Bill Nye the Science Guy, personal hero of mine and Humanist of the Year, recently visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky. And by visited, I mean he drove up, look a picture of the side-show, and drove off. How do we know? Because Big Brother Ken Ham was watching.
While I understand the need for surveillance cameras at any big building with a lot of traffic, it’s a bit off putting that he’ll slap any images from it on the internet. Here’s Ham’s proof:
Yep, that seems to be the appropriate reaction to the Creation Museum. I can hear the thoughts running through his mind just by his expression. “The stupid, it burns! It burns!”
Surely is can’t be legal for him to post shots from security cameras?
Not likely to be illegal. It’s a public area. Same principle as applies to paparazzi.
I think that in most countries you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when you are in public, so photographs like this are completely fair. Though that does cut both ways, Ken Ham can’t go to Bill Nye and prevent him posting the photograph that he’s just taken either on copyright or any other grounds.I think I know which of the two sources I will trust more to give an accurate representation of science.
What a creeper. Ham, that is.
The comments under the photo on FB say it all.
Actually, it is private property that probably has signs posted, at least at the gate, notifying anyone who enters about the surveillance.
Ham invites Nye to come in.Ken, he’s not called “the Pseudoscience Guy”
I loved his show. What science shows have been out there for kids that have been well-received like his since he stopped?Did you even read the blog post Ken linked to at the top? He quotes this bible passage:”But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. (Mark 9:42)”
Comment #2: “Even his videos for children felt as if he was talking down to me like I didn’t understand science.”Funny since the whole point of the videos was because people didn’t understand science.
Or even better:”I could see him being a great spokesman for creationism one day.”
They still need permission from the person to Legally post the picture.
Stop looking for a reason to sue the creationists, you silly people.
I would have thought Bill Nye would want to stay as far away as possible from the Creation Museum, in case the stupid left a stain on his clothes.
Legally, you do not need a consent form to post an image of a person — or we’d have no paparazzi in the world. Court cases differ with minors, but any celebrity / public figure who has previously sought public attention has no expectation of privacy in places that can be observed with the naked eye. The legal framework is fairly established. I took my year of media law 20+ years ago, admittedly, but things have actually gotten worse, not better, on the privacy front. Ethics and the law not being the same, it gets frustrating.
Um, I don’t see anyone looking to sue over this. They’re just commenting on how creepy it is.
My comment has nothing to do with this post, but I once saw Bill Nye at the Apple store. But I was so in shock and awe that I didn’t say anything to him. Still kick myself over it!
The comments really made me hate humanity.”Wow… it’s really unfortunate that a man that I admired as a child is going to such great lengths to express his hatred toward creation and Christianity.”Getting out of your car and taking a picture = great lengths??”Too bad he’s afraid to come in, but I imagine that the reality of ones life’s work crashing before ones very eyes would be hard to face.”Maybe they added new exhibits since Jen et al last visited?”Sadly, it seems this the way most science exploration is done these days: one goes into the experiment with the conclusion already decided, then all the evidence they look for is only that which confirms the conclusion.”:-( :-( :-( :-( :-(
Uh…no.
No. Professional photographers generally ask subjects to sign release forms to protect themselves from people who say “Hey, he’s making money off my picture! I want a cut of that!” It is not, however, required.
Is this the same Bill Nye that was selling the ” ion water sprayer ” as a house cleaning product last year? Perhaps he can be trusted on some things, but apparently not everything.
I made the same mistake. Reading through comments like those and the linked ones about him being named humanist of the year, the mix of condescension, ignorance and hate are just too upsetting. Especially the one about the woman who teaches her children to call him Bill Nye the Science Lie. The whole thing leaves me feeling dirty. Going to have to make it up by reading through the XKCD archive and doing my plant genetics homework…
I assure you that when a TV news crew does a live stand upper they do not get releases from from anybody, including the people who mug for the camera. It does not matter where they are, but they will not stay on private property if asked to leave.
I love that he actually went to the creation museum and took a photo of it… not sure they should be posting cctv footage on the internet though.
Well, that’s true of anyone. It’s why we can’t rely on appeals to authority. Look at Bill Maher on vaccines, or Christopher Hitchens on the Iraq war or anything to do with the Middle East (although that’s mostly opinion).
