‘They Could End World Hunger But Instead They Race For Space’: 30 Of The Most Honest Reactions To The Billionaire Space Race
As you might know, the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has an aerospace company called Blue Origin and it will bring him into outer space. Bezos is getting inside his own space shuttle, New Shepard, on July 20. But even though he's about to achieve his boyhood dream, the owner of Amazon won't be the first billionaire to launch himself above the rest of us (that honor belongs to former Microsoft software engineer Charles Simonyi). Nor will he be the second one.
Soon after he made his plan public in June, Richard Branson stepped in to say that more than a week before Bezos, he would be boarding his own Virgin Galactic VSS Unity for a spaceflight. And on Sunday, he did. The 70-year-old won the billionaire space race.
But not everyone finds this rivalry useful. Or even inspiring. Writer Jacob Silverman, for example, called it "a tragically wasteful ego contest." But he's not alone. Many Twitter users seem to agree with Silverman and have been criticizing the billionaires for being out of touch with reality.
Image credits: richardbranson
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Wish I could edit, meant to say, "Don't bother with the dog parks. Dogs deserve better." Geez, it's not even Monday.
In his piece for The New Republic, Silverman said the unofficial competition between "three masters of the universe," Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk (with Musk expressing less interest in personally going to space) has its share of dark undertones. "If all goes well ... Branson will return to Earth having cemented his claim to ... what exactly?" the writer asked. "Spending money he's earned off the labor of low-wage workers and shuffled between offshore tax havens, he will be the winner in an extravagant pageant that's designed less to inaugurate a new era of spaceflight than to drum up business for his other companies. Branson, like his would-be spacefaring competitors, isn't an innovator; he's a salesman."
Bingo. It's just a race to see who has the bigger d i c k. So stupid and there's so much good they could do with their endless supply of money.
Silverman doesn't think that Branson, Bezos, and Musk are fulfilling a collective goal of the human race; they're not expanding our (blue) horizons.
"Branson, for instance, has said he wants to make space travel 'more accessible to all.” (Early reservations on Virgin Galactic flights cost $250,000 while a seat on the July 20 flight of Bezos's Blue Origin sold for $28 million.) But any honest assessment of the billionaire space race shows that it's less the dawning of a new epoch of universal space travel than the world's most expensive infomercial for a network of self-dealing billionaires who plan to make a lot more money down here on terra firma."
The unapologetic writer highlighted that the three men's business portfolios are conveniently vague, too."They all retain potentially lucrative interests in satellite launch and rocketry firms, which is where the real money is. And should the launches go well, they all stand to benefit from rising optimism and investment in their industry."
Of course, we can't expect billionaires to give money to every person in the world and solve the biggest global problems. But they can't expect us to believe that their "space exploration" runs on altruistic fuel as well.
That would require every member of that society to be on the same level of emotional maturity, and be uncorruptable in their ethical duty to the collective. That will be challenging to say the least.
How does that calculation actually work? I can see billionaires dropping enough food for everyone to have enough to eat for a year or a decade, but that wouldn't end systemic hunger?
How can he be that out of touch? Maybe his head is literally already in space
We're not talking about prohibiting profits - I just want personal income taxes to keep step with reality. Even if Branson only has personal income of 3 bn/year, (1% of his net worth of 300 bn) he can make more in interest on 3 bn IN ONE YEAR than I have earned in my entire lifetime. And 1% is a lot smaller tax rate than I have to pay. Overhauling the tax laws would make us more socialists rather than fascists. The "I earned it" argument is hogwash. Amount of work expended, personally, by his own effort, is probably about what I produced in my best year. He's not so much a genius as he is a rapacious, exploitative, risk-taking person. And it's his employees who earn him the money, because, really, no one one on earth gets a 3 bn per annum salary.
Go drive around space in your stupid f*****g space convertible you asshat
Just want to be able to pay our rents and buy food without having to have 3 and 4 jobs.
Mandela once said, "A person who does nothing for their community is not worth remembering when they die."
