Do astronauts count more than soldiers?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steinberg/cst-nws-stein03.html

Seven U.S. Marines died in Iraq the other day, which once would have been an earthquake, but barely registered a tremor on our collective consciousness, since it's only a little more than die every day there, in a war that grows ever more absentee and abstract -- except, of course, to those to whom it is hideously present and concrete.

So here is my question: If we can accept those deaths, in the name of whatever intangible thing we're doing there, then why are we so in a knot as to whether the Space Shuttle can abso-positively guarantee that it won't scatter another seven astronauts across South Florida? Why can't we shrug off that risk? Isn't space research worth it? (though I admit, the shuttle seems to mostly haul aloft mice-in-space experiments plucked from an elementary school science fair).

Forty-two thousand Americans died last year in highway accidents, most of them taking their trips for no greater purpose than to go to the store. I'd say if the astronauts want to take the risk, in the name of science, then let them.

[bryant69]

1. We lose more soldiers than we do astronauts

So they are more newsworthy. On the plus side, soldiers dying are more newsworthy than people who die driving to the store (because there are fewer of them).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Ian David]

2. Yes, but they count less than Boyscouts

Because, after all, Boyscouts have to pledge their allegiance to Gawd.

[Dhalgren]

3. If you sent poor, underprivileged, colored folks up in the

shuttle, then no one would care if they were killed. It is really just that simple...

[BiggJawn]

4. Here's the view from the Editor's Desk....

http://www.lafayettejc.com/columns/200507310local_opinion1122787127.shtml


How did cats' taste trump news from Iraq?

By Julie Doll, Journal and Courier

A reader who e-mailed me early this week raised a good question about our news "priorities."

Specifically, she wondered why we put a story about cats' taste buds on Monday's front page, instead of one about an Iraqi suicide bombing that killed 22. In the story about the suicide bomber, she points out, readers learn that two U.S. servicemen also were killed, in separate attacks.

"Are the casualties no longer real news?''

Of course they are, but -- and I don't want to sound cold -- perhaps not as big of news as they were two years ago.

<snip>

If you'd like to sit in on one of our afternoon news meetings and see how we develop the lineup for page 1, give me a call. We would be happy to have you.

Doll, executive editor, can be reached at [phone] or [email protected]

-30-

There you have it. Soldiers die every day, but cats not being able to taste sweets...WELL!!!!

[pitohui]

5. because astronauts are the future

soldiers have always died

astronauts represent our hope for a better world, they are heroes, almost mythic

it isn't that they count more than the guy killed driving to the grocery store but they do have a special place in our dreams

[Johonny]

7. Future?

Astronauts are the past. They represent one brief moment in human history when going into near Earth Orbit was actually of any real interest. Astronauts today are like the greeter at Wallmart. Their job is to be friendly, happy and energetic so you forget that your just about throw your money on a bunch of worthless crap.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Cheap Easy TV Strikes Again

All these networks are wined, dined and 69'd by NASA...who provide all sorts of neat video and access...just what lazy networks love as it's tons of free programming.

Iraq requires journalists...people who will go outside the Green Zone and stop being a stenographer for the Pentagon.

The coporate media is corrupted and has been coward into avoiding reporting about Iraq as they keep hearing that all they broadcast is "negative". To hell with facts and reality, they still try to put lipstick on this pig...and when something bad like this happens, they want it (just like the Rove story) to go away.

Now onto "Intelligent Design" (talk about an oxymoron).