More on the LOL Albert Einstein sexually assaults Marie Curie video, from Jonathan Eisen at Phylogenomics.
Wow. I just do not know even what to say here really. My Facebook feed is filling up with discussion about this video “A Very Special Thanksgiving Special | It’s Okay to be Smart” from PBS Digital Studios and I thought it would be important to share this with a wider audience.
The video includes scenes like the following:
Marie Curie is the only female scientist represented who says “It was very nice to be included”.
That is, she’s the only woman, and the only one who says it was nice to be included.
Read the whole thing. It even has his school homework on Curie, lots of it, because she was his one major hero.
The maker posted an apology. He states he was actually intended to use Einsteins behavior as an illustration of why there aren’t more women in science. He admits failing at that. It seems sincere but the video is still disturbing. The other fail was that he didn’t actually have M. Curie saying or doing anything to illustrate her own personality or interests. She was only reacting to Einstein.
http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/67168507202/on-this-weeks-video
Ah, G had it in before i could post (page reload is a wonderful thing).
I was just glad this guy admitted it was a complete failure. The statement could use a little improvement, but I’m glad the creator isn’t digging in like the I-don’t-see-a-problem commenters.
No. That’s not a good apology.
Tech note: Oh wow, it posted, even though the cache server barfed when reloading the page. Now that’s some effective guru meditation.
I could barely make it through the video because of the horrible accents, but what? Seriously, PBS thought that was a good idea? After making the valid and necessary point that we have a dearth of women in science, they undercut it with frankly stomach-turning “antics.” I get from the apology that that was kind of the point they were trying to make, but wow. There are about a million ways to handle it better.
Also, poor Tesla. He was eccentric, not batshit insane.
He lived before the Internet. He was inspirational. He may have been considered eccentric by the dreary.
Batshit insane are his polars.
(And since he worked in three-phase AC, among many other fields, that means multi-polars.)
Homework: Discuss the polar opposites to the three examples above, and what implications you draw.