Bill O'Reilly on science: Why is Earth the only planet with a moon?

As my blogmate Jim Rainey has frequently pointed out, Fox News has its own unique view of the world, where the facts rarely get in the way, most recently in the way Fox pollster Frank Luntz used a strange brand of faux science to find a panel of people unimpressed by President Obama's recent State of the Union address. But when it comes to seeing the world through the wrong end of a telescope, no one tops Bill O'Reilly, who has been the butt of a thousand jokes after confronting an atheist on his show with irrefutable evidence of the existence of God--using as his evidence the fact that the tides come in and the tides go out. I mean, O'Reilly said with great certainty, who else could possibly be controlling that?

As any scientist could tell you, it's the moon that controls the tides. So Papa Bear has taken to the airwaves again to pursue a new wrinkle in his faux science agenda. He now acknowledges that the tides might indeed be controlled by the moon. But so what? As he says: "How'd the moon get there? Can you explain that to me? How come we have that? And Mars doesn't have it. Venus doesn't have it. How come?"

Actually, as any amateur astronomer knows, Jupiter has lots of moons, 63 in all, several of which you can see through a good pair of binoculars. One of them, Ganymede, is actually larger than Mercury. Saturn has 62 moons. Uranus has 27 moons. And hey, Bill, Mars actually has two moons of its own, that were discovered in 1877, long before even Roger Ailes was born. As far as I know, there's no evidence that either of them are made of green cheese either. I'm beginning to think that O'Reilly might have slept through quite a few of his fifth-grade science classes. But he sure is certain in his beliefs. Here, watch for yourself:

 --Patrick Goldstein

 

Comments

[Aaron]

Yeah the guy doesn't know much about astronomy. But why are you guys so defensive? There will always be 2 sides to every argument.

[Brendan O.]

I'm sure his fans will all go, "If Jupiter has 63 moons, how come I never heard about them?! Lies, lies, lies by the liberal lamestream media!"

[Yuliq Mahbaht]

This guy is a total pinhead and an embarrassment to the American people. But, he’s Fox’ problem. I don’t pay his salary.

Bill, Rush and that moron Beck need to get a life... outside the United States. And to think these guys pull for the Republican party.

[V]

The problem really isn't O'Reilly being dumb. Everyone doesn't know something, or misunderstands something learned long ago. Our brains don't readily access everything we remember. And there's a lot of stuff he might not know.

The problem is that instead of humbling accepting he was wrong and learning from it, he lashes out at those who rightfully correct him, calls them pinheads, and can't accept that he was wrong.

[Bruce]

O'Reilly employs one of the classic logical fallacies that theists use to (supposedly) refute atheists: "You can't explain it, and that PROVES God must have done it!"

Saying "God did it," of course, does not really explain anything -- it's just putting a label on our ignorance.

[ralphie]

Herp herp herpderp herp derp derpitty derp herp? Derp de herp herp derp! Hahahaha. Derp herp derp.

Bill O'Reily (greatest retard troll in the media today)

[Serendipity]

Occam's Razor, anyone?

[Logun]

Facts and facts and no one can make alterations in them. Do you feel that making such comments will seek you attention. Please. Give us a break.

[Cloudy]

We can't do anything. This is the way he is. Hate him or whatever.