Doug's Darkworld

July 20, 1969. The first time human beings walked on the Moon. I was 11 years old, we lived in a split level home in a small subdivision surrounded by farmland, near Crystal Lake, Illinois. It was actually the favorite place I lived as a kid, endless woods and farms and nearby lakes to explore and fish and catch snakes. And I was at the age where I was able to ride out on my bike on my own, it was heaven. Visited a few years back, now it’s strip malls and tract homes forever, such is progress.

And I was old enough to appreciate the first Moon walk, sort of. We watched on a TV in the rec room. Do people have rec rooms any more? The whole family watched, the image was grainy black and white, but it was sent from the Moon! I was filled with pride and excitement! Snort. I did mention I was 11? I was filled with the hope Armstrong would step out and be greeted by something really cool. Aliens, ruins, monsters. Anything! (I was an avid Star Trek and Lost in Space fan.) What did we get? A couple of guys traipsing around in a lifeless, airless, dusty, desert. Boring!

So, while we’re on the topic, a few points. Yes, the astronauts really did walk on the Moon! So so many lines of evidence support this fact. The Moon landings were one of the most well documented events in history, if they had been faked the Russians (among others) would have figured it out in no time. Just for starters, the motion pictures taken on the Moon couldn’t have been faked in the 1960s. The Moon rocks couldn’t be faked now, let alone in the 1960s. I could go on, but it’s all covered here. Basically, not believing in the manned Moon landings is like not believing the Holocaust happened. <insert rolled eyes>

A case that sometimes gets posited is that the space program is a waste of money. Well, yes and no, like a lot of claims, I wonder if the claimant thought it through. Even modest interwebs research shows that spinoffs from NASA research have been hugely beneficial, and impact our lives in positive ways every day. From weather satellites, to cordless vacuums, to Tang, we owe it all to NASA. So, money spent on NASA is a good thing, no brainer, right?

Well, certainly the NASA money spent developing the things we use is money well spent. Still, it’s not all been money spent on things we use. And couldn’t money have been spent on this research without all the terribly expensive manned flight programs? Cordless vacuums would be great for airplanes and submarines, it’s not like it took spacecraft to come up with the idea. It’s like the claim that war is great because it has resulted in all sorts of new technology. While neglecting to mention that this new technology is because during wars governments pour money into research! So maybe they could do that without the war part? Just saying. I’ve also heard that NASA rocket spending was cover for developing ICBMs. That I couldn’t substantiate, and since ICBMs were built before the Moon program even began, seems unlikely. Hell, the plan to nuke the Moon existed before the Apollo Program.

So kudos to all in the Apollo Program, putting men on the Moon in the 1960s was an incredible achievement with the technology of the day. One crew died in the attempt, another barely escaped with their lives. Still, I have to ask, what was the point? To beat the Russians to the Moon of course! Yes, but why was that so important that we spent billions of dollars and risked lives to do so? It wasn’t for science, science was basically tacked onto the Apollo program as an afterthought, it certainly wasn’t the impetus for the program. Everything we did on the Moon, including sample returns, could have been done far cheaper and at no risk to humans by using robotic landers. The fact that the last manned mission to the Moon was 47 years ago pretty much proves that point.

This is where I annoy people, lose readers, and just generally make an ass of myself. Still, the whole purpose of my writing is to make myself think, and hopefully make some people realize that there are different ways of looking at things. I would argue that the manned Moon program was part and parcel of American militarism and imperialism. Like the Star Spangled Banner before sporting events, it was fetishizing American militarism and the Cold War. Flag waving illustrated. Apollo helped normalize ideas of American exceptionalism, imperialism, and infinite government spending to make America “look great.” And like all great propaganda, the people people propagandized not only don’t realize it, they’re proud of it.

Have a great weekend everyone. Like this post? Please share.

Copyright © 2019 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: Buzz Aldrin salutes the first American flag on the Moon. No comment. Credit: NASA. NASA’s photos may be used freely so long as they do not imply endorsement by NASA in any way. I can attest that not only does NASA not endorse Doug’s Darkworld in any way, they are likely not even aware of its existence.)