The Sixth Estate

Well, not really. Actually Newt Gingrich is a corrupt, overly ambitious, unexpectedly arrogant candidate. The fact that he is still seriously in the running for the Republican ticket is evidence of how pathetic a spectacle American corporatist politics has become. But I cannot stress how much more pathethic has been the public response to Newt’s surprise proposal to establish a permanent moon base within the next ten years.

The response has been uniformly negative, not just in the United States but here in Canada as well, where the media is for some reason paying unusual attention — this piece in the Windsor Star is typical, both of the generally derisive tone taken by the sage pundits who tell us what to think as well as of their appalling ignorance. The author, Karen Hall, tries valiantly to impress us with her ability to recite facts about the Moon from Wikipedia or some similar online source. I’m not impressed, Karen, but nice try.

The thing of it is, Newt’s right. Humanity has to establish a permanent base on the Moon. If we don’t, we will certainly go extinct. Not because the Moon is particularly special. It’s not. But it’s the first step, and sooner or later, we do have to find ways to live on other rocks. Earth’s lifespan is limited, and getting progressively more so the longer we keep our climate change policy in the hands of religious fundamentalists and uninformed athlete-celebrities like Nancy Greene Rain, an ignorant dunce whose alleged skiing prowess apparently supercedes her appalling stupidity when it comes to qualifying her for the Senate.

Of course, there is something to be said for not rushing into a trillion-dollar venture, and into solving some of our problems here at home. But it’s worth pointing out that in just fifty years, we’ve gone from imagining a future in space for humanity in the wake of successful moon landings, to hooting in derision at the very idea of going to the Moon at all. This rapid shrinking of vision does not bode well for humanity.