Carl Sagan’s socialism hot take with
Ted Turner goes viral 31 years later
by
Hannah Sparks
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
10/5/2020 3:04:49 PM
Carl Sagan, who spent his career in search of extraterrestrial intelligence, was apparently hard-pressed to find it here on Earth. The famed astronomer made a case for socialism in a 1989 interview on CNN with billionaire television mogul Ted Turner when asked simply, “Are you a socialist?” A clip of their exchange has gone viral on Twitter with more than 100,000 likes and more than 3 million views since Sunday night. “I’m not sure what a ‘socialist’ is,” Sagan, who died at 62 of cancer-related pneumonia in 1996, responded. “But I believe the government has a responsibility to care for the people.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Newtsche 10/5/2020 3:15:32 PM (No. 562858)
The not so soft bigotry of low expectations but such thinking made self-righteous Sagan very happy with himself.
14 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
erobot 10/5/2020 3:21:14 PM (No. 562865)
The government has the responsibilities as outlined in the Constitution and we are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Taking care of ourselves and our families, friends, neighbors, etc. is our individual job.
Remember what Reagan said, "The most dangerous words in the English language are: We're from the government and we're here to help you."
34 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Schnapps 10/5/2020 3:40:23 PM (No. 562884)
When you watch a Carl Sagan video or read something he wrote, remind yourself that he was a regular user of the weed. Only in that context does much of what he said makes sense.
14 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 10/5/2020 3:52:46 PM (No. 562895)
I enjoyed Carl Sagan, and I loved his show Cosmos. But his political opinions were an embarrassment.
25 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Vesicant 10/5/2020 4:13:42 PM (No. 562907)
Gee, Carl, you mean like Stalin and Pol Pot and Idi Amin took care of their people?
18 people like this.
So, government is supposed to help people, huh?
Just remember, when they propose new, or expanded, government programs, they are FIRST talking about how it will benefit the people in government, and those they intend to bring into government, which means more salaries, benefits and pensions that will need to be allocated with funds (taxes).
Second, they will need to build a new building, or office space, which will require new furniture, office supplies, computers, telephones, and cell phones.
This group will be carefully allocated to select campaign donors who just happen to have a business that will be used.
Lastly, the people whom the program is supposed to help/benefit. This group gets crumbs, generally, out of the whole budget.
17 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
NYbob 10/5/2020 4:39:24 PM (No. 562924)
The definition of an educated idiot. Easy to wallow around in effete utopian fantasies about how the world works and how to govern when talking to a pinhead like Turner. IF only he would have wondered into the Firing Line and tried this intellectual mess with William Buckley. That would be a real education for the astronomer.
10 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
SkeezerMcGee 10/5/2020 4:53:30 PM (No. 562930)
Carl fretted that [between 1984 and 1989] our federal government spent $20 billion ($42 billion in 2020 dollars) on our SDI missile defense program ("Star Wars"). What might Carl think about Biden planning to spend $4 trillion on the Green New Deal? Is the Green New Deal about child mortality?
11 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
LadyHen 10/5/2020 4:59:08 PM (No. 562932)
fta:
Today, the US ranks even lower, at 47, in infant morality rates, according to World Bank data — with approximately 6.5 newborn deaths per 1,000 births as of 2019.
“They just spend more money on them,” said Sagan. “They care about their babies more than we care about ours. I think it’s a disgrace.”
This is a lie that has been challenged over and over again.
No, you idiot, it's not that they care for their children more. It is that they don't. We do more in this country to save premature babies than any country on this planet. And have had amazing success but many still die and always will. They don't even try in Europe. They don't try in China. They don't try in Canada either. They don't because they are Socialist (or communists) and the people's money will not be "wasted" on premature infants whose outcomes are less assured and whose deaths weeks after the fact will make their stats look bad. So they just let these babies die. Another reason why abortion is also championed in Socialist countries.
And no I don't really want the government to take care of me. I've seen their work!
9 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
czechlist 10/5/2020 5:03:37 PM (No. 562935)
The irony is that when that was recorded the government had already spent $trillions on education and welfare with little progress. But like a true democrat Sagan apparently thought it is never enough. Today we have spent over $20 trillion on education and welfare and now medical and we are arguably worse than ever. And where does the money come from to support the Utopian social system if we don't have a capable military defend the system? QED being intelligent and knowledgeable in one discipline does not necessarily make one so in others.
Feelings, nothing more than feelings....
