@Horace said in Racism update 2024/02/20:
He speaks and performs well, for an overbearing blowhard. I mean it's not just me. The comments under that video are almost unanimous. Those who know him by reputation still have a lot of respect for him, but in that sense he is a figurehead, and he is a figurehead because he was promoted to be such. And he was promoted to be such due in large part because the west loves to promote people of color to classically white figurehead positions. Anyway obviously this is not provable and we can disagree. I'm not convinced that there is no bullpen behind him containing one or more white faces. Not that I care about who is or is not the popular face of science, I just can't not acknowledge the skin color aspect of that position and how giddy the culture is to promote an appropriate looking person in that role.
I think we're talking about two different things. You're talking about his reputation now and why it exists in the way that it does. I don't disagree about that. I was only speaking to how he got from research scientist at the Hayden to someone people outside of planetarium conventions pay attention to. Speaking to that, you may find him annoying, but start hanging out with other planetarium directors and then reassess. 😄 The life of the party they absolutely are not, so in comparison, Tyson's an obvious choice for a more public face. The events that led to his presence beyond his field, sure, I could see it being a bit of a woke sensibility thing.