Today’s blacklisted American: Black scientist blacklisted for doing good research
Hakeem Oluseyi, Space Science Education Lead
for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
They’re coming for you next: Today’s blacklist column describes an effort to not only cancel from history the man who led NASA for almost the entire 1960s space race, but to also blackball a scientist for doing good research that proved the campaign was not based on any facts.
Shortly before the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope last year, a petition was instigated to get it renamed because of accusations that Webb had persecuted homosexuals during his term as NASA administrator in the 1960s. As is now typical of our modern bankrupt intellectual class, as soon as this petition was issued more than 1,700 people signed it, all accepting at face value its accusations against Webb without any further research.
One scientist, who happened to be black, took a more detailed look at those accusations however and found them to be spurious. As Hakeem Oluseyi wrote:
In full disclosure, I never met James Webb, who died in 1992. I have no idea what was in his heart and mind. But what I can say conclusively is that there is zero evidence that Webb is guilty of the allegations against him.
Rather than exposing a bigot — as Webb was described in two popular articles reporting this story in 2015 — my research suggests that the purveyors of these allegations wrongly accused an innocent man who was, among more well-known achievements, a hero of diversity and inclusion in American government. He worked with Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy to use NASA facilities in America’s southern states to promote racial integration and equal opportunity in employment.
Oluseyi notes at length the facts. He also notes at length the close-mindedness of the intellectual community on this subject. Except for one person outside of himself in academia, no one was willing to research the history in detail. That one person did no research himself, merely wondered, based on the nature of the accusations presented against Webb, whether more research was needed.
Did Oluseyi’s work open the minds of this close-minded science community? Of course not. The initial campaign against Webb was instigated by physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein of the University of New Hampshire. In response to Oluseyi she and her allies immediately launched a new campaign, to get him blackballed as well.
Oluseyi was soon also tagged and said that he has been unable to have letters published in the journal that attempted to point out the allegedly flawed evidence cited by Prescod-Weinstein and others. So, not only are journals declaring the matter effectively closed, but they will not allow readers to see opposing views.
Even former colleagues publicly denounced Oluseyi. George Mason’s Peter Plavchan, who said that he welcomed Oluseyi to that school as a visiting professor, tweeted a note to Prescod-Weinstein that “I do believe [Oluseyi] owes you and LGBTQ+ astronomers an apology.”
As a space historian who has interviewed numerous people and researched extensively the early history of NASA, reviewing much of the same original source material that Oluseyi referenced, I very confidently endorse Oluseyi’s conclusions. Webb, like almost everyone at NASA at that time, was not a bigot and did whatever he could to end discrimination within the agency he headed. He was also an imperfect human being, and to demand he meet today’s standards or to condemn him for failing to achieve perfect racial/sexual harmony in his life is not only unjust, it is unrealistic and extremely hateful.
In the end, this story — like all my blacklist columns — once again highlights the close-minded, vicious, and hateful culture that now permeates today’s intellectual class. They do not think, they do not research, they do not care, and above all, they hate with an empty-minded fervor that at times can be truly horrifying.
If something does not change soon in this culture, the future they will bring us will only see even greater evils, including outright genocide. For when you refuse to consider the possibility that you are wrong, as Prescod-Weinstein and her allies are doing, the only solution in the end is the final solution, to kill your opponents so you need not face the truth.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Hakeem Oluseyi, Space Science Education Lead
for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
They’re coming for you next: Today’s blacklist column describes an effort to not only cancel from history the man who led NASA for almost the entire 1960s space race, but to also blackball a scientist for doing good research that proved the campaign was not based on any facts.
Shortly before the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope last year, a petition was instigated to get it renamed because of accusations that Webb had persecuted homosexuals during his term as NASA administrator in the 1960s. As is now typical of our modern bankrupt intellectual class, as soon as this petition was issued more than 1,700 people signed it, all accepting at face value its accusations against Webb without any further research.
One scientist, who happened to be black, took a more detailed look at those accusations however and found them to be spurious. As Hakeem Oluseyi wrote:
In full disclosure, I never met James Webb, who died in 1992. I have no idea what was in his heart and mind. But what I can say conclusively is that there is zero evidence that Webb is guilty of the allegations against him.
Rather than exposing a bigot — as Webb was described in two popular articles reporting this story in 2015 — my research suggests that the purveyors of these allegations wrongly accused an innocent man who was, among more well-known achievements, a hero of diversity and inclusion in American government. He worked with Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy to use NASA facilities in America’s southern states to promote racial integration and equal opportunity in employment.