Or have them pay for chemo and insulin so that people who need it can afford it
Yes, those poor billionaires. They'll be suffering so when they're still billionaires when paying a living wage and allowing bathroom breaks...
how about reforesting the planet???? cleaning up our oceans?? fixing our climate??
assume 20 million people in the USA might get kicked out. assume 3 people per household, then 6,666,666.7 households are to be evicted. assume $1,200 monthly rent per household, then each household owes $14,400 rent for one year, the Year of Covid, So 6,666,666.7 households * 14400 back rent/household = 96 bn rent owing for last 12 mos. If each of the three 300 bn dollar billionaires chipped in 32±1 bn, it would pay 12 months rent (perhaps paid directly to the landlords) for every household facing eviction. If uncle sam chipped in chipped in equally, it would drop to $24 bn. Surely the 4 richest entities in the world could dig this up. Of course, this is a lot of assumptions, but they seem reasonable. All each has to do is sell of a few subsidiary companies and there it is.
Elon's emo boi poetry sucks. Just when you think he couldn't be a bigger twat, there he goes again.
the US government has been trying to accomplish some of these aims for literally generations. Throwing money at the problem, which gets siphoned into someone's son/daughter/nephew/niece's fake charity.
Dandy Andy ain't dandy. "Their $" is ours...if they paid their fair share of taxes [They pay million$ to accountants to manipulate #s & spit at us, same as Trump which is why his a/c'ant got indicted (w/millions of pgs of proof!) & he's not even a CPA]. Rather simple, Brandy Andy...try getting sober before typing. These greedheads know what they should do...just look at Smithsonian Inst [$508,318 "to the people of the U.S. to found such an institution~~in 1846 dollars!], Carnegie Hall/Carnegie Library, hospitals named after donors... look around, boys! Smithsonian was "for the increase & diffusion of knowledge"~~we learned zero from Branson's 15-min ego trip which Alan Shepard did in 1961...in 15 mins...which the D**k repeated 60 yrs later.
Glad to see that many people share the same view as I do on this. As much as I myself am fascinated by space, astronomy and space travel I stick to my mom's wisdom (or common sense). As mom would say in a strict tone: no you can't have a new pet just because your old one is dying! No, you can't start space travel and inhabit a new planet unless you take on the responsibility of your old planet! Each one of us will be held accountable one day what we did with our resources and life before God. So help them God.
I understand all the comments, but here's the thing. People were starving when vaccines were invented. People were starving when airplanes were invented and perfected. People were starving when money was being funnelled into motor cars. People were starving when we went to the moon. People have always been starving. Money will not cure starvation. Starvation is so often caused or exacerbated by war and political corruption, and not helped by chronic drought. No amount of money by itself will ever fix world hunger. All the advancements that humankind has EVER made have been done while millions were starving. I know of several billionaires who have dedicated the vast majority of their wealth to helping others and creating programs of education and healthcare. It shouldn't need to be an either/or situation.
Meanwhile, I'm debating whether or not to reapply for food stamps because I intentionally went off them when we got our covid stimulus checks. I genuinely try to only take what I absolutely need. I've made that stimulus money really stretch, but it's starting to get a little thin and grocery shopping is becoming stressful again.
People want the wealth because they think it will solve all the world's issues. It won't. You can't fix hunger in war-torn countries whose warlords are using the food to feed their armies. You can't use money to stop ideological wars. In fact, if the billionaires were to divest themselves of their wealth, its likely they would devalue the dollar and create massive inflation. I know its a bit ancient, but consider what happened to the price of gold after Mansa Musa dropped some of his wealth. Complete economic chaos and it did not benefit the poor and hungry at all.
None of them people commenting are doing anything themselves. Actually, most billionaires do plenty of stuff. F*****g hypocrites.
So... you think the money to go to the space just disappear? Goes to pay engineers, pilots, buy land, buy materials, rent, suppliers, fees, taxes etc. And are generating jobs!!! In Brownsville,Tx where Space X is, it's getting back to life the city... that's is helping to grow again the city, that help to stop the hunger... If you want to see them, buying food and giving it to poor people, that at the end does not stop the hunger just put it on pauses until the money runs out... This guys are doing what they do best... continue making money and spread it to many other people...
I strongly disagree. This just lower the cost of space. Thank to them, it become cheaper and cheaper to go to space. And yes, sending meteorological satellites, providing worldwide internet access, etc. are benefits for the whole planet! This helps preventing useless death from disasters (Hurricanes, Tsunamis... Detected by stellites) and help rescue parties to save people by giving them communication tools. But noooo, if you don't hand a loaf of bread, you're not helping... Aircrafts were invented for fun, then war, and now it's useful for fires, rescue, organs transport... Rockets were invented for war, they now go in a peaceful and useful way for everyone. Why do you complain? They do that because they can! Because they have money and hopes! It's way better than seeing them buying yet another yacht or on drugs in my humble opinion.
