I heard an amazing speech
by a scientist about the 1950s
and how the Russians beat us
into space with Sputnik and
the first animal, first man, first woman
into space and how far behind
we were. But then President Kennedy
gave an inspirational speech about
Americans being first on the moon
if we untapped our creative power
if we untapped our brain power
whatever the expense, whatever the effort
Americans can be first on the moon
because that's who we are. And it worked! Suddenly everyone
wanted to be a scientist
scientists were sexy and cool
and just like Kennedy said,
we beat the Russians to the moon. Climate change is our new moon
said the scientist, and if we
untap our creative power and
untap our brain power and
spare no effort or expense
we can conquer a great challenge
once again because we are Americans
and this is what Americans do. And the roar of approval from the audience
was so great, for a brief moment
I thought science might be cool again. But then I remembered how different
we were then. Our schools were ranked
best in the world. We didn't have
30% of us waiting for the Rapture.
No one believed science is a conspiracy. No, you can't fix anything in a
democracy with ignorant citizens.
It would take a benevolent autocracy
to change things, which is why
assault rifles and grenade launchers
are flying off the shelves. What is it these warriors plan to do?
Wait for the start of Civil War II.
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