Most of us remember Bill Nye from our childhood, as we excitedly yelled “Bill, Bill, Bill” when we watched Bill Nye the Science Guy, mostly on the days teachers needed a break or did not feel like teaching. Eerily enough, he has reemerged as a nostalgic figure that many seem to “worship” in the scientific community. This profound admiration and worship of mainstream “scientists” like Bill Nye, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Stephen Hawking is troubling. Their celebrity status is manipulative and powerful, and I believe helping our society move toward scientism:
excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques.
Many are now worshipping “scientists” as they would high priests in past societies. By the way, I am not anti-science; however, I am extremely skeptical of scientists who are bought, paid for, and pushed by mainstream media.
In this new show boldly and disturbingly called “Bill Nye Saves the World”, Bill Nye looks expectedly old, but his eyes are dark. He has extremely specific hand gestures and movements, which seem odd to me. I know for many this may be far-fetched, but it reminds me of “magick” movements. Even if you think the magick thing is ridiculous, remember the power of gestures. Prominent leaders, for example, talk with their hands:
Today, I am going to examine the first two episodes of Bill Nye Saves the World. This is for the people who really cannot stand to sit through every episode, or who may not have time to analyze or evaluate the episodes. I tried to watch more than two episodes today, but it started to get difficult. I honestly felt exhausted by the end of the second episode, and that was because the agenda was so clear, obvious, and saddening. Had it been the 16-year-old version of me, I definitely would have taken a liking to this show. Now, I know better.
Episode 1 “Earth is a Hot Mess”
The big push of this episode is climate change and global warming. By the way, I have no solid opinion on the validity of either (the information is so conflicting), but this episode is strongly pushing the narrative that the world is in a treacherous state due to global warming. Bill Nye starts this episode and interestingly explains it is for “adult kids.” Does anybody remember the “child people” in Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse:
Anyway, he goes into a simple explanation of greenhouse gases and global warming. The show is cut into “entertaining” segments for the viewers to stay engaged. He interviews a woman about the MOSE project, the name a biblical reference to Moses parting the seas. This project is $5.5 billion euros, and it is a complicated system of locks used for high tides and displacement of water. Here is more information on the MOSE project:
Bill then “needs a minute” and goes on a rant about his credentials and his beliefs about climate change. He rants about climate change deniers, and says that their thoughts on scientific uncertainty are invalid. He then appeals to viewers’ emotions and talks about his parents and World War II. Then he has a “distinguished panel” to discuss global warming and their ideas for solutions. They have another experiment about acidity in the ocean, and he goes into another “preaching episode”, and then Zach Braff walks in as a celebrity endorsement and false authority on the subject.
Analysis:
This episode literally felt like I was watching a preacher in a church. Bill Nye provided enough entertainment to keep the general audience engaged. There was a constant push that Bill Nye had authority on the topic, since he was (is?) an engineer and he has had New York Times best-selling books. There were fun little experiments, but there were not counter-arguments. Bill Nye mentioned skeptics, but he never addressed their concerns. Even 8th graders are taught how to address counter-arguments. Moreover, he went on many rants, and he continually sought to get the audience excited and chant certain phrases about global warming. To me, the final act of desperation was bringing Zach Braff out, who has no real authority on the subject. This episode had a definite narrative and agenda, and whatever your thoughts on global warming, it is clear what they want you to believe. In my opinion, this episode was made simple enough, and engaging enough, to draw a simple-minded audience in, and it worked. It was unfortunately highly entertaining, and highly scientific concepts were ridiculously simplified. As a teacher (endorsed in science by the way), I would say most of the scientific concepts were presented at a 6th-8th grade level.
Episode 2 “Tune Your Quack-O-Meter”
There is a reference to black magic right at the beginning (and several times throughout the episode), which is strange to me. Here are some main points from the show, since there was A LOT going on. I had to use bullet points for this one:
• Magnets do not work in healing. Bill Nye states, “It is not magic…It is…,” and the audience chants “science!”
• He talks about the placebo effect. This shows how “simple” this show is, since I assume most of us learned about the placebo effect in middle school.
• Bill needs another minute, and he says that regulations are not arbitrary or not about “The Man.” Alternative medicine does not work.