I 100% agree with the sentiments in these tweets. However, I'm pretty sure many of these tweeters are millionaires themselves. How much money have they given to philanthropic causes aimed at ending world hunger? Billionaires don't become billionaires through their generous spirits, and they probably couldn't care less what others think of them. A more productive use of energy would be promoting and donating to worthy causes ourselves. Be the change you want to see in the world.
I don't really have a problem with rich people spending money on extravagant things, provided they're also doing good things for humanity with their money. And maybe Branson, Musk, and Bezos are doing plenty of good things with their money. But if they are, why isn't the media more focused on reporting about that? Why did we have to endure hours of live coverage of that "edge of space" flight that overshadowed all other world news, as newscasters gushed completely uncritically about what an amazing achievement it was? It was practically an advertisement for Virgin Galactic.
I am all for ending world hunger and poverty. But money is only partially the problem. There is a lot of aid now already. But it doesn't reach the people who need it most. The relevant countries need stable governments, who really cares about the wellbeing of the population. Instead this countries are suffering by corrupt, selfish, powerhungry governments, religious criminals, terror organizations and wars. The aid is right going into their pockets. Almost nothing of it reaches the starving population. No money in the world will end poverty and world hunger if this fundamental problems are still not solved.
The goal of all lifeforms is to survive and not go extinct. Being solely earthbound makes us very vulnerable to asteroids, climate changes, or even alien invasions. The only solution is to explore and colonize other planetary systems. Space travel is just the first step. In the grand scheme of things, world hunger wouldn't matter if there are no more humans left in the future.
OH SH*T! The Vanguard 1 satellite is in a collision course with Jeff Bezos's spaceship! What should we do?
I also have a criticism of going to space at all: if we can't take care of our own planet, how can we be trusted with colonizing other planets?
The problem is that you don't become a billionaire thru hard work. You become a billionaire by climbing over and using people as much as you can while cutting corners and cost no matter how it effects others or the earth and as long as the world doesn't stand together with environmental laws and wages it wont matter because the billionaire will just open shop where they can make/do what they want for the cheapest amount of money. And the government will never fight or tax the rich companies/people because those people own the government that is what lobbyist are all about. The government doesn't want you healthy and educated because then they couldn't control you so easily.
I think its actually a good thing for the survival of the human race. It doesn't matter how good we take car of our planet eventually it will become unlivable and we will have to either colonize another planet or perish. There will be no other option but to leave earth.
You know, when I idly theorized back in 2001 that within 20 years we'd see the well-off scheming new and more destructive ways to increase their wealth exponentially so as to go to space while the rest of humanity was left to suffer, I was just thinking up cheesy sci-fi plots that might make for interesting movies some day...
So no one mentions the jobs created by these people, both to allow them to get this wealthy or in pursuit of space? No mention of the money each one has already given (seriously, google Branson’s charitable works)?
I thought the US loved capitalism? Certainly much better than socialism, isn't it?
Because it's the billionaire's responsibility to end world hunger while the government just watches or something? It's astonishing how people think they have a right to someone else's money just because that person is extremely rich. You people are seriously delusional. World leaders should end hunger and poverty, not random billionaires.
Who in the hell died and made Bransen responsible for world hunger? You're criticizing the wrong entity
Well, it's all been said, most of us are, on the same page, my thought is, so much needs doing, on earth now, the government can help, if they choose to, the government hides in politics !!!
If US government can still afford an annual 700 billion USD military budget the Space flight hobbies of few billionnaires are however not neccessary the biggest problem..
I am going to be brutally honest. Democracy, theocracy, dictatorship... All are failures. Asking or demanding that these three space racing billionares should lead by funneling only money is even bigger failure of intelligence. Get it straight and right. No amount of money will eliminate any one social problem. The root cause is management abd the people in that management. I bet billionares ignore these whinings, because they are wiser. No money alone would solve any problem. Its the people. At least they focus on better tech. At least they are trying to figure out solutions and actually organize something to do so! But does anyone here even try to do something even similar in at least small scale? I wanna know. But until then I brutally say this. Less whining and more doing.
