Comments (35)

  • One sentence in his pseudospeech at Mt. Holyoke. "I need to fix them." Them being all of us dummies who aren't as smart as he is.

  • I agree with thecl idea that the quote was Biblical. I too immediately recognized it. But maybe he only DREAMED Bush saying it, or heard in in a very different context. Its like the Palin quote on seeing Russia from her house. She never said it, but 95% of Americans believe she did, even those who support her. If you tell the lie often enough, it seems like truth. Personally, I think he is just pissy because Bush was unashamedly, openly Christian, and Neil is an atheist

    • I just don't quite know the purpose nor the premise. If it was to berate Muslims after 9/11 not sure in what context Mr. Bush would say that? "So we were attacked by Muslims and they are bad and G-d named the stars..." O-K?!

      It is completely non-sensical! The man is an idiot. G-d naming the stars and that being said or not has NOTHING to do with the 9/11 attacks nor any demeaning speech that could have been made against Muslims. 100 other things could be said rather easily that makes more sense.

      Yes this guy is just a moron who is hating on President Bush.

      • That's just it, Kimmy. Given the context of 9/11, i can't think of how the verses og God creating and naming the stars would ever be uttered. It just doesn't make any sense. The alleged quote and the alleged circumstances don't match up!

    • Sarah Palin on ABC News after being asked if being the governor of Alaska, which is so close to Russia, gave her any special insight:

      "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."

      Tina Fey, on Saturday Night Live two days later:

      "And I can see Russia from my house."

      The fact that 95% of Americans don't know the truth about such an obvious,simple, and coordinated media slur tells us all we need to know about the state of democracy in America. We're fucked.

  • I liked the comment on an article about this topic that said "Should we be worried that a physicist has an agent?", after neither Tyson or his agent would respond about all the different misquotes he has had.

    I look at it this way. If you have to make up things that people have said or done to try to marginalize them- if those end up being not true and you can't counter with something true to prove your point, doesn't that make the premise inherently false?

    Tyson is like a newer version of Noam Chompsky- supposedly a brilliant guy who gets out of his area of arcane speciality and tries to be a one-stop-shop guru for all that ails the world.

    • It's apparently hard to resist. Einstein, too, dabbled in politics trying to save the world in his later years and some of his political positions were pretty naïve, too. Delusions of grandeur.

  • It's been confirmed!

    Harry Reid has a friend who was there when Bush said it. Just after Harry's friend was begging Bush to tax him more.

    "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."
    -Ghengins Khan to Pope Benedict as they were playing polo while riding Unicorns.

  • I beginning to wonder if this guy got his doctorate like Quagmire got his diploma, as part of an affirmative action program. I suppose he was a guest lecturer at Columbia too.

  • What is the problem here? I don't understand? That is to say I understand that he either lied or THOUGHT that Bush had said it but all in all he was mistaken, but instead of admitting his mistake he just stayed wrong and strong. Okay fine but what is the point of the quote (false as it is)?

    G-d indeed named (and created) the stars as per Christian/Judaism belief systems and I got it from the Bible (see below for the scripture verses).... Mr. Bush claims to be a Christian, so it wouldn't be strange nor weird if Mr. Bush believed this or even stated it (even though it seems that he didn't). What would be the problem if he did say it?

    Psalm 147:4
    Isaiah 40:26

    If President Bush had said so... he wouldn't be incorrect AT THE VERY LEAST and as far as the Bible (the Word of G-d) is concerned. So is this Tyson man saying this like a way to belittle the President (and thus billions of people)?

    I just had a thought that perhaps this is something injected into his brain by the Holy Spirit perhaps convicting him of something, but he didn't realize what it was and desired instead to have been something he heard Bush say in order to ridicule Mr. Bush... theory only, but really it is just weird.

    I don't see the point of attributing this to Mr. Bush and using it as a negative, nor the point of using it as a negative EVEN if Mr. Bush had said it.

    • I was wondering the same thing. If Bush said it, according to the article, he said it as a way to belittle Islam and Judaism, but that's a weird strategy on Tyson's part because most of us know that Judaism and Christianity worship the same God (albeit with a fundamental difference about the identity of Jesus). So, WTF is the point of making up this quote? Do we really care if Bush said something right after 9/11 that insults Muslims?

      If Bush DID say it, most of us wouldn't have a problem with it. Only politically correct lefties like Tyson would have a problem with it. The whole thing is weird. Combined with all the other Tyson inventions and inaccuracies, you have to wonder about the guy.

      • But how would that even belittle Muslims as they claim to worship the same Deity as Christians and Jews? (they don't worship the same Deity as Christians and Jews, they at the very least worship a moon god, at worst Satan)

        So the point being is that an ordinary Muslim wouldn't disagree with that quote either. Both Bible verses come from the First Testament so therefore ordinary Jews wouldn't disagree and of course Christians wouldn't disagree. Saying that after 9/11 wouldn't be a problem to most people and in all truth, why would Bush say that right after 9/11 for if it has nothing to do with 9/11?

        You are right... this is really weird.. that is why I have my theory as an Everliving and Almighty G-d creating and naming stars is more about his life than Bush's. Therefore, it is something that he heard or was manifested to him and he couldn't handle it and decided to put it upon someone else... don't know... it is weird and it is more about him than about Mr. Bush. It is a very odd and errant thing to say after or before or at any point in time in Bush's life, unless he was talking specifically about a Planet or space or a speech at NASA or something.

          • No.... I am always very careful with what I type and I do mean the First Testament. With that said the term Old Testament is widely accepted term and I have no personal problem with that, however many Bible scholars do refer to the OT as the FT and use it interchangeably. A good number of my Bible teachers in college used the term FT like it was nothing, and they are Christians. There are Jewish Christians or Messianic Jews that use FT as well. Also they use NT and ST interchangeably as well. The New/Second Testament is a continuation of the First/Old Testament (at least on many if not most aspects), so it is like Star Wars Episode I and Star Wars Episode II or Season One and then Season Two of a show. The olive tree and the branch comes into it. Considering that many things in the OT/FT have yet to pass, I don't see a problem with that term being used on that score as well. The FT/OT has many eschatological aspects to it, it contains psalms and proverbs and many useful events that can help with our lives to this day, so it shouldn't be discarded as something that is no longer usable because it is "old", so there are people that prefer first. I think that is one main reason many people prefer the FT. It is an accepted term to use. Therefore I use it. All in all, not everybody has to. It is a personal choice.

        • You're right, a Muslim wouldn't disagree either. You and I don't think Muslims worship the same God but like you say, they do so they wouldn't feel insulted at all.

          • Yeah this is a window into the man's soul and his own personal spiritual issues than anything else. Nothing else makes any sense.

  • Yeah. Surprise, surprise. Turns out celebrity scientists are like celebrity doctors and celebrity economists: idiots.

Related Post
  1. DALLAS POLICE SHOOTING: ‘ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ASSAULT VEHICLE AND TROOP TRANSPORT’
  2. Kim Jong-un was a child prodigy
  3. Top GOP Leader Promises Total Amnesty In 2015