Sunday, December 30, 2012

2012 Person of the Year

Betty made a strong and impassioned case for the Person of the Year at her site on Friday.



Curiosity should have been Time's person of the year

curiosity

That should have been Time magazine's person of the year: Curiosity, NASA's Mars land rover.

Caption for that photo:



 Again, that should have been the person of the year.

If we lived in a country that cared about science.  If we followed NASA with even 1/10th of the zeal we reserve for 'reality' TV stars.  If we gave a damn not only about the world around us but the galaxy and beyond.

Time could have made a statement, they could have encouraged a national discussion on science.

Instead, they went with an easy and embarrassing choice (Barack).  Just so they could ass kiss?

Probably so.  It's a real shame because we keep hearing how America needs to get better at the sciences.  We keep hearing how the sciences will determine our future -- and they mean our economic future.

But time and again, when the media has a chance to talk about science, they find something else to embrace.

And then they wonder why Americans are not stronger in the sciences?

Why bother if it's so meaningless?

If no one cares, why bother?

The media's going to have to get to work on their own little message and they're going to have to start accepting their part of the blame.

Curiosity should have been Time's person of the year.