It’s the ‘lest’ that defines the thread title as a premise. That elevates it from ‘memorial thread’ to ‘assertion that it it’s important that we not forget.’
I disagree with that assertion. It’s been 30 years, it was an unusually public and spectacular death, and it set our manned space program back a couple of years. But that’s the extent of it. It was only important because everybody knew about it. Consequently, there is no need for those whose lives weren’t connected with those of the seven astronauts to keep on knowing about it.
The deaths of the ~120 people who died in car crashes that day are at least as significant and important to remember as the 7 who died more publicly by a more sparsely-used means of transportation.
If that was in GD or the pit, you might have a point. But In MPSIMS? Yeah, that’s a textbook example of threadshitting. There’s always a bigger tragedy, and using that logic to diminish the Challenger deaths just makes you look like a jerk.
I’ll add you didn’t even get a warning, just a mod note. I see no problem with the moderator response.
So, all of the people who think it’s a threadshit, what is the horrible fate that awaits us if we do forget? At least with the 120 people who died in car crashes that day, remembering their deaths might remind me to drive carefully.
In my thinking, the reason to remember the Challenger disaster isn’t so much because 7 people got killed, but rather because it’s a very prominent and visible example of hubris, complacency and the subsequent breakdown of safety procedures and sensible engineering and safety practices.
Reading the Challenger investigation ought to be required for ALL new engineers, as should the Columbia investigation. Both were caused by complacency and hubris, and their corrosive effects on what had been (and should be) a safety-focused engineering culture.
That’s why they ought to be remembered in my mind. Otherwise, you’re exactly right- remembering 7 astronauts vs. the 120 people killed in automobile wrecks on the same day seems absurd.
Since the OP just listed the names without discussion, I think it was pretty clear it was intended to be a memorial thread, not stating a premise about whether they should be remembered. It was implicit that the OP thought they should.
If you wanted to question the premise, I think it would have been fine to start another thread and link to the original.
That if it is inappropriate to start a thread about the Challenger disaster because people died in traffic, then it is inappropriate to start a thread complaining about being Mod Noted, since people died in traffic accidents. Unless you believe that getting a Mod Note is more serious than seven brave people dying in the name of science.
Speaking of traffic, are you by any chance one of those guys who, when the cop says he’ll let you off with a warning this time, prefers to follow him back to the patrol car so you can continue arguing that you weren’t speeding?
Emphasis added. Your comment in that thread wasn’t even a debate about the premise, but a mention of others who died on that day. You raised no issue or challenged any premise. I tried to take it it at face value that you wanted to remember others who died that day as well, not an opening for debate. Either way, a different thread would have been the proper place.