Oluseyi notes at length the facts. He also notes at length the close-mindedness of the intellectual community on this subject. Except for one person outside of himself in academia, no one was willing to research the history in detail. That one person did no research himself, merely wondered, based on the nature of the accusations presented against Webb, whether more research was needed.
Did Oluseyi’s work open the minds of this close-minded science community? Of course not. The initial campaign against Webb was instigated by physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein of the University of New Hampshire. In response to Oluseyi she and her allies immediately launched a new campaign, to get him blackballed as well.
Oluseyi was soon also tagged and said that he has been unable to have letters published in the journal that attempted to point out the allegedly flawed evidence cited by Prescod-Weinstein and others. So, not only are journals declaring the matter effectively closed, but they will not allow readers to see opposing views.
Even former colleagues publicly denounced Oluseyi. George Mason’s Peter Plavchan, who said that he welcomed Oluseyi to that school as a visiting professor, tweeted a note to Prescod-Weinstein that “I do believe [Oluseyi] owes you and LGBTQ+ astronomers an apology.”
As a space historian who has interviewed numerous people and researched extensively the early history of NASA, reviewing much of the same original source material that Oluseyi referenced, I very confidently endorse Oluseyi’s conclusions. Webb, like almost everyone at NASA at that time, was not a bigot and did whatever he could to end discrimination within the agency he headed. He was also an imperfect human being, and to demand he meet today’s standards or to condemn him for failing to achieve perfect racial/sexual harmony in his life is not only unjust, it is unrealistic and extremely hateful.
In the end, this story — like all my blacklist columns — once again highlights the close-minded, vicious, and hateful culture that now permeates today’s intellectual class. They do not think, they do not research, they do not care, and above all, they hate with an empty-minded fervor that at times can be truly horrifying.
If something does not change soon in this culture, the future they will bring us will only see even greater evils, including outright genocide. For when you refuse to consider the possibility that you are wrong, as Prescod-Weinstein and her allies are doing, the only solution in the end is the final solution, to kill your opponents so you need not face the truth.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
This one really makes me angry. The screechers owe him an apology.
J B Peterson
The Logos at Ephesus (12/26/22)
“Narrative and the lens through which we view the world” [excerpt]
https://youtu.be/9ByjCwumwBM?t=2347
“…there are predators of the spirit which are much worse than snakes, that are waiting in wait, for you.”
David Webb is a radio talk show host I deeply respect. Related to this topic, he once said that the only way to deal effectively with people like this was to frighten them — and I would add, out of their wits. Yes, they hold sway, largely because of their verbal aggressiveness and their unbridled tendency of snap judgments. But they are not the real majority and, more important, they base all of their heinous actions on the assumption that we will not exact real punishment. If I were they, and I knew that the opposition numbered in the tens of millions, most of them armed, to put it crudely I would not want to piss them off. It is long past time to punch back to the point where these individuals would no longer dare provoke our response.
Objectify and dehumanize your existential enemy, or who you believe is your existential enemy, or who you are instructed is your existential enemy and there is nothing that can stand in your way.
And this is precisely what every true believer “Progressive” (D), Climate Warrior, Social Justice Warrior etc, etc, believes. And so whatever destruction that is determined to be necessary is justifiable. Up to and including murder. Strategy Over Morality in other words.
And then what? And that question is answered in only one way.
(Ah, Jacob Bronowski, a blast from the past)
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: hyphenated last name whiner that likely sees all the -isms in everything, everywhere at all times.
given the total information, this featured whiner should be blacklisted.
Terrible times, it’s Salem witch hunts all
Over but on steroids
Those in Salem who burned witches truly believed they were burning witches.
And that is what we are seeing here today in America, true believers. Fully trained and indoctrinated believers.
And that reality is what should scare everyone.
You know, besides our own government (D & RINO) actively flooding our country with illegals and purposefully destroying our economic system and degrading our military in order to deliver the country to the Globalist agenda.
Then what?
They do not seem to go there.
Extremely well researched/sited, written, and articulated piece from Haseem. So glad he has at least least some vindication from ESA. Now for the rest of the world to acknowledge the facts.
If anyone was wondering what the late Benedict XVI meant by the phrase “dictatorship of relativism”, this is certainly a clear demonstration. I’ve seen Dr. Oluseyi on a number of space-related documentaries, and I have always appreciated his ability to construct a lively image of the processes he’s describing in the most concrete terms possible, really clarifying his point. As he’s a clear thinker and speaker, might not sit well with the Left (although of course I have no idea of his personal politics – nor should it matter when approaching scientific questions honestly).