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Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

smithsonianmag.com

31–40 of 185 posts

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#31
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they'd squeeze anything to make russia/ussr look bad, however little. You don’t need to squeeze anything to make Russia/USSR look bad.

You do. How would you otherwise demonize a Country that reached peak industrialization in a couple decades starting from a rural, semi-feudal society? - That established the 8 hour work day in 1917, - legalized abortion in 1920, - erradicated illiteracy and achieved a literacy rate of 75% starting from 25%, - Was the first country to build satellites and men to space? - Provided a decent standard of living to all the…

Millions starved to death in collectivization, even more millions displaced from their homes and sent to gulags. Intelligentsia eradicated as a class. The biggest and potentially richest country in the world collapsed due to planned economy. And that’s just my layman knowledge typing on a phone, I’m sure many historians can decimate your comment even harder.

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#32
post #28

> Soviet physicians chose Laika to die, but they were not entirely heartless. This tone is really harsh, animals dying to push science forward is still common today and acting like they were "heartless" for it is disingenuous. Laika got to be remembered, which his already much more than can be said of most test subjects.

I've got to agree with you here. Every day, animals around the world are given cancer, AIDs, heart attacks, and all manner of diseases in the name of advancing science. As many as 12 million animals are dissected or vivisected in US schools alone annually.

Laika was an important stepping stone towards humans in space. It's sad a dog died, but some people are a bit melodramatic.

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#33
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they'd squeeze anything to make russia/ussr look bad, however little. You don’t need to squeeze anything to make Russia/USSR look bad.

You do. How would you otherwise demonize a Country that reached peak industrialization in a couple decades starting from a rural, semi-feudal society? - That established the 8 hour work day in 1917, - legalized abortion in 1920, - erradicated illiteracy and achieved a literacy rate of 75% starting from 25%, - Was the first country to build satellites and men to space? - Provided a decent standard of living to all the…

Things you forgot:

- the murder of millions of innocent people

- the worst nuclear accident on the planet

Russia was bad then and continues today. Nothing needed other than history to make that case.

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#35
post #26

Anti-Soviet propaganda is reaching levels that I thought were not possible.

Really? You must not have been alive during the Cold War 1

Edit: watch Red Dawn, read the article, and comment back with your comparison of treatment of Soviet Russia.

In my reading of the article the only negative statement about the Soviet society was the statement that they lied about the time of death and fictionalized the science for propaganda. The rest of it reads as a humanizing story of the dog and it’s experience without a specific political agenda. I could very well have imagined any other society as the context. I feel you must be overly sensitized to have read this as anti Soviet.

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#37
post #28

> Soviet physicians chose Laika to die, but they were not entirely heartless. This tone is really harsh, animals dying to push science forward is still common today and acting like they were "heartless" for it is disingenuous. Laika got to be remembered, which his already much more than can be said of most test subjects.

I've got to agree with you here. Every day, animals around the world are given cancer, AIDs, heart attacks, and all manner of diseases in the name of advancing science. As many as 12 million animals are dissected or vivisected in US schools alone annually. Laika was an important stepping stone towards humans in space. It's sad a dog died, but some people are a bit melodramatic.

Did the US sacrifice any animals before they sent a human to space?

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#38
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do. How would you otherwise demonize a Country that reached peak industrialization in a couple decades starting from a rural, semi-feudal society? - That established the 8 hour work day in 1917, - legalized abortion in 1920, - erradicated illiteracy and achieved a literacy rate of 75% starting from 25%, - Was the first country to build satellites and men to space? - Provided a decent standard of living to all the…

Things you forgot: - the murder of millions of innocent people - the worst nuclear accident on the planet Russia was bad then and continues today. Nothing needed other than history to make that case.

The mythical "they murdered A GAZILLION PEOPLE". Yeah, totally made up numbers made by anti-soviet historians that inflated numbers and considered natural causes as "murder". You can say what you want about the Soviet Union, but thinking that they ORDERED the killing of millions is complete derangement.

Were there economic problems and famines? Yes, of course, all countries with a rural economy are exposed to famines. Let me introduce you to the Irish famine, that killed millions in a capitalist country, such as Ireland.

Can we count the millions dying of hunger is capitalist countries as victims of capitalism?

"O'Leary pointed out that the decision-making by the government of the day was based on capitalist principles rather than ethnicity; its aim was to reduce the tax burden on the middle-class (who were of both main ethnicities) by clearing the 'unproductive' landless poor from Ireland." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

- the worst nuclear accident on the planet

Thats a funny way of calling the bombing of Iroshima and Nagasaki. Iroshima and Nagasaki were not accidents, they were the purposefully killing of millions by an atomic bomb. They were not accidents, THOSE were murders.

Re: Laika, the space dog, and her one-way trip into orbit (2018)

#40
post #28

> Soviet physicians chose Laika to die, but they were not entirely heartless. This tone is really harsh, animals dying to push science forward is still common today and acting like they were "heartless" for it is disingenuous. Laika got to be remembered, which his already much more than can be said of most test subjects.

More than that, there was a lot work put into keeping the dogs alive and healthy. In fact, most did survive and lived on after their flight.

After all, the goal was to have humans go into space and survive the trip back.

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