Space Shuttle Colombia Lost

#1 I saw the Challenger explode in person, although its sad, I dont feel as much shock about the Columbia. Maybe its because the distance the TV brings, or the fact that it didnt explode into a huge fireball. Just say a prayer and move on - as we did with the Challenger.

#2 Indeed, it is sad... Although more people die every day in car accidents and due to hunger. Where are our priorities?

steve

#3 Car accidents are usually due to stupid people doing stupid things, let the idiots weed themselves out. The only thing bad about that is that sometimes innocent people die. As for hunger, if we would stop sending money overseas, we might be better off here at home. Also BS handout programs need to be cut back to encourage work instead of laziness....But this isnt Yahoo, so I'm not going to rant about politics.

#4 Stephen

I don't think it's a case of deciding a priority. If a friend tells me that someone they knew died in a car crash, I'll feel as much sorrow as the friend who tells me portrays, It's called empathy and has nothing to do with priorities.

When my neighbours cat died I felt sorry for them but a few minutes later I carried on with my life. If my cat had died I would be absolutely miserable and low. I empathise with the shuttle disaster because I personally feel they are doing something I consider honerable and couragess and their deaths were a waste.

I find it hard to empathise with unknown people and unseen faces from thousands of car crashes simply because I'm not exposed to it.

I do take what I think was your point that we'll unfortunately get hundreds of hours of coverage over seven people who are dead but next to nothing for thousands of car crashes each year. The press obviously have their priorities over what they think people want to see but I don't think people are to blame for the press having wrong priorities.

If we were exposed more to the raw brutality of war/death, and not the shoot, fall-over, dead scenes from films where there is always a hero but the kind of footage you only see 30-50 years after the fact, would we be better or would be be desensitised to it all and end up being worse? Difficult one that.

I'm not doing general press bashing but in this modern age of global communications we can hardly be blamed for having wrong priorities when we're only exposed to what we see broadcast. Knowing the statistics and figures of yearly deaths can hardly invoke major emotions even when the figures are horrendous.

I'm not having a go at you Stephen, it's difficult to post your opinion without sounding harsh, this is simply my opinion. Damn text doesn't convey emotions well. :(

Sorry for the off-topic folks.

- Melv.

#5 Speaking with experience with the shuttle, I do believe exposure makes you more sensitive to a tragedy, and yet also "desensitizes" you in a way of helping you move on.

#6 You're right Melv... Empathy is important. And I do feel bad for the families affected.

It's interesting that you say people don't control media priorities. I disagree. The fact that each of us gets glued to the television over such news is exactly why the media outlets pounce on such stories.

So, in a sense it is our priorities.

The point I was trying to make is that, as a society, we focus on trivial events instead of more impacting issues. But, since most media is advertising-based, we're gonna keep getting such sensational coverage of generally unimportant events. Can anyone say Monica Lewinsky(sp?) or O.J. Simpson? :)

steve

#7 Stephen,

Yes, I tend to agree. It's a little twisted that some find news coverage on par with entertainment. The amount of people I spoke to during 'Desert Storm' that asked me, "did I watch last nights coverage of bombing runs?", like it was some kind of video game with no consequences. These are not sick people, not bad people, it's just that they've never been exposed to the absent details such as families destroyed and terrible agony.

I'm not promoting myself onto a higher plateau, I'm as guilty as the rest sometimes. It's hard to be objective about such issues when you're brought up in such a culture. Sometimes you have to choose what you are going to empathise with, sometimes it's the morally wrong choice, but you have to choose otherwise you'd end up unable to function with the weight of the world on your shoulders.

- Melv.

#8 The thing I really hope is that this isn't used as an excuse to cut funding for NASA. NASA uses a lot of money making sure that stuff like this doesn't happen. And, honestly, I think they do a pretty damn good job at it. There are mistakes, there will always be mistakes. It happens. I can't tell you how many times I've looked over a design, and said, "That should work," and my lab partner says, "No problem," and it works, then something hits the fan and we say, "Well shit...I didn't think about that." The same kind of stuff happens everywhere. People are people, and part of progress is mistakes. It really sucks that 7 people and millions of dollars worth of equipment had to get scattered over a few hundred square miles to get progress, but it happens.

Does the media need to cover this like crazy? No, but they will because tragidy sells, and they decide what is, and what isn't a tragidy. Flags should be at half mast, and NASA should be doing a very comprehensive post-mortem on the mission. Instead this will get coverage all day with interviews with teary-eyed family members and idiotic eye-witnesses that say things like, "Welp, we was watchin it an then it went off and blowed up," or something. They'll be tributes and comemerative plates and probably pieces for sale on eBay. (With authentic astronaut DNA!! NO RSERVE!! GURNTEED RADEIO ACTIVE FREE!11)

I guess having done the engineering thing a bit, I see this differently. The public seems to expect perfection from people who are imperfect, who do things that most people don't have the mental capacity to even understand, who expect the unexpected, and constantly push the limits. The crews of the shuttles are the same breed of people. These people push the limit all the time, and though they grieve for their comrads, they all understand.

#9 Word