How dare you...

[pat]

I am so furious at a poster in dot_cattiness right now I can barely speak.

You're right, you callous, souless, holier-than-thou b*tch, I did not know anyone personally who lost their lives on Columbia. And you're also right, people die every day. That's tragic, I agree.

But this disaster represented more than these seven people. Bus accidents and train accidents happen... they are random acts of fate. Death comes to us all, in one way or another, at some time.

These people *were* different. They choose a difficult and dangerous task -- one which very few people are capable of doing, or even willing to take the risk to do. And they did this not to wage war or for crass commercialism or for their own personal glory, but to further humanity. (Quick... how many of you can name a current astronaut -- other than the seven who died?) And, even more anonymously, working with them were people on the ground (some of whom my husband *does* know) trying to pursue goals beyond themselves and their country. They were reaching for the stars for all of us. And it is not just Americans: I weep for the Israeli astronaut as much for the Americans. And when the Russians lose cosmonauts in space I grieve them, too.

Those who go into space, and those on the ground who make space flight possible, are in so many ways, among the very best and brightest on earth, regardless of nationality. They work the stuff of dreams into amazing reality.

We've been a part of the NASA family for fifteen years, now. I wince when the unmanned missions go awry, because I know the dedication and love put into them. I weep when a shuttle blows apart because I know what it means for those people to have been there.

And I am angry... angry that a nation so quick to eulogize its dead heroes is so slow to fund program improvements that maybe could have made a difference. No one wants to hear about the space program, until there is a failure. No one wants to pay to develop new -- and safer -- generations of vehicles (at a cost roughly equivalent to developing a new toy for the military) but some are more than willing to grandstand after we've lost seven brave souls.

We are not just grieving the death of Rick Husband, Michael Anderson, William McCool, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon, we are grieving our dreams and hopes.

Comments

Re:

[calebbullen.livejournal.com]

It's weird, I'm pretty new to the whole LJ experience and once I find employment will probably spend far less time on it than I am now. heh. But I've noticed a real tendancy for people with like viewpoints to basically get together and agree with one another. I've seen a few threads with people taking a stance more like mine and even dot cattiness'where no one thinks about someone with your point of view. Personally, I don't think a one sided discussion is much of a discussion and tend to only pipe in when multiple viewpoints are hashing things out.

I don't think the Columbia crew were "celebrities" like Ben and Jen. At least they weren't while things were going well. But I do think that the newsmedia in general has made them into celebrities post mortem. This doesn't reflect on NASA but on newsmedia. I really think that a lot of people are reacting to that celebratization far more than they are a loss of hope. I suppose, I'd like to be wrong on that point. And some people have clarified their feelings to a very touching level. Unfortunately, it seems like for every person like you, there are two who would rather take cheap or snarky shots. Which is fine, No one has to explain themselves to me. But a cheap shot does not really indicate empathy.

This whole horrible situation may end up bringing public support back to the space program. Which could be a silver lining for you. I think there's a lot of us who, though not traditionally big NASA supporters, would rather see funding go to that than killing muslims or our comedy of errors missle defense attempts. And certainly we're all thinking about NASA far more now than we were on friday.

Anyway, good luck to you and your husband. It's always interesting to hear a different viewpoint.

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

But a cheap shot does not really indicate empathy.

You just hit the nail on the head. The original poster in dot_cattiness made a very cheap shot with her choice of words. The follow-up comments weren't that we should all mourn the same, but that those who are mourning should be allowed to without others saying they're wrong. If you read the comments, that is what was being pointed out to her, not that she was wrong by not feeling any loss. But that it's not up to her to decide what's appropriate or not.

This has touched me in that I think the space program is worthwhile, and losing not only 7 lives, but another piece of the dream, saddens me. I will not pretend I mourn for the lost 7 the way their family, friends, and co-workers do. Or the way others who didn't know them are. But I will not say it is wrong of others to mourn the way they do, whether it's going to affect them personally or not.

That's been my point the whole time.