-President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs," 1961I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
Now before I start, I'd like to mention that this may or may not make me sound like I'm scientifically illiterate, or I oppose the advancement of scientific achievements. So sorry if I piss any of you off
.Now look, I love space. Ever since I was 7, I read tons and tons of books about space (although I probably had a hard time understanding some of them). I always watched the documentaries on the Science Channel about space. I even begged my parents to take me to the Museum of Natural History over here in New York just to go to the Planetarium. I am still fascinated with space, and I'm sure most people here would concur with me about that; we know almost nothing about it and our curiosity is always craving more.
Anyways, with that gay-ass intro out of the way, I can start.
Guys, I've been thinking, is there really any reason to be going to space? I frankly have not seen humanity reap any benefits of going to space. I mean, y'know, I'm all for studying space, as that can provide us with consequential benefits, such as studying things that happen on other planets before they happen on Earth (e.g. greenhouse gasses on Venus).
Like, yeah, we're gonna go to Mars and have a reality show there by 2020. But . . . what exactly are we gonna get out of that? It'll be interesting, sure, and provide us with tonsa entertainment, but I fail to see the purpose of going there, cost-benefit wise. Will we be taking resources that are becoming scarce here on Earth that we need? (No, of course not). Will we be colonizing the planet? (Of course not, that would take even more money, and is probably not even practical). I'm skeptical that it'll be economically cost-effective too, but I'm not too sure about that front.
I also have a particular beef when Murka went to the Meoon. I'm still wondering to myself to this day if we should have even bothered with it. I mean, I have a great fondness for the USA, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna call out it's bullshit when I see it.
During the Space Race about half a century ago, the Soviets were kickin' America's ass with their accomplishments; putting the first satellite into space, putting the first person in space. They were breaking America's balls to the point that they said that they're gonna outdo them in the most awesome thing ever.
President Kennedy persuaded the American public to support their exhibition to the moon in his 1962 speech "We Choose To Go To The Moon." Although Kennedy was assassinated before his dream goal for the country came to be, they managed to get there during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 during Nixon's presidency (make of that as you will).
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand what exactly did we get out of it? I am convinced that most American citizens, scientists, and leaders barely gave a fuck about going to the moon in the first place; they just didn't want the Soviets to beat them again, and at such a huge feet. Just a vanity project, put bluntly. (Immaturely, I like to think of it as a dick measuring contest)
"Sure, you commies beat us at putting a satellite in space and the first man in space, we'll give you that. But we are so fucking hardcore that we put a man on the fucking moon! Yeah, how do ya like that ya pinko cocksuckers!?"
But going to the moon has since been forgotten about. Seriously, when the hell was the last time we've been there? 1972? I think this further proves my point that we barely gave a fuck about going to the moon in the first place. It's like "Alright we did that, and it was kinda good. Now let's go to Mars."
Now look, although I find our trip to the moon to be quite useless (from a utilitarian perspective), I still respect it as a great scientific achievement, not by The United States, but by mankind. If we just worked together on all of this, instead of being separated by country, I think we could've been to the moon five years earlier; but no, we just cared about being first.
Now there is an argument that some people make, such as there being new homes that we can move to, which I do have various issues with, but I'll address those arguments at a later time.
So what do you think? Am I wrong that going to space is useless? Let me know, since I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong on this, since it's an issue that fucks with my emotions about space.
