Posted on 11/14/2014 4:46:14 PM PST by smokingfrog
Matt Taylor, who's a great scientist and seems to also be a pretty cool dude, gave a teary, heartfelt apology for his choice of attire on the day of Rosetta's probe landing.
"I made a big mistake, and I offended many people," Taylor said at Friday's media briefing, his voice trembling, "and I'm very sorry about this."
With that, the briefing moved onto the science (as it should -- Philae's days are numbered, and we want to find out as much as we can from the little probe that could). Taylor seemed to have trouble speaking for a few minutes, but perked up by the end. Many praised his apology on Twitter, and whether or not he was aware of that response, it seemed to have taken a weight off his shoulders.
Because none of the people calling out Taylor's attire wanted him blacklisted from science, or punished, or to run into a corner and cry. The coolest people in the world (like the ones who land probes on comets) should also be held to the highest standards -- they're the ones that the children of the world are watching for cues.
And for young women in the world, a shirt covered in hyper-sexualized women does not send a good message, conscious or otherwise.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
He should not have apologized.
Excellent point. I wonder how Rachel would explain her “cool guy” displaying such hideous self-mutiliation.
Even former jailbirds know enough to wear long sleeve shirts in public.
He’s obviously a big anime freak. That shirt and his tattoos are anime characters. If the women freak out about his shirt, what do they have to say about the women who dress up for cosplay conventions? I’d hate to see what the good doctor dresses as, but some of the women at those conventions are really hot.
Are you talking about the generic “NASA Geek” look? Which consists of a white dress shirt, solid black tie, pocket protector filled with pencils, pens and the mandatory slide rule, topped off with the black plastic “birth control” glasses? That’s just as bad, if not worse in it’s own way. Most geniuses are a litte weird and eccentric. I think this is a expression of that eccentricity. If that’s not your thing, fine. But no matter what he looks like, it’s hard to argue with success. I guess for me I don’t really care what you look like. My question is can you do the job and show results? And this guy gets it done.
CC
This is like wearing pajamas to work.
And not at the local lunch counter.
And I rode on the subway in NYC with plenty of ‘dressing genres’. This shirt wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow on the subway.
As I said, I worked senior level R&D for over a decade and NEVER experienced someone wearing something like this to work. And I was the only female in an entire 20+ person department of PhD’s. The GROWN men I worked with may have been teenagers at heart, but they channeled those particular energies somewhere OTHER than work.
Not even the blue collar employees who worked the loading dock wore such things.
It’s not just sloppy. It’s seriously unprofessional.
And the level of unprofessional in someone at his level of education and employment is enough to make me question other aspects of his employability and trustworthiness.
And it would have been unprofessional 50 years ago at NASA.
And because it WOULD have been offensive to the women in the office, mostly secretaries, the mangers would have told him to turn around, go home and put on something else.
Offensive then, offensive now.
My own very feminine southern belle grandmother would have ceased to do business with any establishment she frequented had he worn such a shirt there.
I double dog dare you to find such a shirt in any ‘common’ pictures from the 1920’s and 30’s.
And it was the women who would have strenuously objected to it.
Unless you’re a bartender at a really low class establishment, it’s really inappropriate attire at any place of ‘educated’ employment.
Maybe he tended bar while working his way through college.
Hah! Just when I figured I was an official old fart I found another one.
Brother we are living in the dark ages. This guy was a real kid when the mission was launched.
They’re appropriately clad in wraparound outfits. It’s just the “subservient” depiction that would set the “wymyn” off.
CC
I wouldn’t mind being trapped in the planetarium with her. ...
It’s a cultural comment on how far we’ve fallen that such a shirt would have been allowed in the front door on a PhD level employee. Regardless of their level of performance. Unless he owned the company. The ‘dress code’ of the generation that put us on the moon showed respect for themselves and the job they were trying to do. And they all probably owned dubious bowling shirts as well, given the time period. They just didn’t wear them to WORK.
Did you EVER see Ronald Reagan wearing a t shirt or golf shirt in the Oval Office? Ever? Imagine Ronnie wearing THIS shirt in ANY public photograph. Not even when he was in Hollywood.
Imagine Neils Bohr or Einstein or Heisenberg wearing such a thing to work. Never happen.
Thousands of men (yes, mostly men) have come before him and accomplished just as spectacular scientific feats. I can’t remember any of them wearing a shirt from the establishment of ‘Larry the Lounge Lizard’ in any pics I’ve ever seen of those accomplishments. Somehow they manged to achieve those feats without the unprofessionalism. Which makes me wonder what’s ‘not right’ with this guy.
And I worked with LOTS of seriously ‘off’ guys with PhD’s. If they could manage to get dressed in the morning in professional work clothing, what’s wrong with this guy?
This guy may have IQ but he doesn’t have class.
Or social tact.
And it’s just as inappropriate as the female scientist wearing the boob showing low cut dress with no bra and high heeled (insert verb here) shoes. I worked with one of those. For a millisecond. She couldn’t understand why, as intelligent as she was (and she was), that no one took her seriously. I was like....’realllly’... And then she married one of the Board of Directors...who just happened to need a divorce right then...
Dang - sold out.
Watching another good looking eastern European astrophysicist talking about the possibility of alternate universes right now.
If not for autism man would still be standing around the cave entrance fire.
LOL.
Maybe he thinks he’s still tending bar.
Maybe the ESA can’t afford to pay him enough for him to buy grown up man clothes...
Look anyone ever see the art on a ww2 flight jacket?
Well, I guess you and I just disagree on this position. I do respect your views, I just don’t share them.
CC
I’m pretty sure there is an alternate universe inside Nancy Pelosi’s head.
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