Hmmm.... about this "shuttle" thing.

Isn't it interesting how the shuttle makes the news again? I mean, for a while there I remember hearing a small blurb or reading a minor article in the back of the paper that the shuttle had landed and it always made me think, "The shuttle went up?" Living in Florida, that was odd for me. And for many years I lived in Orlando where you could watch the shuttle launch from my front yard. I still have vivid memories of the Challenger explosion, watching the smoke trail rising and then thinking "That didn't look right" and running back inside to see it on tv. That big ol' smokey Y shape stayed in the sky a long damn time. And afterwards, the shuttle was in the news. But slowly, as more and more missions went up and came down with no incident, the news stopped caring about the shuttle.
So did the people.
Well, except for the astronauts and their families and the crew and so on but you understand.
No one cared about something that worked.
Then we lost another one.
And suddenly... the shuttle was news again. And not just for the accident but the build up to the next mission was covered. When was the last time you remember seeing them talk about a shuttle mission MONTHS before it was scheduled to launch? Hell, a WEEK before? But now that a shuttle launch and return had the chance for serious destruction, newsfolk were covering it like a NASCAR race.
The shuttle gets delayed! Why? Film at 11!
The shuttle rescheduled so it doesn't miss the launch window! What does this all mean to YOU?!?! Tune in tonight!
The shuttle launched without incident and is in space! What could go wrong while up there? Find out at 10!
The shuttle is on its way back to earth... are YOU safe?!?! Follow Skip Dipshit's coverage at 5!
It's getting scary. Not because of what COULD go wrong. And not because it seems like the news people WANT something to go wrong.
No... but those wicked, conspiratorial thoughts that creep in when you realize tht NASA could've planned all this to get attention, those can be really scary.
If you think it's far-fetched to consider, remember we live in a world where:
People attempt suicide to get attention.
Kids throw wicked tantrums in public places to get their parents attention.
A guy will take his own kid hostage and then use it as a shield to get attention.
A man will shoot the president to get a lesbian actress' attention.
A man will walk into his former job and shoot old co-workers and friends to get attention.
Two kids will arm themselves with guns and explosives and put their classmates through hell to get attention.
Rich people will allow videos of them having sex released to the world to get attention.
Mothers will slowly poison their children to get attention.
Old men will go out into crops and plan and execute complicated patterns just to get attention (without actually getting attention since it's all a big secret... it's a stretch to include this one, sure, but it's MY damn list).
Girls wear barely-there clothes to accentuate boobs that aren't even fully developed yet to get attention.
Boys will do dumb ass stunts and TAPE it just to get attention.
Boys will commit crimes and TAPE it just to get attention.
People will write their own blogs just to get attention.
And, of course, people will READ those same blogs and post comments (please do, actually) just to get attention.
So why would it be so hard to believe that NASA would sacrifice a shuttle or two to get attention to a program that was losing the public's interest?
Hmmmmmm.
I mean, shit... we have a president who faked a need for war and no one had a problem with THAT.