October 5, 2004

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  NOTES FROM THE GARDEN JOURNAL

  
  

   

  
  

  Horse-Drawn Carriage-Makers of the World Unite…After Tea, Of Course

  
  

   

  
  

  Truly elitism and out-moded haberdashery come in all shapes and sizes and usually come when a person or a group think they have whatever it is they do all wrapped up and figured out and as such have finally earned the right to be lazy and self-indulgent. And traditionally this balance is eventually upset when somebody comes along whom the old guard accuses of going off as half-cocked amatures, and shakes things up by outdoing and beating their elders at their own game. First comes denial of the upstart’s very existence, followed by a denial of the upstart's credentials. After that we can usually witness the general denial of the upstart’s right to exist, ending with a denial the old guard was bested by that upstart, which usually happens as the former is being carried out the door.

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  So what do Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne and the Blogosphere have in common?

  
  

  Well first off, both are upstarts doing something which only before had been the exclusive right of the most elite of “professionals” in their business. Yet both also have managed to show their sneering predecessors a thing or two about how things should be done, by doing it right.

  
  

   

  
  

  When Dan Rather assumed he could pass off a story of questionable accuracy with forged documents coming from Texas anti-Bush partisans to boot, he thought he was safe as he had always been. So even today goes the hope of Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw. Then along comes this young pup of an outlet, its members doing their homework and getting it right and we find the old guard, the king as it were, all this time really did have no clothes.

  
  

   

  
  

  So what did those media elites have to say when this upstart they had previously tried to ignore bested them? Nothing factual of course, just some drivel about some ambiguous cloud of legions of people using common sense out there gathering facts and doing their homework and that the American viewing public should for some reason fear them. But the only reason the American people would fear such a thing is by the fact they have become unused to fact-gathering and quite used to spin, which they fear by virtue of saturation.

  
  

   

  
  

  And then you have today the historic event that won the Ansari X prize for the team at Scaled Composites, which created SpaceShipOne. When those in the know at NASA and the big aerospace industry assumed they could pass off creative mediocrity and pat each other on the back for it, they thought they were, well, as safe as they had always been. Then along comes this young pup of a group, its members doing their homework and getting it right and we find the old guard, the king as it were, all this time really did have no clothes.

  
  

   

  
  

  And once again, it’s déjà vu all over again!

  
  

   

  
  

  So just what on earth did those space-elites have to say when this, another fine example of an upstart which they had desperately tried to ignore bested them? Not a whole lot publicly. But when Mike Fincke, who is sharing a space station with fellow orbiter, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka found out about today’s crowning flight of SpaceShipOne, which took place on the forty seventh anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, he offered something that left some room for interpretation. According the Associated Press account, Fincke is quoted as saying, “’Fantastic’…adding that it was great to learn that for a while he and Padalka were not ‘the only ones off the planet.’" A seeming jab at the perceived amateurishness of Rutan’s space project? If so, it would seem to mirror perhaps that now waging war currently underway between the Old and New Media. This sense was further hinted at in the post-flight statement by Rutan during his news conference shortly before formally being awarded the Dallas-based Ansari family’s Ansari X Prize: “The big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds and the nay-saying people at Houston ... I think they are looking at each other now and saying, `We're screwed.’"

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  There is little doubt those “nay-sayers” will try to scare the American people with some drivel about some ambiguous cloud of forward-thinking pioneers using common sense and doing their homework and why Americans should hold doubts. But clearly in light of the past forty years, the only reason the American people would even be presently doubtful of such a thing as space travel is because they have become unused to anything else.

  
  

   

  
  

  So what do Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne and the Blogosphere have in common? Both are upstarts, trading blows over something big in Texas with that famous “old guard”, both are taking their medium to its next leg in its journey and both show that the individual, free to think, free to dream and willing to work hard to make it all happen, always beats the fat cats, the ne'er-do-well’s who populate the slow-moving behemoths we call in this instance Big Media and Government Aerospace. And both have managed to show their sneering predecessors a thing or two about how things should be done, by doing it right. And of course the sneering predecessors still aren’t getting it. But I think there comes a point where some of the nay-sayers will look at each other and say, "we're screwed". At least they will have the credit for being smart enough to know when a gig is over and perhaps try to join their competition. The others - well some will always rather live out their days in delusion.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

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  NOTES FROM THE GARDEN JOURNAL

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