• There is a reference to Edgar Cayce. Edgar Cayce once stated, “Sound is the medicine of the future.” They are completely dismissing and mocking this statement, and go into a ridiculous “sound segment.” This is pretty painful to watch – I fast-forwarded.
• It is important to note that Edgar Cayce had extremely specific recommendations about health, some of which were revolutionary. I have read many of his works, if anybody is interested! One of my favorites quotes about Edgar Cayce is,
*”Great numbers of children will be born who understand electronics and atomic power as well as other forms of energy. They will grow into scientists and engineers of a new age which has the power to destroy civilization unless we learn to live by spiritual laws.” *
What a fascinating prediction…
• He interviews the lady from the sound segment, and she says it “freaks her out” that people get off their medications for alternative forms of therapy.
• There is another distinguished panel to discuss the placebo effect. They constantly mock one of the guys defending some alternative therapy. He says, “Just because we do not understand something does not mean it does not work.” They cut him off continually and make him look ridiculous. He does seem to bring up some valid points on alternative medicine, but they continually cut him off.
• An Indian writer from the show comes on to talk about how he hates alternative medicine and sound therapy. He continually “disses” beliefs and traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism . He continually mentions and mocks white people, as well. He reprimands Indian people for “lying” to white people about alternative medicine and practices. Note: It is interesting here that he only references the physical yoga, not knowing that is only one aspect of yoga in spiritual practices. This Indian guy is used to mock Indian beliefs and culture.
• The episode ends with more experiments on how alternative medicine does not work, and let’s remember, it’s not magic, it’s science!
Analysis:
This episode was basically a continuous mockery of anything “alternative” and not endorsed by science. I found it very interesting they brought up Edgar Cayce. Here is some more information on sound therapy, though I have not done much research:
The point of the episode is that if you even consider alternative medicine, you must be a complete fool. The episode emphasizes that no alternative medicine could work and alternative medicine has never worked, and it is completely based on the placebo effect. “Science” is here to protect us, and we must listen to science.
Conclusion
This is just Part 1 of my written series on this show. If you liked my post and commentary, I will do the next two episodes. This show is complete propaganda and brainwashing, and there is a clear agenda. It is important to distinguish between science and scientism. I think this website (http://ift.tt/2php5ua) explains the contrast clearly:
“So if science is distinct from scientism, what is it? Science is an activity that seeks to explore the natural world using well-established, clearly-delineated methods. Given the complexity of the universe, from the very big to very small, from inorganic to organic, there is a vast array of scientific disciplines, each with its own specific techniques. The number of different specializations is constantly increasing, leading to more questions and areas of exploration than ever before. Science expands our understanding, rather than limiting it.
Scientism, on the other hand, is a speculative worldview about the ultimate reality of the universe and its meaning. Despite the fact that there are millions of species on our planet, scientism focuses an inordinate amount of its attention on human behavior and beliefs. Rather than working within carefully constructed boundaries and methodologies established by researchers, it broadly generalizes entire fields of academic expertise and dismisses many of them as inferior. With scientism, you will regularly hear explanations that rely on words like “merely”, “only”, “simply”, or “nothing more than”. Scientism restricts human inquiry.”
In this episode, Bill Nye endorses his view as the right and correct view – it broadly generalizes entire fields of science like climate change, global warming, and alternative medicine.
Another troubling aspect of this show is his appeal to our youth. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley states, “One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”
The other day, I was teaching a lesson on “critical thinking” with my students. I asked them to write down the last time they actually thought – not regurgitated information, not wrote down notes, not watched tv. They deeply struggled, and one student profoundly exclaimed, “I realize I rarely think!”
This goes along with a book we are reading by Ayn Rand called Anthem. In this society, the “ego” and “I” are banned. They are a society of equality, “we”, and “trust.” My students have no problem criticizing the thoughtlessness and brainwashing of that society, but I asked them if we are really that different or that far away from a robotic, brainwashed world.
I am deeply troubled by this television show. I actually feel unsettled after watching it. I would love to hear anymore commentary, thoughts, and discussion as always!
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April 30, 2017 at 05:36AM
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