If I had enough money, I would totally want to go to space, so I can’t blame these guys for wanting to do that. But when millions of people are homeless and starving, they should be using their money for a better cause.
Why don't ever see articles in BP questioning govts? Rich people are no more responsible for improving the world than your neighbour is for cleaning your home. But govt is literally elected to make the lives of citizens better. Govt is richer than all these rich ppl they criticize and have the power to make policies.
Seriously, these three guys should just whip out their d**ks and measure them.
Thanks to tax cuts for the rich and government bought and paid for by the corporations, here in the US income derived from capital gains is taxed at a lower rate than income EARNED by the sweat of one's brow. In a democracy we get the government we deserve. Perhaps sometime soon the used and abused masses will wake up and realize that we deserve better.
the problem i see with capitalism it's that it follows the same stragegies with the same fails. it's been 200 years we allow people to buy bugattis, and yachts. That we pray growth, and say wait it creates jobs. it's been 200 years the poor witnesses the obscenity. Just f.. tax heavily the super rich, eventually limit personal wealths, and increase the minimum wadges
Well. It's their money. They can spend it how they see fit. But wtf guys.
Maybe the extraterrestrials won't talk to us because they think we are doomed by developing technology before wealth regulations. I know of lots of people with ten times more than I, and lots with ten times less, but I can't really relate to their daily concerns - they may as well be another species. Nobody needs more than ten times more than the poorest, and nobody deserves eleven times less than the richest. The range of talent is greater, but talent works for self-expression, and is inhibited by financial risk. Crowd funding has replaced the only social utility of private wealth.
EVERYTHING FAKE!! Branson has never been in space, he wasn't even around yet! The plane was real, but the rest was just a mix of CGI, plywood and prepared footage. Do you really think it's enough to write a rich man's zodiac sign on a weird plane and then *magic* space? Dream on, Alice. Branson simply was NEXT! That all was just a trick of THEM to replace him with a BOT. THEY are about to collect 'em all. It's hard to believe, but Zuckerberg was first-despite small flaws, hardly anyone noticed that he was replaced by Zuckerbot69. Mars isn't red! It's blue and green like earth! THEY already live there under a giant red umbrella..ella..ella.. (sorry, I'm just sick of it-the shops here are open and FULL, but soup-kitchens for the poor and homeless have to stay closed-'cause corona)
Being a billionaire is a moral failing. If they aren't paying their employees well enough or donating to charity enough to avoid becoming billionaires, they have failed a moral test.
Why this site is giving these morons any attention? Is not like these billionaires are going to leave Earth and live in space, what kind of moronic logic is that?
Imagine a world where all you people, instead of buying the products that make these people rich, gave YOUR money away to the poor or good works.
It's pretty disgusting that billionaires are racing to fly to space while our planet is on fire.
God left the building a very long time ago and this is what he (or she, or it) has left behind... Demigods.
Glad to see that many people share the same view as I do on this. As much as I myself am fascinated by space, astronomy and space travel I stick to my mom's wisdom (or common sense). As mom would say in a strict tone: no you can't have a new pet just because your old one is dying! No, you can't start space travel and inhabit a new planet unless you take on the responsibility of your old planet! Each one of us will be held accountable one day what we did with our resources and life before God. So help them God.
I understand all the comments, but here's the thing. People were starving when vaccines were invented. People were starving when airplanes were invented and perfected. People were starving when money was being funnelled into motor cars. People were starving when we went to the moon. People have always been starving. Money will not cure starvation. Starvation is so often caused or exacerbated by war and political corruption, and not helped by chronic drought. No amount of money by itself will ever fix world hunger. All the advancements that humankind has EVER made have been done while millions were starving. I know of several billionaires who have dedicated the vast majority of their wealth to helping others and creating programs of education and healthcare. It shouldn't need to be an either/or situation.
Meanwhile, I'm debating whether or not to reapply for food stamps because I intentionally went off them when we got our covid stimulus checks. I genuinely try to only take what I absolutely need. I've made that stimulus money really stretch, but it's starting to get a little thin and grocery shopping is becoming stressful again.