6 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
SkeezerMcGee 10/5/2020 5:03:40 PM (No. 562936)
Whoops! Not a mere $4 trillion. In February 2019, the center-right American Action Forum, estimated that the Green New Deal could cost between $51–$93 trillion over the next decade.[
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Jethro bo 10/5/2020 5:16:45 PM (No. 562944)
Wow. What a scoop! A socialist proclaiming socialism from 31 years ago! How original and news worthy! Oh, and we are not rich. We are massively in debt. If we had a serious war we would be broke at the end and start down the road of irrelevance just as happened to Great Britain after the financial strain to finance WWI. But then, socialist never imagine running out of other people's money.
7 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 10/5/2020 5:26:52 PM (No. 562949)
About what I figured. I never much like Sagan when he was alive and just talking about "billllllions and billllions of stars...." Good riddance, IMO.
A typical worthless fool who does not grasp that when you GIVE people things, you destroy them. Government should not put obstacles in people's path, and let them accomplish what they will. If you fail, you fail. Provide ways for those who fail to get up, dust themselves off and try again.
If you give those who fail a handout rather than a hand up, you destroy them. Our cities are filled with ruined people, living on handouts for so many generations that they don't ever even imagine providing for themselves, they don't even imagine the gaining their self respect by earning a living.
Big government handout folks are not helping they are enslaving.
7 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Robert Jones 10/5/2020 5:28:40 PM (No. 562952)
Most countries don’t save premature or deformd infants. They put them in the corner and let them die. No country spends as much on infants as the USA. Sagan needs to stick with stars and leave health prognostication and social issues to doctors and and voters.
6 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 10/5/2020 5:46:29 PM (No. 562961)
The first Soy Man.
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
smaricic 10/5/2020 5:58:18 PM (No. 562969)
The "Star Wars" defense system, or whatever has descended from that project, might be the only thing we have that can stop a missile launched by socialist hero Kim Jung Un. And someday soon, Kim's missiles will be armed with atomic weapons and will be able to hit their targets. I would say our missile defense system was a wise investment and should be expanded.
5 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Newtsche 10/5/2020 6:21:23 PM (No. 562983)
As soon as you hear "I’m not sure what a ‘socialist’ is", you can put zero trust in what follows.
Dishonest, coy and adenoidal and insulting such an annoying, sanctimonious man. I always found his shtick overbearing.
10 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
droopydog 10/5/2020 6:26:38 PM (No. 562994)
Maybe Milton Friedman has straightened him out...Carl, believe in the science!
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 10/5/2020 7:11:45 PM (No. 563027)
#19, I doubt that Sagan is in the same place that Friedman is.
4 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 10/5/2020 7:33:24 PM (No. 563052)
I challenge anyone to not immediately think in your head, Sagan's voice saying "Billions and billions" whenever his name is mentioned.
Atheists are the most shocked one "Carl Sagan-th" of a second after their souls depart their bodies.
4 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
dobst 10/5/2020 7:50:06 PM (No. 563066)
And I thought he was smart. WOW.
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Faithfully 10/5/2020 9:01:28 PM (No. 563125)
Carl Sagan was a chosen one to promote "hippy-dippy" science. He is gone, we are left to clean up the mess.
3 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Zarin 10/5/2020 10:50:06 PM (No. 563228)
Sagan was a showman & a con artist. He got the government to pay $$millions for SETI on totally illogical grounds. And charities & individuals have a duty to care for the people who can't take care of themselves - not the government which forces the taxpayers to pay.
6 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Heraclitus 10/5/2020 11:50:29 PM (No. 563246)
#2, another thing Reagan said was:
"There are only two places where communism/socialism can work: in Heaven where they don't need it; and hell, where they already have it."
4 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 10/6/2020 12:52:03 AM (No. 563267)
Academia has always been a repository for Socialism. Look at a tenured professor at an Ivy League school-it's like being appointed to the Supreme Court. It's a life time appointment! Once there, they can disingenuously point out the fallacies of capitalism and democracy...after they've secured their piece of the pie, that is. Same thing for the Hollywood crowd-they are among the most privileged people on the entire planet, but choose to lecture others on excess! Hypocrisy, narcissism, and myopia all thrive in academia.
5 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 10/7/2020 8:50:50 AM (No. 564632)
I always found Sagan to be a supercilious ego-centric celebrity. Of course he was a socialist.
1 person likes this.
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