Complex Numbers

First Man

I went to see First Man today, that movie about Neil Armstrong and the space race.

Saw it at Alamo, of course, the theater with the beer taps, so I was able to get good and buzzed first. (See what I did there? I'm way too proud of that one.)

Spoiler alert: They land on the Moon.

I should note that Ryan Gosling really bugs the hell out of me. I don't know why. Maybe it's because he was in Blade Runner 2040. He looks like someone who gets his lunch money extorted on a daily basis.

Still, I think he nailed this one.

Okay, look, I'm just going to say it, even though I've said it before: I think the moon landing is not only the most significant achievement in human history, it's the most significant achievement that can ever be in human history. It's the moment that we first set boots on another world, satisfying the human desire for exploration and horizon expansion. Hopefully there will be more such moments, but that was the first. Yes, the discovery of extraterrestrial life (as per my last entry) will probably be the greatest discovery, but I'm making a distinction between achievements and discoveries.

That's arguable, I know. But it's why I went to see the movie. It didn't disappoint on that front.

It irks me that no one seems to be able to talk about the movie, or the events it depicts, without someone bringing up the "moon landing hoax" nonsense. (In this case, it's me bringing it up; it still irks me.) I'm not sure I've ever been able to articulate exactly what it is about that garbage that pisses me off so thoroughly, but I think the movie helped me figure it out - mostly because it focused on the human elements involved.

Using little more than a slide rule and a straightedge, we sent dudes to the moon in a rocket with the name of a god of the land on a mission named for the god of the sun. But these names were symbolic - this was a purely, epically human adventure. No gods transported us to another world. No demons, no monsters chased us into the heavens. No angels, no devils; only people.

And that's what bugs me about these conspiracy nuts. They offend me on a basic, visceral level. To deny this achievement is to deny humanity itself, to condemn us forever to mediocrity. It's as if to say, "Look at Earth. Look how we can't get anything right. It's impossible to believe that we can ever achieve greatness; therefore, we didn't, but we could fake it." It's the same sort of contempt for our potential that leads people to believe that aliens built the Pyramids, or fairies built Stonehenge. Because sometimes skyscrapers crumble and bridges buckle, because we still bicker among ourselves and kill and enslave, because we pollute the oceans with plastic and poke holes in the ozone layer, obviously we can't do anything right, according to these loudmouths.

But we contradict ourselves. We are large; we contain multitudes. We are destroyers and creators alike. We are thieves and we are philanthropists. We can bring darkness, and we can bring light.

We are the monsters, and we are the gods.