3 ms·

How is it racist? Is "whitey" a slur? Or perhaps a poem written in 1969 highlighting that obvious fact that Apollo astronauts were all white is the real racism?

• yesco 3y ago
  The moon landing transcends race, it inspired people, humans, worldwide. This poem diminishes it into some white exclusive eccentricity. Sure, perhaps a black person should have been among the first involved, I can certainly get behind that criticism. But that's not what the poem critiques, and it's not what activists who protested the moon landing asked for either. So yes it's racist, the real kind.
  • sangnoir 3y ago
    > The moon landing transcends race Perhaps aspirationally, but empirically, the Apollo program did not transcend race. It's not racist to call out racism - the "He who smelt it, dealt it" defense is intellectually lazy. > But that's not what the poem critiques, I don't see how you can say that, when the poem is literally titled "Whitey on the Moon". One would have to assume the decision to highlight whiteness was deliberate - it easily could have been "Neil on the Moon" or "Man on the Moon" if the author/perfomer so desired.
    • yesco 3y ago
      > Perhaps aspirationally, but empirically, the Apollo program did not transcend race. It's not racist to call out racism You are wrong. I'm unwilling to debate this fact with you, or even discuss the matter any further frankly, I have made my position clear. Your interpretation of the poem shows a clear lack of understanding on the historical context surrounding it.