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Every single time India does something in Space, the bigots come out from the woodwork: but India is so poor! Let them solve poverty/hunger/education/water/toil

Every single time India does something in Space, the bigots come out from the woodwork: but India is so poor! Let them solve poverty/hunger/education/water/toilets/ice-cream first, and then worry about space. When JFK pledged to put a man on the moon in 1961, the US did not even have the Civil Rights Act[1]. Millions of blacks lived in poverty, and were denied basic rights. Schools were segregated. In large areas of the South, blacks were denied the right to vote. There were lynchings. People were being killed just for demanding the right to vote. And Vietnam War was picking up steam. And you know what? The US still said that getting a man on the moon amidst all this was a worthwhile goal. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

pavs 13y ago
I don't think most of them are intentionally bigoted they are most likely poorly informed.
UweSchmidt 13y ago
Could you state your argument more precisely, please? The original argument would be "don't do Space, solve povery/hunger/education...". You point out that "poverty/hunger/education..." have improved despite Space. This does only partly contradict the original argument, since there are plenty of severe and urgent problems today, including some of those from the 1961. Additionally, can you explain the usage of the word "bigot"? Seems harsh.
- discardorama 13y ago
  > You point out that "poverty/hunger/education..." have improved despite Space. I did no such thing. I'm saying that you can't wait to solve all problems before you take on space exploration. They are not mutually exclusive. One can do space exploration while simultaneously working to alleviate poverty/hunger/illiteracy/etc. The example of the US in 1961 was meant to illustrate that: the US was fighting a war in Vietnam, a massive Civil Rights movement at home, and still managed to put a man on the moon.
  - UweSchmidt 13y ago
    Fair enough. All nations have budgets for a multitude of programs and can work simultaneously on different goals. Obviously, they all draw from a single ressource, money, and therefore priorties have to be weighted carefully. Overall I'm not getting many good arguments on how to handle this except "Why, things have improved, haven't they? Give me Star Trek" and "Bigots!". I suspect that this is because Space fans are on average less affected by the above mentioned acute problems, more likely to benefit professionally from investment in space programs, and generally appreciate the nature of space missions: A difficult task, but with a clear solution through engineering.
    - discardorama 13y ago
      You're making strawman arguments. I'm no space fan; I'm just a fan of science and tech. I believe that a country the size of India can multitask: it can work on alleviating poverty/hunger/etc. while at the same time spending a little bit on space exploration. In fact, name any space-exploring country, and I can point out some social ill that money could be solving.

pavs 13y ago

I don't think most of them are intentionally bigoted they are most likely poorly informed.

UweSchmidt 13y ago

Could you state your argument more precisely, please? The original argument would be "don't do Space, solve povery/hunger/education...". You point out that "poverty/hunger/education..." have improved despite Space. This does only partly contradict the original argument, since there are plenty of severe and urgent problems today, including some of those from the 1961. Additionally, can you explain the usage of the word "bigot"? Seems harsh.

discardorama 13y ago
> You point out that "poverty/hunger/education..." have improved despite Space. I did no such thing. I'm saying that you can't wait to solve all problems before you take on space exploration. They are not mutually exclusive. One can do space exploration while simultaneously working to alleviate poverty/hunger/illiteracy/etc. The example of the US in 1961 was meant to illustrate that: the US was fighting a war in Vietnam, a massive Civil Rights movement at home, and still managed to put a man on the moon.
- UweSchmidt 13y ago
  Fair enough. All nations have budgets for a multitude of programs and can work simultaneously on different goals. Obviously, they all draw from a single ressource, money, and therefore priorties have to be weighted carefully. Overall I'm not getting many good arguments on how to handle this except "Why, things have improved, haven't they? Give me Star Trek" and "Bigots!". I suspect that this is because Space fans are on average less affected by the above mentioned acute problems, more likely to benefit professionally from investment in space programs, and generally appreciate the nature of space missions: A difficult task, but with a clear solution through engineering.
  - discardorama 13y ago
    You're making strawman arguments. I'm no space fan; I'm just a fan of science and tech. I believe that a country the size of India can multitask: it can work on alleviating poverty/hunger/etc. while at the same time spending a little bit on space exploration. In fact, name any space-exploring country, and I can point out some social ill that money could be solving.