NASA. You might think of NASA as the place for “rocket scientists.” A place where really smart people aren’t shackled by DEI hires and “every culture is equal” nonsense. NASA, where steely-eyed missile men went from a John Kennedy speech to building Titan rockets and sending men to the moon in less than a decade. Steely-eyed missile men are so last century. We need equity hires, diversity ambassadors, and indigenous science.
On Monday, during the total eclipse of the sun, America also had a total eclipse by the dumb.
During a three-hour live broadcast in which NASA hosted interviews with astronauts in space, astrophysicists, and other actual scientists. NASA also had Dr. David Begay on to talk about eclipse science. “Dr. Begay” doesn’t have a B.S. in any scientific discipline. Begay holds a poli-sci degree with an "Indian Policy” emphasis. His Ph.D. is from an inkspot “school” called California Institute of Integral Studies. CIIS had its APA accreditation revoked in 2011— the Ph.D. Program(s) are online. Begay’s Doctorate was awarded for Indigenous Education and Application of Traditional Knowledge. The good news? The California Institute of Integral Studies is not associated with Scientology. I think.
At the 2:25 hour mark of the broadcast, NASA hosts cut to a live interview with a NASA reporter. “Let’s check in with 'Joy' in Dallas and turn to indigenous astronomy.”
The feed cuts to “Joy.”
“We are here with Dr. David Begay. So, David, when people think about science, they might be thinking of 'Western science.' So, David, how does that relate to indigenous science and what do eclipses mean to the Navajo people?”
Begay, wearing a “NASA” shirt, answered the question. Kind of. He talked about ancestral elders telling their people about eclipses:
If you look at the sun directly, it can hurt your eyes… and as far as the eclipse, it’s a time of renewal; the sun aligns with the moon and aligns with the Earth. It’s...the whole cosmic cycle goes through a regeneration process; it revitalizes the process…
“Indigenous science.” You can call that a whole lot of things, but “science” isn’t one of them. I didn’t watch long enough to see if NASA cut to reporters interviewing a Druid priest, a descendant of a Maya shaman, Sunny Hostin on "The View," the big ball of gas, Sheila Jackson Lee, or the crazy guy with a “The End Is Near” sign, but those would have offered about as much “eclipse science” as Begay.
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I dug a little deeper to see what NASA is doing in its search to auger-in the next rocket launch. NASA, under Biden, has pushed hard for DEI, including awarding contracts to “underserved communities” and hiring a diversity ambassador, and is pushing employees to include pronouns in emails. So, it is no shock that NASA is in the fifth year of a 14-year partnership with the Navajo Nation. Why? NASA views the Navajo as particularly “sciency.”
NASA’s Education and Communications Lead at NASA Astrobiology Program, Daniella Scalice, said:
[The Navajo people's] cultural, traditional ways of knowing are inherently scientific … that's a really big message. There is no difference between traditional cultural ways of generating knowledge and the ones that science uses.
Scalice added: "A lot of people are working in what I've come to call STEM-only or STEM-first paradigms in terms of STEM programs for native youth, and we have not been working in that paradigm."
Forget STEM, says NASA; Navajo kids need to learn about their Stone Age dogma first, then actual science. Diné instructs that the number four is sacred. There are four sacred mountains, four seasons, and four colors. NASA, in consultation with Navajo medicine men, found a parallel between astrophysics and Navajo mysticism. A star goes through four stages of life and death, so Navajo ancients were ahead of Newton...or something.
NASA interviewing Dr Begay to blather about “Don’t look at the sun” and calling it science makes sense. Ok, it doesn’t make sense. It’s nonsense, but at least I know why.
Steely-eyed missile men need not apply.
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