WATER ON MARS – WHAT’S THE BIG FUSS?

It’s time for another episode of things that get so far up my nose, they scratch my medulla oblongata.

I overheard this little snippet on the Ellen Degeneres show – I got a little incensed. So I went to the website, and left a comment (not a blog – a form comment):

“I just overheard Wanda Sykes making derogatory comments about finding water on Mars.
I realize this is just an opinion, but it's an ignorant one.
Bear in mind, I like Wanda Sykes, but these flippant commnentaries show a distinct lack of knowledge, that while they may be crowd-pleasing, are exceedingly detrimental & 1 sided.
Space exploration has contributed mightily to our culture, on so many levels - see this link, http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9811/02/space.medical/index.html. From pacemakers to braces is in the title of the piece.
I for 1 am more than a little sick of the anti-intellectual syndrome that's pervading our country, where snarky commentary is substituted for facts of substance. Or, to quote Harlan Ellison, "No one's entitled to an opinion. They're entitled to an INFORMED opinion."
Yet uninformed opinions seem to be all the rage on the TV these days.
Ms. Sykes is entitled to her UNINFORMED opinion, but she's always struck me as a pretty sharp lady.
No one's perfect, I suppose. (Shaking my head)
I'll be blogging about this at http://biblioblography.blogspot.com, if anyone's interested.

Thanks for your time”

There’s this anti-science undercurrent in our society that’s…frustrating, not to put too fine a point on it. Here’s a group of people who mostly work their asses off to improve our lives, and how do we categorize them? They’re geeks, they can’t seem to match their socks, wear pocket protectors and ‘floods’, or we stereotype them as mad scientists like Dr. Cyclops. And Space Exploration is one of those areas that’s created braces, pacemakers, insulin pumps, I mean there’s a wealth of information culled from just this field alone.
And how do we thank these pioneers. We mock them; making stupid cracks like ‘oh, hey, that’s the kid I beat up in middle-school’ (and anyone who says something like that, well, they were either in the Remedial class, or one of those slack-jawed gits who were good at throwing around pigskin and not much else).

Because let’s face it – as a whole, this country is far too concerned about looks (hey, your grasp of quantum physics is way less important than how good your abs look, right? Feh!), or age (over 30? Hey, get outta the way gramps!), or who won the Superbowl, rather than contributions, or even lives saved.

So next time someone starts snarking off about the Space Program, think about this: how many people in your family wear a pacemaker? Do you know anyone who does? Go look up the stats on that, and get back to me.

But don’t marginalize it, just because you can’t wrap your little mind around a big concept.

That, dear readers, is my nickel’s worth. That and a dollar may not be enough to buy a cup of coffe these days, but it may be food for thought. So masticate it a little.

/autorant off