Neil deGrasse Tyson on how to aggravate Conservatives: Bring on the facts

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an incredibly popular Twitter user and often offends conservatives with his beliefs on religion and evolution. Imagine how they felt when he tweeted gun statistics this past Monday. According to Tyson, the number Americans killed by terrorism since 2001 is equal to the number of Americans killed by household firearms in just five weeks — a disturbing statistic which did not sit well with gun advocates. Most of the responses simply tried to draw attention away from the gun statistics, and point to other fatality numbers that were higher than Tyson’s statistics. One user shared a picture that compared automatic rifle deaths to medical malpractice cases, concluding that you are more likely to die from Obamacare than a gun. Most of the statistics posted were cherry-picked and misleading, and cited shady statistics that only looked at deaths from a certain type of gun — some only used the number of shotgun deaths, while totally ignoring deaths caused by handguns, which are by far the most prevalent. One of the most repeated statistics is that “hammers kill more than guns,” a statement that is easily debunked.

Here in the fact- and reality-based world, most folks like to make arguments using things like science to, you know, actually SUPPORT their belief/opinion/contention. We may have an opinion, we may genuinely believe something to be true, but if we’re going to try to convince someone that we’re correct, we’re going to collect empirical evidence that supports our position before we head into battle. That seems, to me at least, an eminently reasonable approach to dealing with information and opinions, especially when they run counter to our preconceived notions. It’s a little thing I like to call “learning.” We understand we don’t have all the answers, that we don’t know everything, and so we endeavor to approach things with an open mind in the hope that, if we are proven to be mistaken, we can man up, make the necessary corrections, and add it to our knowledge base.

Then there are those for whom having an opinion is tantamount to being in possession of an undeniable, incontrvertible fact. This, sadly, is the tack far too many Conservative ideologues choose to take. When the facts don’t break their way, their arguments become equal parts smug arrogance, cherry-picked facts and statistics, and “facts” they pull from their backside. So it seems with the generalized Conservative backlash against Neil DeGrasse Tyson. They can’t defeat him on the facts…and so they default to the usual response- smug arrogance and cheap attempts at ridicule. It might be amusing if not for the generalized wide-spread ignorance and refusal to acknowledge incovenient facts that drive those who hate Tyson. Then again, there’s really nothing remotely humorous about aggressive willful ignorance.

You’re free to your own opinion…but you don’t get to cherry-pick (much less make up) facts to support preconceived notions you’re too lazy and/or stupid to hold up to scrutiny.