People want the wealth because they think it will solve all the world's issues. It won't. You can't fix hunger in war-torn countries whose warlords are using the food to feed their armies. You can't use money to stop ideological wars. In fact, if the billionaires were to divest themselves of their wealth, its likely they would devalue the dollar and create massive inflation. I know its a bit ancient, but consider what happened to the price of gold after Mansa Musa dropped some of his wealth. Complete economic chaos and it did not benefit the poor and hungry at all.
None of them people commenting are doing anything themselves. Actually, most billionaires do plenty of stuff. F*****g hypocrites.
So... you think the money to go to the space just disappear? Goes to pay engineers, pilots, buy land, buy materials, rent, suppliers, fees, taxes etc. And are generating jobs!!! In Brownsville,Tx where Space X is, it's getting back to life the city... that's is helping to grow again the city, that help to stop the hunger... If you want to see them, buying food and giving it to poor people, that at the end does not stop the hunger just put it on pauses until the money runs out... This guys are doing what they do best... continue making money and spread it to many other people...
I strongly disagree. This just lower the cost of space. Thank to them, it become cheaper and cheaper to go to space. And yes, sending meteorological satellites, providing worldwide internet access, etc. are benefits for the whole planet! This helps preventing useless death from disasters (Hurricanes, Tsunamis... Detected by stellites) and help rescue parties to save people by giving them communication tools. But noooo, if you don't hand a loaf of bread, you're not helping... Aircrafts were invented for fun, then war, and now it's useful for fires, rescue, organs transport... Rockets were invented for war, they now go in a peaceful and useful way for everyone. Why do you complain? They do that because they can! Because they have money and hopes! It's way better than seeing them buying yet another yacht or on drugs in my humble opinion.
I 100% agree with the sentiments in these tweets. However, I'm pretty sure many of these tweeters are millionaires themselves. How much money have they given to philanthropic causes aimed at ending world hunger? Billionaires don't become billionaires through their generous spirits, and they probably couldn't care less what others think of them. A more productive use of energy would be promoting and donating to worthy causes ourselves. Be the change you want to see in the world.
I don't really have a problem with rich people spending money on extravagant things, provided they're also doing good things for humanity with their money. And maybe Branson, Musk, and Bezos are doing plenty of good things with their money. But if they are, why isn't the media more focused on reporting about that? Why did we have to endure hours of live coverage of that "edge of space" flight that overshadowed all other world news, as newscasters gushed completely uncritically about what an amazing achievement it was? It was practically an advertisement for Virgin Galactic.
I am all for ending world hunger and poverty. But money is only partially the problem. There is a lot of aid now already. But it doesn't reach the people who need it most. The relevant countries need stable governments, who really cares about the wellbeing of the population. Instead this countries are suffering by corrupt, selfish, powerhungry governments, religious criminals, terror organizations and wars. The aid is right going into their pockets. Almost nothing of it reaches the starving population. No money in the world will end poverty and world hunger if this fundamental problems are still not solved.
The goal of all lifeforms is to survive and not go extinct. Being solely earthbound makes us very vulnerable to asteroids, climate changes, or even alien invasions. The only solution is to explore and colonize other planetary systems. Space travel is just the first step. In the grand scheme of things, world hunger wouldn't matter if there are no more humans left in the future.
OH SH*T! The Vanguard 1 satellite is in a collision course with Jeff Bezos's spaceship! What should we do?
I also have a criticism of going to space at all: if we can't take care of our own planet, how can we be trusted with colonizing other planets?
The problem is that you don't become a billionaire thru hard work. You become a billionaire by climbing over and using people as much as you can while cutting corners and cost no matter how it effects others or the earth and as long as the world doesn't stand together with environmental laws and wages it wont matter because the billionaire will just open shop where they can make/do what they want for the cheapest amount of money. And the government will never fight or tax the rich companies/people because those people own the government that is what lobbyist are all about. The government doesn't want you healthy and educated because then they couldn't control you so easily.
I think its actually a good thing for the survival of the human race. It doesn't matter how good we take car of our planet eventually it will become unlivable and we will have to either colonize another planet or perish. There will be no other option but to leave earth.
You know, when I idly theorized back in 2001 that within 20 years we'd see the well-off scheming new and more destructive ways to increase their wealth exponentially so as to go to space while the rest of humanity was left to suffer, I was just thinking up cheesy sci-fi plots that might make for interesting movies some day...
