It’s been a busy month in the news with no shortage of things to talk about. Some of us have been taken by the disappointing but unsurprising verdict from the grand jury in Ferguson and the disappointing but unsurprising response to it. Others are reliving the news of Jian Ghomeshi’s sexual misadventures in the land of nonconsent with the revelation of his recent arrest and, with it, the opportunity to express how very disappointed but unsurprised they all were the first time around. Still more have been left disappointed (but unsurprised) by yet another black friday marked by intershopper strife and consumerist turmoil. Everywhere we turn for news we’re met with the same disappointing and unsurprising headlines that are as cynicism-affirming as they are credible.
But there’s one small minority left (yes, you guessed it) disappointed and unsurprised for different reasons. They’re those people over in the corner who may not care about any of those earthly matters but are instead unshocked and unimpressed by everyone else’s readiness to forget the fact that less than three weeks ago we landed on a goddamn comet.
With their mantra of “How is this not still in the news?” and their uniform head shake of disgust at every headline unrelated to the fact that we landed on a goddamn comet, the cult of comet has become a phenomenon in its own right, drawing attention to our collective limited attention span for even the most important things like, for instance, landing on a goddamn comet.
So let’s take a disappointed but unsurprised look at the reasons why we may be so moved by such landmark moments 10 years in the making only to move on in less than 3 weeks. I know I’m not the only one who forgot about it almost as quickly as it happened. But, not to disparage the gravity (no pun intended) of those other worldly events mentioned earlier, it seems like Philae’s mission and the untold advances it has yet to bear should still be occupying some space in our minds if not our news. They’re not.
Why might this be the case? Could it be a matter of distance? After all, it’s pretty hard to fathom the stretches of space involved in such a journey when places as orbitally close as Syria and Ukraine can seem so far away that Mickey Rourke starts to seem more relevant (#shotsfired, CNN). Or maybe is it too inaccessible of a story for laymen who don’t know a neutron star from Uranus? I know that I had a difficult time understanding the news even with the velvety chocolate of Neil Degrasse Tyson’s voice coaching me through it.
But, as we so often do, let’s consider a different alternative and ask ourselves a question. Could it be not an issue with the comet itself, but with us? Maybe it’s no fault of Philae’s that we lost interest so quickly. Maybe it’s just that we like the more predictable and satisfyingly angering news stories of everyday life. “But they found organic molecules!” the cult of comet shouts. Well, maybe we like to be disappointed and unsurprised.
