4 ms·

The moon landings are historically seen through an almost exclusively middle class, white eye. The "magnitude" was definitely reduced if you were poor and/or bl

The moon landings are historically seen through an almost exclusively middle class, white eye. The "magnitude" was definitely reduced if you were poor and/or black. The "magnitude" of the US Space Shuttle program was definitely reduced for me even as a white kid; I got to watch the shuttle launch on a TV rolled into the classroom, and then go right back to reading my mangled, outdated science textbook, watching my teacher write on a chalkboard with chalk he had to purchase himself because our school district apparently couldn't afford to buy enough, because it was more important that we have more, and better, nuclear bombs and missiles to transport them than Russia. We went to the moon. The rest of the world did things like set up universal healthcare for its citizens, build housing, non-punitive criminal justice systems, public transit, etc.

drstewart 3y ago
> The rest of the world Can you define that a bit more before I ask further questions?
erupt7893 3y ago
So you believe if there was no moon program then we would magically have universal healthcare, housing, non-punitive criminal justice systems. Very ignorant take
- Podgajski 3y ago
  If people had more humanity, they would be focusing on getting universal healthcare housing, and a non-punitive justice system before we focus things like putting a few humans on a rock in space. Why is it that the most difficult things to do are the most caring things?
  - DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
    https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/why-explore-space https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/why-explore-space
    - Podgajski 3y ago
      “Why everyone needs a vacuum”written by a vacuum cleaner salesman. That letter was written over 50 years ago, and we still have homelessness. We still have poverty, people are still starving, we still have idiotic, ideological wars, and separation of wealth. So when’s the return on the investment going to actually happen?
      - DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
        > So when’s the return on the investment going to actually happen? It already did many times over what it cost. And continues to deliver.
  - fallingknife 3y ago
    I lived in SF for 5 years. I'll go ahead and stick with the punitive justice system, thanks.
imetatroll 3y ago
Ow wow. I had no idea space or for that matter science did not exist for non-white people. Fascinating.
- DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
  Yup. We basically lose all our melanin on the day that we accept a job offer in the space industry.
adamsb6 3y ago
I grew up poor and in an underfunded school system as well. The ever-present reminder of this was buckets collecting drips from leaks in roofs. At one point in high school we exhausted our paper budget. Some teachers were able to locate a bunch of dot-matrix tractor-fed printer paper in a supply room and so we students helped to separate the perforations so we could have individual sheets of paper. That school was publicly, though poorly, funded. I also had Pell grants for college, subsidized medical insurance, a free bus pass, an apartment made affordable through adequate supply of housing, a criminal justice system that has so far protected me from violence. I have no chips on my shoulder from any deprivation, and appreciate everything that helped me to get where I am today, which I don't think would have been possible anywhere else in the world.

drstewart 3y ago

> The rest of the world Can you define that a bit more before I ask further questions?

erupt7893 3y ago

So you believe if there was no moon program then we would magically have universal healthcare, housing, non-punitive criminal justice systems. Very ignorant take

Podgajski 3y ago
If people had more humanity, they would be focusing on getting universal healthcare housing, and a non-punitive justice system before we focus things like putting a few humans on a rock in space. Why is it that the most difficult things to do are the most caring things?
- DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
  https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/why-explore-space https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/why-explore-space
  - Podgajski 3y ago
    “Why everyone needs a vacuum”written by a vacuum cleaner salesman. That letter was written over 50 years ago, and we still have homelessness. We still have poverty, people are still starving, we still have idiotic, ideological wars, and separation of wealth. So when’s the return on the investment going to actually happen?
    - DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
      > So when’s the return on the investment going to actually happen? It already did many times over what it cost. And continues to deliver.
- fallingknife 3y ago
  I lived in SF for 5 years. I'll go ahead and stick with the punitive justice system, thanks.

imetatroll 3y ago

Ow wow. I had no idea space or for that matter science did not exist for non-white people. Fascinating.

DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
Yup. We basically lose all our melanin on the day that we accept a job offer in the space industry.

adamsb6 3y ago

I grew up poor and in an underfunded school system as well. The ever-present reminder of this was buckets collecting drips from leaks in roofs. At one point in high school we exhausted our paper budget. Some teachers were able to locate a bunch of dot-matrix tractor-fed printer paper in a supply room and so we students helped to separate the perforations so we could have individual sheets of paper. That school was publicly, though poorly, funded. I also had Pell grants for college, subsidized medical insurance, a free bus pass, an apartment made affordable through adequate supply of housing, a criminal justice system that has so far protected me from violence. I have no chips on my shoulder from any deprivation, and appreciate everything that helped me to get where I am today, which I don't think would have been possible anywhere else in the world.