An open letter, from Occam’s Razor

An open letter to science communicator Ziya Tong (see post, below) from Occam’s Razor.

First of all, hi. My name is Occam (see my handsome mug, left) and while I realize that this blog posting is likely the closest I’ll ever get to you, please, PLEASE feel free to call me – or simply come to my home if that works better – anytime for any sort of collaboration on story ideas or creativity sessions or a nice massage.

The primary reason for my writing is for me to break the bad news to you that you are far, far too sexy to represent science or to share information about it. It is sad, and I truly don’t want it to be so, but that’s how “they” in the community feel.

See, the Science Cheerleader recently launched the Brain Makeover project, featuring cheerleaders. This effort got some media attention on a major network and in the Chronicle of Higher Ed, and from there a few angry bloggers and commenters decided to hack away, gnashing at the Brain Makeover with their angry, umbrage-frothing mouths, trying to destroy it, not unlike the sharks tearing away at Santiago’s fish (a reference to a book with no female characters at all and written by a bit of a misogynist, so either they won’t get the reference from having not read the book…or they’ve already burnt it).

The debate about the appropriateness of the use of fair female (or male) flesh for any purpose is old and unwinnable and I certainly won’t add much of substance working with this puerile brain of mine. Clearly, if you look at the entry and comments here and the comments on the Chronicle page here people are upset about using cute women/sex appeal for the purposes of science. Depending on which comment you read, it either hurts science outreach, makes women feel bad about themselves, or turns young girls off from science. Never mind the fact that, in a matter of a mere few days, the Brain Makeover introduced thousands of adult men and women to 18 critical science concepts. That’s right, “average” adults: the ones funding half the basic research in the U.S.A. through their federal tax dollars.

And Ziya, (left) you represent a lot of what they don’t like, primarily by being pretty and by using perkiness to talk about science. You are doomed. You wear makeup and clearly you’ve thought a bit about how your hair should look and about dressing fashionably so there is no way you can speak about science with any credibility. They are mutually exclusive! You should try modeling lingerie (seriously, let’s talk about that during one of our creativity sessions).

Best of luck,

Occam