So no one mentions the jobs created by these people, both to allow them to get this wealthy or in pursuit of space? No mention of the money each one has already given (seriously, google Branson’s charitable works)?
I thought the US loved capitalism? Certainly much better than socialism, isn't it?
Because it's the billionaire's responsibility to end world hunger while the government just watches or something? It's astonishing how people think they have a right to someone else's money just because that person is extremely rich. You people are seriously delusional. World leaders should end hunger and poverty, not random billionaires.
Who in the hell died and made Bransen responsible for world hunger? You're criticizing the wrong entity
Well, it's all been said, most of us are, on the same page, my thought is, so much needs doing, on earth now, the government can help, if they choose to, the government hides in politics !!!
If US government can still afford an annual 700 billion USD military budget the Space flight hobbies of few billionnaires are however not neccessary the biggest problem..
I am going to be brutally honest. Democracy, theocracy, dictatorship... All are failures. Asking or demanding that these three space racing billionares should lead by funneling only money is even bigger failure of intelligence. Get it straight and right. No amount of money will eliminate any one social problem. The root cause is management abd the people in that management. I bet billionares ignore these whinings, because they are wiser. No money alone would solve any problem. Its the people. At least they focus on better tech. At least they are trying to figure out solutions and actually organize something to do so! But does anyone here even try to do something even similar in at least small scale? I wanna know. But until then I brutally say this. Less whining and more doing.
If I had enough money, I would totally want to go to space, so I can’t blame these guys for wanting to do that. But when millions of people are homeless and starving, they should be using their money for a better cause.
Why don't ever see articles in BP questioning govts? Rich people are no more responsible for improving the world than your neighbour is for cleaning your home. But govt is literally elected to make the lives of citizens better. Govt is richer than all these rich ppl they criticize and have the power to make policies.
Seriously, these three guys should just whip out their d**ks and measure them.
Thanks to tax cuts for the rich and government bought and paid for by the corporations, here in the US income derived from capital gains is taxed at a lower rate than income EARNED by the sweat of one's brow. In a democracy we get the government we deserve. Perhaps sometime soon the used and abused masses will wake up and realize that we deserve better.
the problem i see with capitalism it's that it follows the same stragegies with the same fails. it's been 200 years we allow people to buy bugattis, and yachts. That we pray growth, and say wait it creates jobs. it's been 200 years the poor witnesses the obscenity. Just f.. tax heavily the super rich, eventually limit personal wealths, and increase the minimum wadges
Well. It's their money. They can spend it how they see fit. But wtf guys.
Maybe the extraterrestrials won't talk to us because they think we are doomed by developing technology before wealth regulations. I know of lots of people with ten times more than I, and lots with ten times less, but I can't really relate to their daily concerns - they may as well be another species. Nobody needs more than ten times more than the poorest, and nobody deserves eleven times less than the richest. The range of talent is greater, but talent works for self-expression, and is inhibited by financial risk. Crowd funding has replaced the only social utility of private wealth.
EVERYTHING FAKE!! Branson has never been in space, he wasn't even around yet! The plane was real, but the rest was just a mix of CGI, plywood and prepared footage. Do you really think it's enough to write a rich man's zodiac sign on a weird plane and then *magic* space? Dream on, Alice. Branson simply was NEXT! That all was just a trick of THEM to replace him with a BOT. THEY are about to collect 'em all. It's hard to believe, but Zuckerberg was first-despite small flaws, hardly anyone noticed that he was replaced by Zuckerbot69. Mars isn't red! It's blue and green like earth! THEY already live there under a giant red umbrella..ella..ella.. (sorry, I'm just sick of it-the shops here are open and FULL, but soup-kitchens for the poor and homeless have to stay closed-'cause corona)
Being a billionaire is a moral failing. If they aren't paying their employees well enough or donating to charity enough to avoid becoming billionaires, they have failed a moral test.
Why this site is giving these morons any attention? Is not like these billionaires are going to leave Earth and live in space, what kind of moronic logic is that?
Imagine a world where all you people, instead of buying the products that make these people rich, gave YOUR money away to the poor or good works.
It's pretty disgusting that billionaires are racing to fly to space while our planet is on fire.
God left the building a very long time ago and this is what he (or she, or it) has left behind... Demigods.
