These allegations are NOT a conspiracy to “get a left wing man” or punish Neil D Tyson for his stance of climate change.  Allow me to fill in the blank of how this story got to press.   Many media outlets have thought it worth mentioning that Patheos, which focuses on spirituality host the blog of David G McAfee pursued these allegations.  In internet forums there are rumbles that this is a hit job done on someone who speaks against Trump.  Let me tell how this story was broke and debunk those insinuations once and for all.    Furthermore, note, anyone who actually read the original story on Patheos gives this same story of how McAfee came to know about the Amet allegation.  A realty quick survey of the two or three people who broke this story proves how absurd these insinuations and conspiracy theories are.

The short version, of a long story, about a longer story.

A Rape allegation tweeted by Tchiya Amet during the height of the #astroSH movement, an anti sexual harassment movement and predated #MeToo being a well-known thing, caught my attention as I covered that story.   So, after some due diligence, reaching out to Tchiya and trying to reach out to Neil D Tyson, I wrote,  “Neil DeGrasse Tyson Accused of Rape: #astroSH Was Mainly Silent.“  January 28^th 2016.

I did what little I could being a low resourced freelancer we tried to call in the big guns, the Buzz feeds and such of the world.  They dropped the story.  There was not much more I could do.  Nothing but fume and similar accusations some, with less substance, were taken very seriously.

Then about a year ago David G McAfee picked it up.   

He worked the story.  He got an interview with Tchiya.  He got two more accusers to come out publicly.   

Then he published the story.  He deserves all the citations he’s getting.  However not mentioning how David McAfee got the story leaves a vacuum which is slowly being filled with some very wrong ideas.

The Neil deGrasse Tyson Rape allegation is not a right-wing conspiracy.

However, without the VERY SMALL role I played in amplifying Tchiya Amet’s story there is a gap.  That gap is being filled with a lot of nonsense.  Otherwise I could care less about credit and mention myself only as a counter to that nonsense.

I am a transgender woman of color who is just barely Muslim enough to fast at Ramadan.  I am an adjunct professor teaching physics, astronomy, and mathematics at a few Chicago area community colleges.  I am both a libertarian and a union organizer.    I contribute to the Jimmy Dore show on Patreon!

David G McAfee and other bloggers found out about Tchiya Amets story because of a left wing anti sexual harassment movement, and a transsexual scientist amplified it.   By all I can read of his David appears to be very liberal in his thinking.

The notion that Tchiya Amet is right wing is so absurd … I challenge anyone to find anything from any of her writings to back that up.

In short, the idea this day reckoning, is a right-wing conspiracy to take out an atheist who speaks about climate change is rank 8000 nonsense!   

What isn’t nonsense is that some disturbing things occurred, quite possibly even a rape, and the reaction of many has been to attack the accuser, and the reporter(s) as “right-wing”. 

One could ask if they are so absurd why respond?  In the age of the internet silence does not make things go away.  It amplifies them with each echo.  Seeing a NBC news story insinuate that spirituality has something to do with matters was the last straw for me.