Flight of Fancy

I went to Google News and clicked the Science topic. The top story was about a man — a “flat-Earther” — who has built a homemade scrap-metal rocket in which he plans to ride to an altitude of 1800 feet, at which point he can look around and declare Earth is flat. I’m not going to mention his name here, nor will I provide links to news articles about him, and there is a reason for that.

But first, what is the significance of 1800 feet? There are mountains taller than that. In fact, One World Trade Center in Manhattan is almost 1800 feet tall. Why build a rocket and go on a dangerous ride into the sky when a trip to the top of One World Trade Center will accomplish the same goal?

Because: publicity. Joining a gaggle of tourists riding elevators to the top of a tall building won’t get your picture on Google News. But it also won’t get you killed if the rocket explodes. Some people are willing to risk their lives to get publicity. And the news media are more than happy to oblige. “You’re going to risk your life riding on a homemade rocket? We’ll be there with cameras!”

Please, news media — don’t cover this kind of story. It only encourages crackpots to get themselves killed just to get their name in the news. But maybe that is what the news people secretly want to happen. It’s like an unspoken contract. The crackpot risks his life on a mission that won’t prove a thing (and everybody knows it) and in return the news media grants him free publicity. If he gets himself blown to little pieces in the sky, so much the better: more people will follow the story, and the rocket rider becomes a footnote in history. Man dies trying to prove Earth is flat. He may even get his own Wikipedia entry. Sadly for some, that’s worth dying for.