Just saw on CNN: "Black Holes" and "Dark Matter" are racist
goldmongerATL
The Square Above Charlie Weaver
Short interview with a female AA astrophysicist. She says they are not black or dark but invisible. Claimed "White Science" named them that way to take advantage of and to perpetuate negative stereotypes of African Americans.
I always thought it had to do with the absence of light. Glad they cleared this up for all of us.
I always thought it had to do with the absence of light. Glad they cleared this up for all of us.
18 comments
Dark matter was named by Fritz Zwicky, a Swiss astronomer who postulated that “dunkle materie” could explain the motion of galaxies in the Coma cluster. He simply referred to it as dark the amount of matter in the Coma cluster exceeded the amount he could account for by studying light.
The idea of dark matter was largely ignored until Vera Rubin found that the rotation curves of galaxies required a halo of - guess what - some unseen diffuse matter around galaxies. In other words, dark matter. The nature of dark matter is unknown, but I believe the most popular theory is WIMPs, relatively massive particles that only interact via the weak nuclear force and gravity.
First Zwicky would have been a valued tuscl poster. He liked to call people “spherical bastards” because they were bastards no matter which way you looked at them. He was also a genius who came up with the idea of supernovas in addition to dark matter. And did other work that escapes my memory.
“Black hole” originated - I think - from work by John Wheeler. However, I think he got it from somebody else and that it was a comparison between collapsed stars and the black hole of Calcutta. I’m sure it’s traceable if you really care to look it up.
I suspect the astronomer being interviewed mostly wanted to make a for herself and came up with something she thought would be interesting. CNN was irresponsible for letting her do that. But I’m sure she knew the history. An astronomy elective at a university probably covers that. Maybe not all of the personality stuff about Fritz Zwicky but I thought he seemed cool.
Too much thinking about politics will drive you INSANE. You’re probably overestimating the impact elections will have on your life anyway. You’re almost certainly overestimating your understanding of the issues. I’m not saying that I have a deep understanding of the issues. I’m just saying I know what I don’t understand and choose to focus on politics as little as possible in between elections.
So come on you spherical bastards! Write about some crazy stripper stories. Laugh about them. Make fun of the other spherical bastards that post here. Laugh about THEM!! Hell, write about fucking dark matter if you want. There is more to life than politics.
Oh yeah... since i am giving you advice that will help your mental health I’ll end with “your welcome”
Last week nobody knew who Chanda Prescod-Weinstein was, this week 30 million people do. Goal achieved.
Side note - the articles heading says "BLACK SCIENTIST" isn't that racist as well? Why does the scientists skin color matter when you're talking about potential racist scientific terms????
Now you have CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others making this the lead story every day. This can't be an accident. They have calculated racial obsession to be good for their bottom line and their interests.
A lot of minorities though are actually getting tired of it.
https://reason.com/2021/03/03/woke-exces…
This stuff is being pushed entirely by white progressives and black liberal elites. Perhaps there will be a massive backlash against it. Problem is, elite media likely wouldn't care and would probably just keep pushing it. Then maybe shit gets real if they actually do go forward with reparations.