I'll give NPR this much: last week for the twentieth anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, they actually talked to some Iraqis. The results, no doubt carefully managed, were mild-mannered to the point of absurdity, but at least some of our victims were allowed to talk about their trauma on a major news program. I noticed that Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep slipped in a segment on Ukraine and called it "this war in Iraq." Someone's conscience tripping him up?
But that was then, and this is now. Morning Edition is back to its usual antics this week. And in keeping with tradition, they're covering another astronomical non-event, a five-planet alignment involving "Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and Mars [that] will dazzle us earthlings this week." Really? Uranus is barely visible to the naked human eye at best, as the story admits toward the end.
Still, they've toned it down a little compared to the recent Venus-Jupiter conjunction, the "little nighttime kiss," the "celestial dance" that had astronomers and science journalists drooling. This time it's a "planetary parade." Not a planetary daisy chain? Not an orgy? These guys aren't trying hard enough. The story quotes an astrophysicist, one Jackie Faherty, who gushes:
I want people to want to go outside and look up. I want people to be excited about looking up at the stars and planets. Right now what's happening is something that you might not realize does happen quite a bit, which is the planets are up a lot. This is not a particularly rare event, but it is an event that you should celebrate and you should want to go outside and look at.
Not much to excite the rabble there. You've gotta sex it up some more, y'know? An astronomical menage a cinq, maybe. Surely the professionals of NPR can do better. It's Pledge Week, so earn your money!
