If you want to consider this part of the long game of Bill Nye using his power in Washington, fine. What does this accomplish? It tells Republicans that they can buy anything from him if they offer him TV exposure. Don't you think if he cared a little bit less about his own celebrity he could have maybe done something good with it?
Elon Musk already learned that lesson.
It's one thing if you want to be critical of their ideas, but attack the ideas, stop attacking the people.
As for ad hominem, talking about Bridenstine's politics is not an irrelevant aspect of the debate, like if I said he was stupid or a bad soccer player. In fact, they're the only thing that matters. Bill Nye is attending as Jim Bridenstine's formal guest to a government event, a gesture of personal support of Bridenstine in his capacity as a government official, so what Bridenstine does in that capacity is important for interpreting the meaning of Bill Nye's attendance.
He has a purpose in wanting to be there. They have a purpose in wanting to have him there. Both purposes will get served. Generally not equally. You have to look at the combination, and decide whether you like what happens overall.
Look, for example, at the example the offer gives where he debated a creationist. His purpose was to be able to present the science to people who normally reject it. Their purpose was to raise funds for a religious project. Both happened. But most third parties agree that his helping the Ark get built made a bigger difference than his getting a opportunity to present science to people who were unwilling to listen to him.
Bill Nye has done good work on the past, but he is undoing the work he has done lately.
We can’t feed the world without GMOs but splicing genes from cuttlefish into tomatoes to make them produce a specific protein might have some consequences down the line we aren’t aware of yet.
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/10/why_bill_nye_c...
On more “scientific” forums including popular science like Star Talk Nye always explained that it was Transgenics that he had concerns about and using GMOs when talking to a crowd which already decided that GMOs only applies to cucumbers which were spliced with chicken DNA was pretty much the only way to go.
the SOTU is simply a way for a President to campaign for himself. Always has been, always will be. I give Congress and the Supreme Court a pass because of their traditional role in being there. Everyone there who is not a government employee is there out of fealty, not obligation.
By attending the SOTU, to laypeople it makes it look like scientists agree with the president's positions on climate change.
Unfortunately, I believe this demonization of Bill Nye is appropriate.
Edit: I believe if you want to change behavior, you model the behavior yourself. If you shut yourself out of the discussion, then so will others. You don't tell people how to fish, you show them how to fish. You don't tell people to learn science, you show them the science.
Bill Nye circumvents that community completely but yet still represents an entry point of science for many(most?) laypeople.
I don't think laypeople are nuanced enough to know that a "science guy" isn't a "scientist". So it's setting back scientists a little bit from a PR perspective by having this hack be seen publicly associating with the Trump administration.
If you withdraw from participating in the government for the mere reason that it's connected to Trump in general, you're not gonna push any of your agendas forward.