this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me it's the way I viewed him with hope and admiration, then later discovered he's just yet one more self-obsessed asshole media personality. It's rare anymore that I switch off the cynicism the world has beaten into me and allow myself to just assume the best about some media figure. And doing so leaves one vulnerable - finding out later that this was naive and foolish really hardens that cynicism. This stings in a way that just assuming he was a piece of shit from the start doesn't.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

To me he just sounds like a character from that show Big Bang Theory. I think he may come off wrong sometimes when he is trying to bring science into the discussion but everyone has bad days. I don’t think Carl Sagan would’ve held it against him.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

That's fair, it's not my interpretation though. It's been a while and I don't remember the specifics well by now, but I definitely came away feeling like he was an egocentric asshole just in it for the attention. To be fair, a far more interesting and useful egocentric asshole than most! But I ended up not liking him...as in, I don't just have some complaints about unpolished moments, I would actually choose not to hang out with him if given the chance. And I came to that opinion after starting off absolutely smitten with the guy.