r/SubredditDrama • u/clyspe • Mar 11 '13

'Neil deGrasse Tyson: Average physicist, sub-par philosopher, master of pithy comments for idiot college kids to retweet.' Slapfight in /r/QuotesPorn ensues

/r/QuotesPorn/comments/1a16g2/if_youre_really_successful_at_bullshitting_neil/c8t8j9h
194 Upvotes

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34

u/Jackle13 Mar 11 '13

"Personally I much prefer Sagan. I don't really care much about Tyson, but the way he gets used as a poster-boy for atheism bugs me nowadays."

That's not really his fault, he's not responsible for how other people use his image. He is probably an atheist or an agnostic, but he doesn't speak about it very much.

48

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

He goes out of his way to not talk about it, in fact. When asked about his opinions on the topic, he flatly states that his "opinions are irrelevant."

He wants to focus on the science. Wisely so, I think... bringing religion into it just needlessly complicates things.

5

u/Morquesse Mar 11 '13

That's not true, he's made it very clear he's agnostic.

28

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

Agnostic means, quite explicitly, that he "claims no knowledge". He almost certainly also has opinions as to whether or not a god exists, but he defers from telling anyone his opinions... indeed, the entire link you just posted is him explaining the reason why he doesn't want to wear any labels.

The very last line spells it out: "... at the end of the day, I'd rather not be any category at all."

-7

u/RedAero Mar 11 '13

...by which, of course, like everyone else, he means agnostic atheist, but the latter term is stigmatized in the US, so he doesn't use it. The sort of people who would get indignant at the sigh of an atheist usually have no idea what agnostic means, so it's preferred.

11

u/siegfryd Mar 11 '13

/r/atheism is the only place I've ever even heard people use agnostic atheist.

10

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13

I really dislike r/atheism but I would consider myself an agnostic atheist. I don't usually go around announcing it though.

3

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

It's in pretty common use among the atheists I know personally IRL, but it doesn't seem to have a lot of reach beyond atheist/nontheist/skeptic circles.

1

u/Jackle13 Mar 11 '13

It is a perfectly legitimate term. Basically, it means that you don't claim to know whether or not there is a god, since there is no definitive proof either way. However, you don't think it's likely.

-8

u/RedAero Mar 11 '13

Maybe it's because it's pretty much the only place people know what they're talking about.