Throughout the pandemic comedian Bill Maher had been vocal about his distaste for the zealotry of proponents of The Science™ and on Friday’s edition of HBO’s “Real Time” astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson walked headlong into a verbal buzzsaw when he pathetically defended Big Pharma.
“By the way, you caught COVID and I never have,” Tyson declared.
Even before Dr. Anthony Fauci had become a household name, muttered like an expletive by many, the masses had placed their adoration for expertise in the likes of celebrity scientists like Tyson or Bill Nye who routinely opine on issues outside their field of study. Such was the case Friday when the astrophysicist used blanket statements to promote the narrative only further stoking the ire of Maher.
Jennifer Sey, former national champion gymnast and Levi’s brand executive who lost her job over voiced opposition to COVID policies shared the exchange online where the comedian railed against the “white coat” for baselessly claiming to “have all the answers.”
“But really, you’re going to just sit there in your white coat and tell me we have all the answers. We know everything. Just do what we say. I don’t think so,” Maher fired off.
‘You’re gonna just sit there in your white coat & tell me “we have all the answers; we know everything; just do what we say.”’
‘Who’s best? The 16k doctors who signed the Barrington Agreement, or the political hacks who run the FDA?’
2.5 yrs later, #truth 🔥@billmaher pic.twitter.com/7PQdRKsVyz
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) October 15, 2022
Tyson had kicked off the argument by initially challenging Maher stating, “By the way, you caught COVID and I never have. Just to put that out there.”
“Meaning what?” the host snapped.
“Meaning!” the guest replied using talking points instead of hard data, “Well, I paid attention to medical professional advice.”
“So. Okay, first. First of all, you know nothing about what I did. I’ll tell you what happened-” Maher replied as Tyson condescendingly interjected, “I just know that you caught COVID!”
The host carried on, “I’ll tell you what happened. I caught, everybody f*cking caught COVID. You probably did too. And you didn’t even know it. Sometimes it doesn’t affect people.”
Perhaps recognizing that he had tread beyond the friendly territories of people excepting his opinions as facts, the guest endeavored to make light of the debate as he joked, “I’m like George Carlin, I swam in the Hudson.”
Maher wasn’t having it and stuck to reality, “Viruses are ubiquitous. I don’t know if you heard about that.”
“Yes, they are,” a dejected Tyson answered as broke eye contact with the host seemingly looking for someone to affirm he was in the right.
Having previously encouraged debate stating, “I would just urge people to realize that some of these things are hard scientific questions…others are a question of values and a question of trade-offs,” as to the COVID response, Maher revisited that stance by pointing to all that remains unanswered.
“So for 14 months, I didn’t have the vaccine. Alright. And you’re right, I didn’t take any precautions because it didn’t scare me and I didn’t get it,” he admitted. “Then I got the vaccine, and I got it three weeks later. I’m not saying the vaccine gave it to me. I’m saying we don’t know what happens, the confluence of things that go on in our body. That’s always my point about vaccines and everything else in medicine. Medicine is almost as crazy to try to figure out as the universe. They just don’t know what’s going on in there. Do you know that? I’m sure you this last month. They discovered a bacteria naked, visible to the naked eye.”
“That’s scary,” Tyson replied weakly making comical gestures with his hand, continuing to disregard the severity of what the host was saying.
https://twitter.com/poor_stiff/status/1581112951792017408
“They said it would be like finding a human the size of Mount Everest,” Maher continued before blasting the astrophysicist with his shot about sitting there in his “white coat.”
“Well, sure. However, there’s the best available evidence at any given moment,” the guest persisted with narrative talking points without providing any of the actual available evidence.
This too was readily dismantled by the comedian who brought up the Great Barrington Declaration written by Drs. Jay Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta and Martin Kulldorff. “Who’s best? The 16,000 doctors who signed the Barrington Agreement? Or the political hacks who run the FDA?”
It was amazing watching Bill *effectively* pushing back against the scientist in the room – feels like Neil is not accustomed to being around people who have good faith skepticism about the way information’s been delivered by the authorities. He’s in his own academic bubble
— David Tinashe Hofisi (@DavidHofisi) October 15, 2022
“Isn’t that what science is?” Maher furthered as made the case for open debate over close-minded zealotry to a predetermined stance. “But let’s admit that we are in the middle of it not–there’s no conclusion. They said the vaccine would stop infection and they stop, it would stop transmission. It didn’t do either. I’m not saying that’s because they’re corrupt.”
However, even with the footing that he had, Maher appeared to ascent to the narrative writ large as Tyson came back with the purity test with the unfalsifiable claim that the jabs, “Kept people from dying. Okay.”
“Yes. Right,” the host agreed.
“After the vaccine,” Tyson continued ticking off the Big Pharma promotional checklist.
“I’m not arguing that. I’m just saying-” Maher tried before the astrophysicist chided, “You kind of sounded like you were.”
“I’m not? You interpolated. I’m saying. I just said the things they got wrong. I didn’t say. And also it means that it’s not correct,” he replied before concluding, “let’s keep discussing.”
Lots of vindication. Not much justice or restitution.
— Paul Jones (@kilimir) October 15, 2022
💵
— El Duende (@el__duende) October 16, 2022
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Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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