Comments on: McCain: Planetariums are Foolish (UPDATED)

By: Repost: McCain’s planetariophobia | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:11:20 +0000

[...] to that effect. You can also get opinions all over the place: Universe Today, SpaceWriter, Davin Flateau, Discovery Space, Wonkette, the Chicago Tribune, even [...]

By: Jewell

Jewell — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:28:46 +0000

To those who are so concerned about the money for the planetarium- forget about it! It didn’t get funded anyway, so that senile old fool they call McCain is complaining for no reason. But I do feel our government should spend more money on science and education. I retired from the military, and during my time I saw an awful lot of waste- and I’m not talking just a few thousand. So I would much rather see that money spent on a planetarium than to see it get totally wasted on something that either isn’t going to get used, or will only benefit a few.
As for Bud, if you think planetariums are only about light shows- well, I guess you just aren’t interested in science. Perhaps spending big money to watch overpaid athletes is more your speed!

By: Grant

Grant — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:10:14 +0000

I don’t know if I can call myself a “lifelong planetarian,” but I did volunteer at the South Florida Science Museum’s planetarium in my misspent youth. It ignited a lifelong interest in science.

And now, after seeing your blog among those picked up by Yahoo News, I was inspired to start something on Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/126719

Mad Scientists. It may help raise awareness. By funding ORBITING SPACE LASERS for the greater glory of America’s oldest planetarium. Or at least get people thinking about them!

By: Bud

Bud — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:14:59 +0000

You people are all off of your logical rockers. Planetariums may be entertaining, but they are completely unnecessary for education. They don’t make kids better at math, to respond to that idiotic comment. 3 million dollars to have a movie-theater version of something they could learn in a book? Yes, because ooh-ing and ahh-ing over flashy lights is what will help us beat the Chinese, eh?

By: snafubar

snafubar — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:18:04 +0000

I have a member of my family who is in her late 40′s. She never went to college, but she did get good enough grades in Catholic school that she could have gone to just about any one she wanted to, and her family had the money to send her there. She has two brothers who both obtained PhD’s, and one has worked at one of the National Laboraties. This cousin, however, said to me in the last few months “Do you really believe that scientists know why the sun stays up in the sky? Scientists only know what God wants them to know, when he wants them to know it”

See the logic? We don’t really need to learn anything of our own initiative, because God, in his infinite wisdom, only imparts knowledge upon humanity when God feels it is appropriate. After all, if God had allowed Louis Pasteur to discover the germ theory of disease and Joseph Lister to discover how to kill those germs before the great Plague, how would God have taught all those sinners what their sins wrought upon themselves?

See? Knowing how to make soap before your time makes God angry.

So a planetarium is a place that should not be funded if God doesn’t want it to be funded….

My cousin is not unique. And yet there she is, living comfortably and benefiting from all the benefits that modern science bring to her life, all the while believing that science as a human endeavor is not only pointless, but impossible. Humans with investigative spirit and a quest for knowlege did not learn anything on their own, they were only empty vessels for God to choose at His whim to tell us what God has know since time immortal but kept a secret for His own purposes.

And if we have people who are allowed to vote in this country that can maintain that kind of cognitive dissonance and be perfectly content not understanding the hypocrisy in their thinking, we should not be surprised by Sarah Palin, or the fact that a bridge to knowwhere that cost $212 million and served less than 60 people can be justified while a planetarium request for $3 million that would serve thousands of people each year can be considered “an overhead projector” and a waste of our taxpayers hard earned money.

Interesting how Republicans all say that we need to have the most highly educated and technically adept citizens to remain competitive in a global economy, but whenever it comes to providing the support to make those claims a reality, somehow the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality takes precedence.

I have been to the Adler planetarium, and I can say that money spent to open the minds and inspire the adventure and creativity of our citizens is money well spent for the benefit of all of us.

By: Edward

Edward — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:59:45 +0000

Whether you’re ‘pro-planetarium’ or ‘anti-planetarium’ is irrelevant.

The point is: it’s a use of federal money to benefit a single state at a time when the country cannot afford it.

Moreover, this is not something the federal government should be funding. Read Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

If Illinois has extra cash they would like to spend right now, please do. The federal government does not. I do not, and I don’t live in IL. And the Senate is not your personal playground for pet projects in your state.

This goes for planetariums…and any other state projects you can think of. Science is irrelevant in this argument.

By: ccpetersen

ccpetersen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:53:58 +0000

Good article Davin! Don’t let them mess with the planetarium!

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:04:16 +0000

Poor “Mike in NY”, not many people are agreeing with your opinion and for good reason. I typically don’t post to forums, but your comment just knocked me over. I agree with Marine, it’s the Bush’s, McCain’s, Palin’s, and “Mike in NY”‘s of this world that keeps our country set back. It’s really time for change! And this comment “Inexperienced moron”… come on now, drop the inexperienced part and call it what you are “Mike in NY”.

By: gabe

gabe — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:02:51 +0000

Now I understand why science in the U.S. has been fueled by the contributions of foreigners working in U.S. universities in more recent times. And I also understand where are the brightest Americans nowadays; creating the “financial engineering marvels” (a.k.a “weapons of mass destruction”) that now threatens not only the U.S. economy but that of the world… thanks, McPain!

By: Randy

Randy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:51:13 +0000

Sure, planetariums are great. So are aquariums, libraries, parks, and anything which inspires use to greater understanding of the universe around us.
But it is foolishness for the federal government to fund such things. The resposibility for education lies squarely on the shoulders of state and local governments. We don’t live in a centrally planned socialist state where the national government decides what we should know and then provides the resources. Our system of government is designed to allow the greatest degree of freedom for individuals, and state/local governments. Federal dollars means federal mandates/restrictions; there is no free lunch. I’m sure the state of Illinois, the surrounding counties and cities, as well as those who have been inspired by a visit to the Adler Planetarium could easily and would happily fund the new projector.
That is the point. With thousands of requests like these funded through the federal budget, it will continue to swell out of control.
The remarks were not a cut at science or education, but a cut at the foolishness of the federal government attempting to fill all needs for all people. We have a constitution. Most people heven’t read it since high school, but we should all probably check it out once in a while. We have limited the Federal Governments authority for a very important reason.

P.S.: Laurie, please do some reasearch outside of your current sources. The urban myths you repeat concerning Sarah Palin are a complete fabrication of a few propagandists. Even the major network news sources have called them such.