by NoelC » Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:56 am
The answers have been well-stated above.
I have come to believe the popularity of the lunar conspiracy theories comes at least in part from this:
In this day and age, most Americans can't set the clock in their now obsolete VCR, fix even the simplest problem with their car, keep their computer running for more than a few months without having to reinstall everything, or frankly do much of anything that requires care, thought, and excellence. The film "Idiocracy" comes to mind. I'm sorry if this hurts to hear. It *should* hurt.
The shocking reality is that as a society in total we're now more "stupid" and "incapable" than ever. We expect to trade ever more worthless money (made of course in the stock market or by "flipping" a house) for goods and services. Goods made elsewhere, and services that never seem to deliver results any more (because the service providers are, tada!, our fellow Americans). It's really no surprise what's happening to the economy.
Thus, in light of our modern surroundings, people today find it hard to believe that folks in the middle of the "low tech" last century could pull it together well enough to go to the moon, walk on it, and come back alive. Especially considering today we have rubber O rings sealing rocket motors, insulation that continues to break off, and shuttles with no capability to fix broken tiles in flight. Hell, we've even canceled the shuttle program without a follow-up plan in place.
"Smart" and "capable" don't come from sitting on our fat asses in front of the HDTV, they come from getting out there, working hard, and DOING things.
In the 1960s people DID things.
It is a sad state of affairs.
-Noel
The answers have been well-stated above.
I have come to believe the popularity of the lunar conspiracy theories comes at least in part from this:
In this day and age, most Americans can't set the clock in their now obsolete VCR, fix even the simplest problem with their car, keep their computer running for more than a few months without having to reinstall everything, or frankly do much of anything that requires care, thought, and [i]excellence[/i]. The film "Idiocracy" comes to mind. I'm sorry if this hurts to hear. It *should* hurt.
The shocking reality is that as a society in total we're now more "stupid" and "incapable" than ever. We expect to trade ever more worthless money (made of course in the stock market or by "flipping" a house) for goods and services. Goods made elsewhere, and services that never seem to deliver results any more (because the service providers are, tada!, our fellow Americans). It's really no surprise what's happening to the economy.
Thus, in light of our modern surroundings, people today find it hard to believe that folks in the middle of the "low tech" last century could pull it together well enough to go to the moon, walk on it, and come back alive. Especially considering today we have rubber O rings sealing rocket motors, insulation that continues to break off, and shuttles with no capability to fix broken tiles in flight. Hell, we've even canceled the shuttle program without a follow-up plan in place.
"Smart" and "capable" don't come from sitting on our fat asses in front of the HDTV, they come from getting out there, working hard, and DOING things.
In the 1960s people DID things.
It is a sad state of affairs.
-Noel