Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ was always a stupid slogan. Trump and his supporters never specify when it was that America was great before, because to name any particular period in the past would be to say that the injustices that existed then, and there would be many, are preferable to what we have now.
But the Trump campaign has now come up with something even stupider. As I have mentioned, I am now on Trump’s email list and it has been a source of endless amusement to see their desperate gambits to get money from me.
But a recent one takes the cake. It says that they are selling hats with the slogan ‘Make Space Great Again’.
So, Donald, when in the past was space great and what made it so? There are absolutely no answers that can be given to those two questions that are not risible.
You can get one of these hats for $35 so that you can walk around advertising to the world that you are a doofus.
Just tell people it’s about the need for social distancing. 😉
LOL! When was space not great?
https://xkcd.com/2124/
Just for once, I think this is unnecessarily uncharitable. I can tell you when space was great -- when men were walking on the moon. When engineers were pulling together and jerry-rigging an airscrubber out of scraps. When kids wanted to grow up to be astronauts, not fucking “Instagram influencers”, whatever the fuck that is. That’s when space was great. Make it like that again? Sure, let’s do it.
Except… that’s not what it means. What it means is, Trump once fast-forwarded through “Aliens” to all the bits where the space marines were being generally badass, and got a tiny little chubby, and is now in a position to openly militarise space. (It’s fairly obviously been militarised on the quiet since pretty much day one -- many of the design criteria for the shuttle were military-based… but I digress.)
So yeah -- as a slogan, it’s fine. But what it means, sucks.
@sonofrojblake,
Yeah, the message really is, “Make space American again!” Which is total crap.
I’d welcome real space exploration, but this is just the posturings of a would-be dictator.
Space used to be great. Really great. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it was, because it’s just not great anymore. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space, back in the good old days.
No apologies to Douglas Adams. I’m not apologizing for anything, until we make space great again. I was sort of a fan of the Hubble constant, and honestly, I’m pretty bummed about what happened. If Trump himself would pay me $35 (cash) to take one of those hats, I would consider it. However, it really needs a brighter color, like the red MAGA hats, so it’ll be easier for people to avoid anyone who wears one. I mean, especially considering how not-great space is now, we need as much warning as we can get, to make sure we can stay away from them.
When was space great? -- A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
To Make Space Great Again, I suggest to let Trump test-drive the Perseverance rover at its destination. Launch is scheduled for 22 July.
An infra red absorbing hat like that is designed to be worn out in the full sun so the space between your ears expands suddenly and greatly.
Space is getting greater by the second, regardless of what people do -- if we interpret ‘great’ to mean huge.
Space is just as great as it always has been and always will be -- if we interpret ‘great’ to mean excellent, cool, rad, etc..
… Spelling “space” correctly in a wide, sparse font does not make you smart. Wearing a hat with that on it even less so.
If someone wanted to engage in space advocacy in the US they’d do better off sending money to The Planetary Society instead. Of course there’s the complicating factor that NASA’s budget is part of the defense budget and not a very large part of it either. It’s the nicer public face they put on bloated, excessive military spending. Successive presidents and Congresses seem to like using the NASA budget to funnel money to pet projects that make statements rather than perform good science.
So all in all it’s a bit more complicated than 4 words on a hat worn by a bunch of willfully ignorant assholes. And that’s exactly why it’s the sort of debate they love to be in the middle of.