Neil deGrasse Tyson’s ‘disingenuous’ apology trashed on social media
Neil deGrasse Tyson issued an apology after his tweet about the mass shooting deaths in El Paso and Dayton was slammed as “insensitive,” but not everyone is accepting his mea culpa.
The astrophysicist drew widespread backlash Sunday when he compared the number of deaths in the shootings to the average number of lives lost every day to things like medical errors, the flu and suicide.
“My intent was to offer objectively true information that might help shape conversations and reactions to preventable ways we die,” Tyson wrote in his apology early Monday morning on Facebook.
“Where I miscalculated was that I genuinely believed the Tweet would be helpful to anyone trying to save lives in America. What I learned from the range of reactions is that for many people, some information — my Tweet in particular — can be true but unhelpful, especially at a time when many people are either still in shock, or trying to heal — or both.”
Tyson continued: “So if you are one of those people, I apologize for not knowing in advance what effect my Tweet could have on you.”
But the apology didn’t sit well with many people on social media.
On Sunday, Tyson was also ripped on social media over his initial tweet.
Tyson posted the original tweet after 20 people were killed in the shooting in El Paso on Saturday and nine were killed in the shooting in Dayton on Sunday. Dozens more were injured in the horrific attacks.
The astrophysicist’s original post read, “In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings,” Tyson wrote. “On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors … 300 to the Flu … 250 to Suicide … 200 to Car Accidents … 40 to Homicide via Handgun.
“Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.”