How very odd.
Feb. 2nd, 2003 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baratronThe division between the people I know in the UK and US has never been greater. Looking through my friends page today, every single post from a US-person has to do with the Space Shuttle explosion. Not a single UK-er has even mentioned it: people are talking about their weekend plans and parties. How very, very odd.
I never hear news that happens at the weekend. The Evening Standard is my main source of news (because I object to paying money to read news from the previous night), and it only publishes on weekdays. If stuff happens between Friday night and Monday morning, I don't hear about it. This Space Shuttle explosion doesn't seem very real to me, because I've only read about it on the internet (even if it was the BBC's site). It will continue to not feel real until I see it on the front pages of tomorrow's newspapers.
It's weird. I'm confused as to what the big deal is, why so many of my American friends are upset. Of course, it's tragic for anyone who knew the people involved - any death is tragic for those left behind. But all this stuff about dreams... it must only make sense to a country that has actually been involved in space exploration. I've veered between seeing it as a valuable way to find out more about our planet and a colossal waste of money. I've always seen it that way, even when I was a student in a Space and Atmospheric Physics Group.
Edit: OK, I mis-spoke. One UK-er mentioned it. A couple more in email. But even then...
I never hear news that happens at the weekend. The Evening Standard is my main source of news (because I object to paying money to read news from the previous night), and it only publishes on weekdays. If stuff happens between Friday night and Monday morning, I don't hear about it. This Space Shuttle explosion doesn't seem very real to me, because I've only read about it on the internet (even if it was the BBC's site). It will continue to not feel real until I see it on the front pages of tomorrow's newspapers.
It's weird. I'm confused as to what the big deal is, why so many of my American friends are upset. Of course, it's tragic for anyone who knew the people involved - any death is tragic for those left behind. But all this stuff about dreams... it must only make sense to a country that has actually been involved in space exploration. I've veered between seeing it as a valuable way to find out more about our planet and a colossal waste of money. I've always seen it that way, even when I was a student in a Space and Atmospheric Physics Group.
Edit: OK, I mis-spoke. One UK-er mentioned it. A couple more in email. But even then...
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Re: this is rushed out, not properly worded, but...
Date: 2003-02-02 01:50 am (UTC)Sustainable living isn't going to help us any if a 20-mile meteor wipes out one hemisphere and throws the other into perpetual winter.
I agree completely; in an ideal world, a space program would be part of a balanced breakfast, complete with 10 vitamins and minerals. But for the overwhelming majority of human history, we've had frontiers to explore, and places to go if catastrophes beyond our control lay waste to our homes. Now we don't, and that scares me. Reclaiming that is, in my opinion, a justified and necessary expense. I actually find myself hoping that we DON'T find any other planets to settle before we figure out how to live responsibly on this one; but it's important that we keep searching, and stay aware of why the search is important, and give the sort of people who are most comfortable on the frontiers a place to go.
The fact that humanity currently the world's biggest potential threat to humanity doesn't make it any less urgent to me that we keep pushing out into the void.