Correcting Historical Screw-ups. (IRL)

[Augustulus91]

The leading news agency of my country, once spoke in a minor article about two Russian astronauts. After which I politely send them an email to inform them that they are called cosmonauts.

Okay, I guess it's a minor mistake, but I still defend the opinion that published articles of any kind should follow strict grammar and spelling rules. Otherwise, what's the use of official language? In my opinion it's more about professionalism and principles, than the mistake itself.

About the flow of the current article, the reality (which saddens me) is that you can perfectly live your life with total wrong conclusions about history, geography, biology, ... People have the choice and the option to watch jersey shore, kardashians ... which is fine by me, it's only sad that most people only watch this kind of entertainment tv (distorting their world views). How i have laughed with Snooky's view that the ocean is salty because of the whales, hilarious!

The sad thing about today is, that there is actually more money in media if you give people dumbed down, zero-content stuff. People don't need to challenge their brain, and honestly, it's exhausting to challenge your brain, discuss stuff, which is why (in contrast to most people who play ksp, or are active on this forum), the majority of many nations don't know, and even don't care about the correct history, correct geography. So to compare regional knowledge levels is not so useful, everywhere there are people uninterested in the truth.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Augustulus91

[bigdad84]

It just amazes me on how un-informed the average person is on space and spaceflight in general.

[rkman]

It said, in no uncertain terms, that the United States instigated the Mexican-American War to force Mexico to cede territory. That's hugely biased against the US; it ignores the existing tension between the US and Mexico and the many diplomatic incidents actually caused by Mexico. It plays into the ultra-cynical image of the United States a lot of people have today, and I think it's very inappropriate for a museum to encourage that--least of all on Ellis Island!

The cynical image that says the US government thinks just about anything is justification for war?

Really, "diplomatic incidents caused by Mexico" (assuming that's true) is good reason to take some Mexican territory?

Maybe it's just me but i think this (and the OP) is not a 'general KSP topic', and i seem to recall there is a forum rule about not discussing politics.

[Tiron]

The cynical image that says the US government thinks just about anything is justification for war?

Really, "diplomatic incidents caused by Mexico" (assuming that's true) is good reason to take some Mexican territory?

Going to war for territory under a flimsy excuse (or none) isn't soley an American thing. The whole idea that it wasn't an acceptable thing to do didn't pop up until the 20th Century, and didn't really get to where it was widely considered unacceptable until the LATE 20th Century. It was the norm in most parts of the world for thousands of years.

[rpayne88]

The cynical image that says the US government thinks just about anything is justification for war?

Really, "diplomatic incidents caused by Mexico" (assuming that's true) is good reason to take some Mexican territory?

Maybe it's just me but i think this (and the OP) is not a 'general KSP topic', and i seem to recall there is a forum rule about not discussing politics.

The intent was not to turn this into a political thread. The intent was to see how often the media makes simple historical mistakes. I already knew the Hornet was involved in WWII. I also knew Hornet picked up Apollo XI. That is an obvious historical fact. I was not intending to start a thread on the politics of WWII.

[Mercy]

It just amazes me on how un-informed the average person is on space and spaceflight in general.

Because the average person has never been to space, will never go to space and has no interest in space.

I doubt you know a whole lot about say, marine biology, but I doubt people who do have an interest in that sit and grumble about how uninformed you are, because the chances are it's things irrelevant to your life, thus you have no reason to know about it.

[Kerbart]

The leading news agency of my country, once spoke in a minor article about two Russian astronauts. After which I politely send them an email to inform them that they are called cosmonauts.

Okay, I guess it's a minor mistake, but I still defend the opinion that published articles of any kind should follow strict grammar and spelling rules. Otherwise, what's the use of official language? In my opinion it's more about professionalism and principles, than the mistake itself.

Meh, semantics One can argue that in your country the general term for "people who go to space" (aside from "reckless idiots") is "astronaut". The Dutch term for airplane is (translated to English) "flying gear", so should you write to your newspaper when they're talking about a "Fokker airplane" when it should be a "Fokker flying gear" because that's how they're called over there? I know I'm reaching a bit with this example, but in the end "astronaut" is a term everyone understands and it does describe them (apart from the part of not reaching the stars. But that applies to the American ones just as much).

The sad thing about today is, that there is actually more money in media if you give people dumbed down, zero-content stuff. People don't need to challenge their brain, and honestly, it's exhausting to challenge your brain, discuss stuff, which is why (in contrast to most people who play ksp, or are active on this forum), the majority of many nations don't know, and even don't care about the correct history, correct geography. So to compare regional knowledge levels is not so useful, everywhere there are people uninterested in the truth.

Well yes, as long as news and tv-shows are produced in a commercial environment, that is where the investments tend to go. If you're writing for a large audience then you tend to aim for 95% of your public understanding what you write. It's not rocket science (although that shouldn't be a problem at this forum! ) that it automatically means you're writing for the lower 5% percentile. And lets just say that it seems to be coming natural for journalists to do just that.

Also keep in mind that the editorial staff of the average newspaper/magazine/tv show is not a specialist staff, but rather a whole bunch of generalists with some vague ("science", "sports", "politics") specializations at best. The guy writing about ISS today will do a special on growing spinach in tropical environments tomorrow, and an article on raising gerbils (Gerbils! NOT Kerbals!) the day after. It's always good to read an article on a subject you're intimate with in a periodical; it's a good reminder how much BS is written in the articles of subjects you don't know about.

[Tiron]

The intent was not to turn this into a political thread. The intent was to see how often the media makes simple historical mistakes. I already knew the Hornet was involved in WWII. I also knew Hornet picked up Apollo XI. That is an obvious historical fact. I was not intending to start a thread on the politics of WWII.

