Bill Nye has been a household name for years since his show, Bill Nye the Science Guy, gained popularity. He is now under attack after an episode of his new show aired.
The reason people are threatening and trolling Bill Nye is because he offered his perspective on Christian ‘gay conversion’ therapy. Nye presented a cute and simple story about personified ice cream characters. The vanilla ice cream character went up to other flavors offering them ‘vanilla’ conversion therapy to help them shed their unnatural flavors.
Vanilla’s perspective was that its flavor was simply the most natural flavor and every other flavor needs to be converted. Conversion would not only make unorthodox flavors normal, but it would also make the big vanilla ice cream guy in heaven happy.
The story was comical and easy to understand. The story about these personified ice cream flavors makes sense when compared to some of Bill Nye’s earlier work. Nye has always attempted to show ideas, experiments, and debatable beliefs in a way that is easy to follow and comical.
Of course, the episode, argument, and sentiment of the video was immediately under fire. Many took to social media platforms to give their two-cents regarding the episode. Christians and conservatives were unhappy that their conversion therapy was mocked. Most said that Nye did not present any evidence to disprove their beliefs.
Some went so far as to say that Nye’s argument was void because the ice cream characters did not posses genitalia, though these social media commentators might not be familiar with similes. It is strange that many fundamental Christians worry about this issue when there are several other ‘abominations’ being committed against the Christian bible, such as divorce, which is skyrocketing, yet no one is protesting divorce courts. Statistics show that conservative Christians divorce at a higher rate than other groups.
Nye has not claimed to be a Christian or a religious man. The popular TV personality is entitled to believe that people in the LGBTQ cannot be ‘cured,’ which is no worse than believing that there is no ‘God’ to begin with.
For those who do not know, the episode premiered on Netflix. This is perhaps one of the biggest streaming service providers online, and the show has shown a lot of promise. It has taken Nye’s natural charisma to inspire a new show that aims to educate and entertain. The show is called, “Bill Nye Saves the World,” so it is not a continuation from his 90s popular show. The show is geared toward adults rather than children and young teenagers like his other TV show was.
Many of those who caught the episode were tipped off by conservative outlets and online commentators. The clip is making its rounds on several platforms, and it seems to have hit a nerve. There are some people who seem to be genuinely hurt by Nye’s comments. Disproving one aspect of religion threatens to shake Christian’s beliefs as a whole, though most of the people attacking the clip have not come to that conclusion.
Nye actually debated a religious leader not too long ago, so it does not seem like he is afraid to touch on these types of subjects, even if there is a group out there who feels threatened. Still, one of the core values of science is to question the norm. This is not the first time these types of ideas have been persecuted, and it probably will not be the last.