Peter Walks for Democracy

Bill Nye made a big mistake by attending the State of the Union with Rep. Bridenstine. I, for one, am not surprised. Nye’s passion for his own image and celebrity seems to have driven him to stand in public with a science-attacking Representative.

Some will say that Nye was extending the olive branch of diplomacy to an opponent. Maybe he was reaching out to climate change deniers to create goodwill. That’s a respectable goal, one I’ve personally worked on. I wholeheartedly agree because, as fly fisherman Steve Sywensky says in Climate Stories, “talk is the basis of solutions.” We need to deliberately become more empathetic and knowledgeable so that we take on big challenges like climate change. Bill Nye clearly also espouses this view. That’s part of why he goes on Fox News or why he engages with creationists. But it’s not the only reason.

 Nye is also about his own celebrity and brand. He developed a niche for himself as being quirky and talking to anyone. His engagement through media, though, is different from attending the State of the Union. The SOTU carries with it ceremony and symbolism. For example, why did members of Congress bring women who have been sexually assaulted or Dreamers with them? The survivors and young Americans by birth are symbolic of a larger story. It’s about the relationship between the Rep or Senator and their guest and how the guest plays to the decision maker’s power.

Nye was a symbol of scientific credibility and Bridenstine just co-opted it. Bridenstine gets to say, “Hey. I have the Science Guy who ‘saves the world’ with me. I’m on Team Science.” People on his own side who systematically dismantle science-informed policies, basic research, or science education can point to this moment and wink. “Us? Attack science? Never. Bridenstine was just with Bill Nye. Nye would never hang out with someone who he didn’t think was in the right.”

And what Nye do to advance the conversation on science in general or climate change in particular? Nothing. He and Bridenstine didn’t model the kind of open and frank discussion that we need to have to tackle these big issues. That takes work. It was a photo op for them. Sorry, but Nye’s ego gave the armies of the night a win.

Could Nye do things to walk this back? Maybe. He might be able to hold Bridenstine accountable somehow because of this. He could have some indignant statement about how he’d hoped that their time together made a difference and that by being open and supportive of space research something better would happen. Yeah. I’m stretching. But given how much the Planetary Society has already qualified his presence, he’s in a weak position to call out anybody.

Nye shouldn’t have gone. He’d have been better off doing a Nixon in China, and standing up for science behind closed doors and using his influence with the public in other ways. That would have been, you know, recognizing how the world actually is.