But did you know it was named 'USS Kearsarge' originally, but was renamed 'USS Hornet' after the previous one before Launch?

[rpayne88]

Because the average person has never been to space, will never go to space and has no interest in space.

I doubt you know a whole lot about say, marine biology, but I doubt people who do have an interest in that sit and grumble about how uninformed you are, because the chances are it's things irrelevant to your life, thus you have no reason to know about it.

If only they knew how much of their lives were influenced by space. As just one example, some people can't find their way around the block with out a GPS. And GPS, as we all know, is satellite based.

[Mercy]

If only they knew how much of their lives were influenced by space. As just one example, some people can't find their way around the block with out a GPS. And GPS, as we all know, is satellite based.

People that can't find their way around the streets aren't average. They're stupid.

Disregarding that, "space" in itself doesn't really affect it. Just because a satellite their device uses is in a basic orbit doesn't mean they need to know about all things space related.

For example, to go back to my marine biology analogy, just because a person may enjoy eating fish does not mean they have to be able to name every species in the Selachimorpha clade.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Mercy

[UNSC]

Only in KSP can a thread like this not turn into a pointless argument in which people yell at each other like the youtube comment section. This truly is a great community.

[razark]

There were actually 2 different ships, both called Hornet, involved in WW2.

What are you talking about? It's the Hornet! How could they make sense of it if they go around reusing names?

Do you think 90% of the people could name a single US carrier from WWII? And of those that can, how many would mention CV-6? (And how many of those would be thinking of CVN-65, anyway?) I just don't expect many people to care about history. As for people knowing about spaceflight or spaceflight history, most of the people working in my office couldn't tell you much beyond Armstrong and Apollo 11.

[deadshot462]

Some movies/shows set in the future show people going back to the Moon next to the original Apollo landing sites, where they show the LEM ascent stage still on the ground. I guess Neil and Buzz used their jetpacks to go home.

Transformers 3

Men in Black 3

Futurama

[Flixxbeatz]

Only in KSP can a thread like this not turn into a pointless argument in which people yell at each other like the youtube comment section. This truly is a great community.

As long as nobody drags in MechJeb that "M" word in the topic and/or somebody intentionally derails it.

And speaking of hornets...

[Mercy]

As long as nobody drags in MechJeb that "M" word in the topic and/or somebody intentionally derails it.

Why would you even mention it at all then?

[Flixxbeatz]

Why would you even mention it at all then?

Because hornets kidding.

Why you didn't noticed that I played it for laughs? Why so serious?

[Gargamel]

It...it took me a depressing amount of time to figure out what XI was.

I know my roman numerals quite well, but I have enough whiskey this AM (I'm a third shifter, back off!) that I read that as 21. I was wondering why nobody was up in arms about that!

And you could possibly classify parts of the Apollo landing missions as space stations........

[Tiron]

Because hornets kidding.

Why you didn't noticed that I played it for laughs? Why so serious?

Because he's stop having fun guy.

[Kerbart]

If only they knew how much of their lives were influenced by space. As just one example, some people can't find their way around the block with out a GPS. And GPS, as we all know, is satellite based.

Pray tell me, how much do you know about farming? It's pretty essential to your life.

[rdfox]

Some movies/shows set in the future show people going back to the Moon next to the original Apollo landing sites, where they show the LEM ascent stage still on the ground. I guess Neil and Buzz used their jetpacks to go home.

Transformers 3

Men in Black 3

Futurama

In Futurama's defense, the producers were big enough nerds that they knew that the LM ascent stage didn't stay on the moon, and included a label explaining its presence in the episode, as seen here:

[Dravin]

Because the average person has never been to space, will never go to space and has no interest in space.

I doubt you know a whole lot about say, marine biology, but I doubt people who do have an interest in that sit and grumble about how uninformed you are, because the chances are it's things irrelevant to your life, thus you have no reason to know about it.

They probably do, geologist, at least geologist students, do it. I think by and large most groups with specialized knowledge and/or experience tend to have their whinging sessions about ignorance concerning their field. It is worth pointing out from time to time that to someone else you're, that's a generic you, the ignorant one who says silly things or at least thinks some silly things.

[Monkeh]

Even the Moon is not in a stable orbit, but that has more to do with tidal forces.

Now I thought that was due to the 'Big Whack'. It's been moving away from Earth ever since it smashed into us and was formed from the orbiting debris. Something about the size of Mars iirc. This is why the Moon is made up of incredibly similar stuff to our own mantle, because it IS our own mantle.

[Motokid600]

It just amazes me on how un-informed the average person is on space and spaceflight in general.

Most people don't even know you can see the Moon during the day. No one looks up anymore.

[Moon Goddess]

Most people don't even know you can see the Moon during the day. No one looks up anymore.

I hate to even say anything negative about her, but I encountered this very thing from my own girlfriend a few weeks ago, she was stunned and confused that the crescent moon was setting only a few hours after sunset. Thinking it always rose and set in sync with the sun.

Overall this thread makes me sad for humanity how people just don't want to learn. Learning excites me, it makes me happy, it seems to most people it's a chore.

[Drunkrobot]

Reminds me of the story of the Heavy Boots.

Briefly, a bunch of college kids were asked what would happen if you dropped an item while standing on the moon. The choices were: 1. It would just float 2. It would fall to the ground. and 3. It would float away. The most popular answer was #1. When confronted with evidence of men walking around on the surface, and asked why they didn't just float away, the most frequent response given was that the astronauts were wearing heavy boots.

WHAT!? How old were they? I'm 16, and I would punch someone in the face if they said something that stupid!

I realise that you could get by in life without an intricate knowledge of physics, but Jesus Christ, you should have an understanding of the universe more advanced than Ptolemy.