Tragedy Porn

The local NBC station here will be covering the return of the Space Shuttle from the ISS. I am one of the people who sees the space program as a legitimate public expense...and I'll not get into that here, but suffice it to say that I'm a space shuttle fan and I am glad when more people pay attention to space exploration. It's a science literacy thing. But I'm not happy about this particular bit of coverage. You see, with the space shuttle's recent troubles--including problems with the thermal shielding that protects it during reentry: the cause of Columbia's destruction--I have the sneaking and troubling suspicion that the interest isn't in the return of the shuttle so much as the possibility that it will explode.

In this weird way people in the US, especially in the last few decades, kind of like to feel like the victims of tragedy. Witness the legions of Christians that claim that they are persecuted in this country (85% Christian though it is). There is a mix of anxiety and anticipation in something like the shuttle return because teeny tiny pieces of the American psyche kind of want to see it blow up. It's not just a predilection for the morbid, it is the jones for tragedy. And that's sick, but so are we.

LATER--Why LA is great (hint: because it's not) and what Origen of Alexandria and Basil of Caesarea have to do with modern political discourse.