Neil deGrasse Tyson’s latest stop on Fox News Saturday Night wasn’t your typical academic lecture — it was a prime-time reminder that celebrity scientists enjoy megaphones in our culture and aren’t shy about using them. During the December 27, 2025 segment he weighed in on everything from the moon landing to the future of social media, treating big questions about technology and history like a late-night think piece. For those who still value plainspoken patriotism, that kind of platform comes with responsibility, not just clout.
Make no mistake: Tyson is a gifted communicator of science, and conservatives respect expertise when it’s earned. He’s also reminded viewers before that the Apollo program was more than a technological feat — he called the moon landing a “battle cry against communism,” a blunt recognition of the Cold War stakes and American courage. We should be proud that a mainstream scientist acknowledged what patriots have always known: space exploration was a projection of national will and freedom.
But when Dr. Tyson begins speculating that we might all “quit social media,” the conversation shifts from science to social engineering, and that’s where conservatives must push back. Millions of hardworking Americans rely on these platforms to speak their minds, expose corruption, and organize for real-world causes; walking away hands the narrative back to coastal gatekeepers and Big Tech censors. If elites want to debate the harms of social media, fine — but they don’t get to dictate the life choices of ordinary Americans from a studio couch.
This isn’t the first time Tyson has popped up on Fox to play the public intellectual, and his regular media runs only amplify the influence of his pronouncements. When high-profile figures repeatedly reframe culture from above, they shape policy debates even when they’re speaking offhand; that’s why Fox’s platform matters and why viewers pay attention. America needs more debate in the marketplace of ideas, not fewer voices.
Let’s be clear: social media is messy, but it’s also liberated speech from legacy media cartels and given everyday Americans a megaphone. Conservatives didn’t become a political force by retreating from modern tools — we mobilized with them, broke through biases, and forced accountability on elites who once controlled every headline. The correct conservative answer isn’t to unplug, it’s to fight for transparency, free speech protections, and competition that breaks Big Tech’s chokehold.
When it comes to the moon and the promise of space, patriots should celebrate both the science and the story — that ordinary Americans achieved the extraordinary through resolve, funding, and a belief in liberty. If Dr. Tyson wants to remind us of the moon landing’s geopolitical meaning, fine — let that memory be a spur to renew American leadership in space rather than a lecture on cultural retreat. We should invest, innovate, and keep the frontier open to entrepreneurs and the men and women who answered the call decades ago.
So here’s the bottom line for hardworking Americans: listen to the science, but don’t surrender your voice to paternalistic elite advice about quitting the tools that empower you. Keep your platforms, demand fair rules, and hold experts accountable when they veer from data into dictation. That’s how a free people protect free speech, advance real innovation, and keep America first.
