(September 12, 2024 at 7:50 am)Angrboda Wrote: An interesting juxtaposition is the day of the Challenger disaster. I was at a philosophy seminar, and instead of our usual discussion of philosophy, the professor brought a TV in and we watched them repeat the footage of the shuttle blowing up and people talking about it. The philosophy professor asked us to try to answer the question of what makes a specific death meaningful. I don't remember my answer, but it's interesting that the death of a handful of people in the shuttle can provoke a reaction very similar to several thousand people dying in the Twin Towers. What made the death of the crew of the shuttle so important as to rival the death of thousands?
A couple of things come to mind: celebrity and scale.
The astronauts who died were celebrities - their names, faces, and bios were all over the media in the days and weeks before the disaster. The public - rightly or wrongly - felt a connection with the astronauts.
To the public at large, the WTC victims were essentially nameless, faceless strangers. The nightmarish scale of the attack took the place of any personal connection.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
