EDITORIAL
Apollo anniversary
brings Mars to fore
Twenty-five years ago today. Neil Armstrong set the
first human foot upon the pockmarked surface of the
moon.
Today, astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Colum
bia are conducting experiments to determine how much
gravity is necessary to grow plants in space.
Twenty-five years from now. where will we be?
This is not an easy question to answer. But before we
gel to that, we need to ask ourselves two more important
questions: why should we go there, and who wants to
come if we do?
For some, the exploration of space doesn’t seem to
deserve our attention anymore, now that the Cold War is
ovor and satellites have already given us 500 TV chan
nels and our pick of long-distance telephone providers.
Although many millions of dollars have boon directed
to the space program since the last Apollo mission in
1972. nothing so far has happened to compare with the
achievement, foretold by President Kennedy in 1961. of
"landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely
to Earth." At least not in the eyes of the public.
Maybe there’s a reason for that. NASA has suffered
repeated setbacks since the Challenger disaster of 1986
put a damper on American exploration of space. The
Hubble Spat e Telescope and the Galileo spacecraft have
been hobbled by mechanical and design problems, and
the $42 billion Freedom space station has been hacked
and redesigned so many times it may never get off the
drawing board. As for the Mars Observer? I.ost in space.
Literally.
With NASA having such a dismal track record lately,
it’s hard to imagine why so many people have used the
anniversary of the Apollo landing to clamor for another
mission, this time to Mars.
NASA estimates in 1989 placed the cost of a manned
Mars mission at $400 billion, and the timeline at no less
than 30 years
Alternate plans for a Mars mission may revise the
costs downward. A plan that doesn't include the costly
space station would heln. Manufacturing fuel on Mars,
rather than ferrying it all the wav there and hack, might
also help substantially.
Hut oven then, the costs would be enormous. If the
United States really thinks there is something to be
gained from a manned Mars mission, then it ought to
enlist the help of the rest of the world community,
America's old space nemesis. Russia, has the world's
most powerful rocket, the Hnerglya. It also has by far the
most experience with long-term space missions (sever
al cosmonauts have remained in space for more than a
year). The Europeans and the Japanese have been mak
ing strides in recent years. Why not take advantage?
The Apollo missions wore designed, as much as any
thing else, to increase American prestige in the height of
the Cold War, although science certainly profited as
well.
Hut to pursue Mars on a similar basis — one motivat
ed by national pride, rather than solid scientific justifi
cation — would ho foolish. Cooperation will ease the
financial burdon and increase the chances for success
If we do go to Mars, wo better have a reason. And we
hotter have help.
Oregon Daily
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OPINION
‘Mean people suck’ and here’s why
Lia Saiciccia
£ (I Jut a hra on!" yelled the
l—^guy I had just passed
A while 1 was riding my
hike down the sidewalk.
Hud I done anything to pro
voke this individual? No. Hud 1
been unnei essariiy rude while
passing him? No. even though I
had to ride really slowly behind
him and tall "On your left!"
twice before the girl he was w ith
nudged him and his rollerblades
to the right so 1 could pass
So what did 1 do to deserve his
little commentary-on-wheels?
I wasn’t wearing a bra
Which brings me to an impor
tant point: why do people have
to be unnecessarily unkind to
strangers and yell rude things at
them' Why do people have to be
so mean?
fust like the bumper sticker
savs, mean people suck.
While riding home. I thought
of a million things 1 wanted to say
and do to this guy My first reac
tion was that I d have liked to
slam my fist into his stomach. But
chances are I'd reserve my fists
for bigger battles I'm not a Mean
Person 1 wanted to ask the
woman he was with if she felt
embarrassed to bo in public with
this person. Most of all. 1 wanted
to tell him that I had just gotten
up and (.ailed my friend, who
happened to be crying, and so I
rushed out the door, braless, as
soon us I could, to go comfort her
But instead. I went with the
thoughtful, witty approach: 1
flipped him my middle finger
and rode on.
The phenomenon of mean
ness is widespread and not
exclusively limited to the male
gender. 1 remember one of my
girl "friends" from middle
school used to push me all the
time because 1 was weaker than
she and she could laugh at me
when 1 flew across the room into
the wall.
Mean people are character
ized by uncreative insults and
verbal slams on the physical
appearance of others
Remember the Mean Kids in
elementary school? They would
expend all kinds of energy to
put vou through physical and
emotional pain. And when you
retaliated with a well-thought
out witticism that cut to the lit
tle creep's ego, they would strike
back with a real ringer
"You're fat," for example. Or
perhaps, "shut up, crater face."
Maybe the difference between
boys and girls at that age is that
more often, the girls would be
mean behind your bat k or send
evil little notes while the boys
shouted embarrassing insults at
you in front of the whole school
I was whisked back down
memory lane into the realm of
Mean Kids when that guv veiled
at me to put a bra on. just mind
ing my own business, fueling
good for helping a friend, and
the Bouncing Booh Police have
to come along and rum it all by
telling me what I can and cannot
do with my mammaries
I don't mean to whine. I'm not
going to let one little insult rule
out all future happiness, but I
ask you this What prompts peo
ple to be mean to strangers?
Maybe it's a desire to look
cool in front of your friends.
One of my Emerald co-workers
brings up this anocdote of Mean
ness. At the fragile age of 16, his
shorts were pulled down by a
guy in gym class in front of a
bunch of girls And it wasn't his
moon that faced the girls, either
Did my co-worker do anything
to provoke this Mean Kid' No.
Why do people
have to be
unnecessarily
unkind to strangers
and yell rude things
at them? Why do
people have to be
so mean?
What explanation could there
Ik*' "He was just a dickhead."
1 realize that at one time or
another, we are all mean. One
time I ripped up all of the sweet
birthday and Christmas cards
my mom ever gave me and put
them in a box outside her bed
room door. That was mean. Hut
it had context. Being mean to a
rabidly rude waiter or waitress
has context.
Hut being mean to a stranger
just because you don't like their
looks is not justifiable context
for meanness. We should all be
more mature than that by now
Just because somebody is ugly
or weird-looking or dressed
tackily or homeless or reeking of
patchouli or. goddess forbid,
NOT WEARING A BRA. is not
an excuse to bo mean to them.
Mean People, consider this:
Someday you are going to strike
out at the wrong person You
will say something mean to a
total stranger, and that stranger
will be a force to be reckoned
with. They will mercilessly dish
back something equal or greater
in cruelty. And you know what?
They will be smarter than
you are
Ua Salciccio is an associate
editor for the Emerald
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