Klinghoffer Reacts to “Cosmos” Episode 11

The 11th episode of Cosmos: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, aired on Sunday. Titled “The Immortals,” it was partly about the possibility of beings that live forever, with some talk about why civilizations perish, and some speculation about how life spreads from one planet to another.

Because of their growing concern that the show is becoming a cultural icon, the Discoveroids are revealing an increasingly intense hatred for it, and for Tyson. To demonstrate that, David Klinghoffer, the Discoveroids’ journalistic slasher and poo flinger, has posted two — yes, two — hate pieces about Sunday’s show. Neither is particularly noteworthy for its content or reasoning, but we’ll discuss them both, to show the thinking (so to speak) of the Discoveroids at this stage of the game.

Klinghoffer’s assault begins with The First Episode of Cosmos That I Wouldn’t Show My Kids. Wow — strong title! What was it that his children shouldn’t see? Nudity, pornography, violence? He says, with bold font added by us:

With past installments I had to pause now and then to point out to Ezra where host Neil deGrasse Tyson had stopped talking about science and switched to baiting Christianity. Last night’s episode, number 11 of 13, would make that procedure impractical and tiresome. Almost the whole thing is a screed — executed artfully as always, but a screed nonetheless.

A screed! That’s in contrast to the Discoveroids’ creationist blog, which little Ezra probably reads every day. Okay, what was so, ah … screedish about Episode 11? We’re told:

This is no longer an exploration of the cosmos. It’s startlingly heavy-handed indoctrination in an alternative secular religion, intended to displace any other faith-related notions in the minds of the program’s audience. That audience is clearly imagined as being young and impressionable.

It’s a heavy-handed indoctrination against “other faith-related notions” — like intelligent design. Tyson is an idiological brute! His show is so unlike Klinghoffer’s delightfully deft, sprightly, light-handed touch. As we’ve often reminded you, Klinghoffer’s work product — or as we put it, his creationist oeuvre — has previously linked Darwin to: Hitler, and communism, and Stalin, and the Columbine shootings, and Charles Manson, and Holocaust Museum shooter, James von Brunn, and the Ft. Hood Massacre, and Mao Tse-tung, and Dr. Josef Mengele. Nothing screedish about Klinghoffer’s work!

Well, what was the heavy-handed indoctrination in Tyson’s latest episode that was so offensive to children? Let’s read on:

Casey and I were talking about where, with two episodes left and having dropped the initial pretense of a program on science, the Reverend Dr. Tyson will go from here? I find that my own Ship of the Imagination offers no assistance in guessing.

“Casey and I” — BWAHAHAHAHAHA! There’s a phrase for the ages! Here’s the rest of it

Do you doubt, meanwhile, there are public-school teachers out there who are thinking: Hmm, nice, as soon that comes out on DVD I’m going to show it to my sciences classes every year!

Ah — now we see the problem. Klinghoffer is aghast at the notion of the Cosmos series being used as — gasp! — supplemental material in science classes. But … isn’t the use of supplemental material encouraged by the Discoveroids’ campaign to have states enact Academic Freedom bills? We’re always being told that it’s supposed to inspire “critical thinking.” This is so confusing!

Klinghoffer’s next post on the same topic is There’s No Question That Cosmos Is Coming to Public School Science Classrooms. It merely expands on his horror that the show will be used by science teachers in science classes. He begins like this:

Despite its increasingly undisguised axe-grinding, history-befogging, and faith-baiting excesses, there’s no question that the rebooted Cosmos series with Neil deGrasse Tyson will be turning up in classrooms as a “supplement” to science education. I mentioned this earlier today, but it is not simply a matter of my speculating. The Internet is abuzz with talk by teachers and others who are excited about the prospect.

He then supplies what he claims are copies a few posts by teachers at various social media sites to that effect, after which he says:

Many of these folks wrote before it became clear just how ideology-driven Cosmos really is. Maybe they’ve changed their minds. In any case, let me emphasize that I’m not here to condemn any teacher who uses the series in her class. It’s not easy getting kids or adults jazzed about science, and doing so is a laudable goal. But parents should probably take an active role in supplementing what their kids learn from a “supplement” like this.

Yes, that’s the answer. Parents should counter the horrid science stuff with good creationist material. What does Klinghoffer recommend to parents? Here’s what he suggests:

They could do so with some of our posts here pointing out the myths being floated in one episode of the series after another. When Dr. Tyson has concluded, I’ll try to put together an omnibus post gathering together links to all our commentary, for your convenience. There’s quite a lot of it.

Wow — Tyson must be terrified! He has awakened a sleeping giant. The Discoveroids are going to fight back — with The Truth™.

Copyright © 2014. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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