if they can put a man on the moon...

If they can put a man on the moon...

Finish that sentence! LOL. I see this so often and while I sometimes find the analogy a bit overused, at other times I can't help but add my own little pet peeves to the list. For example, why haven't we figured out the twenty hour work week yet? Or how about a cure for ridiculously obnoxious medical conditions like athlete's foot or acne? How about a permanent cure for headaches? Why is it that all we get are different sorts of headache treatment? If we can clone a sheep, and we know what causes things like headaches and acne, why can't we find a cure? I've seen a number of "as seen on TV" products advertised in places as common as Wal Mart, but are they really effective or is it just more spin?

It's like the whole laser eye surgery argument. Is it really as effective as safe as we hear? Are the horror stories just negative spin being created by the eyeglasses and contact lenses industries? Why isn't it fully covered by all insurance companies yet? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Couldn't you call laser eye surgery, for those who are eligible or have the right kind of vision problems, a "cure" for bad eyesight?

On a totally unrelated note, what about alternative energy? Why can't we figure out how to make a car that can outperform our gas guzzlers - maybe one that runs on greenhouse gases? Or how about eliminating things like telemarketing? After all who (aside from the telemarketing company) actually wants to receive telemarketing calls? It may not seem fair to suggest putting those types of companies out of business, but let's give them a chance to prove that their "customers" want to be on the receiving end of those phone calls. Let's make all telemarketing available on an "opt-in" basis only. Sign up here if you'd like to receive obnoxious recorded phone calls about crappy products that you don't need. Ha!

Honestly, when you see all of the stupid things that we allow to permeate our culture, it makes me wonder if there isn't some truth in all of those conspiracy theories stating that we never really made it on the moon. Maybe we should rephrase the analogy that start out with "If we can put a man on the moon".

Instead, maybe we should start it with the phrase, "If we're *smart enough* to put a man on the moon, how come we're so stupid with our approach at so many other things?"