I started to read the comments, but the stupid burned so badly I was about to be overcome with a case of SOIWOTI, so I had to turn away. My favorites though:
(is that going to work?) — Um, you know a lot of people have gone inside, plenty to tell us that it’s all lies. But ultimately, the whole reason this place exists is to tell us that the earth is younger than many great human civilizations. We know it’ s a lie without going near it. Also, twenty bucks says he won’t do that.
—No, what’s unfortunate is that you went so far off the path from having admired him. Or maybe that you can’t see that opposing one ignorant piece of theology isn’t hatred of Christianity. Most Christians disagree with you.
—WTF? Oh your poor children. And so on, ad nauseum. I really hope those blockquote tags work. You never know if you never try.
Here’s a question though, do we actually know that it’s Bill Nye? That picture is hardly conclusive. Has Nye had any comment? Or is Ham just irresponsibly making a claim to churn up “controversy”?Also, I’m too old for Bill Nye. Now Mister Wizard….
Or his bow tie…
Someone has now commented on the FB post claiming that the man in the picture is his father, rather than Bill Nye. Or maybe he’s saying that his father is Bill Nye, the grammar isn’t too clear, but he’s claiming that the picture is not of Bill Nye.
I admire BN, but my colleagues have told me he ain’t fun to work with.
I don’t agree that camera surveillance is in any way, shape or form is a requirement for large buildings (or small) as Jen indicates. Yes, you can make a case that in certain specific situations such as theft prevention it is to someone’s benefit. Though the large-scale, continuous surveillance of public and semi-public spaces is to society’s detriment. It promotes the idea that this is somehow an acceptable cultural norm and pacifies those that think it is anything but security theater.Oh, and studies clearly show that cameras do not reduce crime, they at most move it one street over. So, how about fixing your communities up rather than putting the Orwellian band-aid on it.
I always looked up to Bill Nye growing up. He is, after all, the science guy. In college, though, I met no fewer than 3 different people who did not know each other, had met him personally, and told me that he was horribly mean to them. Granted, I imagine they were children at the time, so “horribly mean” might not imply what it does to an adult. But still, I am left conflicted regarding how I feel about the man. Regardless of what he’s like personally, I suppose he put on a good show, which educated and excited a lot of people of my generation.
When you’re a business owner attempting to protect your assets, moving crime one street over is plenty.
This is such a ridiculous comment:”Wow… it’s really unfortunate that a man that I admired as a child is going to such great lengths to express his hatred toward creation and Christianity.”Bill Nye did not post this picture, Ham did. And how do we know he went to such “great lengths” to go there? He could have been passing through and wanted a shot for his stupidity scrapbook…
Even if we were to assume it was him, there’s not even any evidence that he disagrees with the creation museum’s stance, based on the photo. Now, through plenty of other sources, one can find his opinions on the kind of drivel espoused at the Creation Museum, but this photograph demonstrates none of that.
Poor Bill Nye, it looks like the creation museum is about to make his head explode.
Jen, one of the commenters at Ham’s FB page, and Dylan below all seem to think his facial expression shows his opinion. I just thought that’s what Bill Nye looked like.I’m still not convinced it’s him either.
If he owns the land/building where the picture was taken then he has every right to post that picture wherever he wants. When you are in a public place anyone can take a picture of anything they see and do anything they want with it. Yes, this includes children too.If you are on private property, that is open to the public, then the owner of that property can take as many pictures of you as they want and do whatever they want with them. If you don’t like it you have every right to LEAVE THEIR property.
That usually happens when a photographer features someone specifically in a shot.A professional photographer who is taking commissioned photos of Times Square on New Years Eve, is not going to ask every person that may be in that shot to sign a form. Nor is he required to, as you mentioned.
Bow ties are cool.
Someone needs to ragecomic this like right fucking now.
Ugh… so much stupid in the comments on that fakebook page. It made my head hurt. On the plus side, however, if we ever need to mobilise a whole bunch of idiotic, intolerant christians for some reason, at least we know where to find them.Also, totally off topic, but for me, it was Beakman’s World, not Bill Nye, that I remember as the science show I watched as a kid. Am I alone in this?
If the man’s father was Bill Nye I hope he’d have excellent grammar
There’s something slightly hypocritical in complaining about institutions taking pictures of people and posting them on the internet to only write a blog post which includes said picture…