According to Ana in “The Allied Hunt for Nazi Super Weapons” the astronauts who walked on the moon are “clowns”! As an American who grew up with the space program I am appalled! She may disagree with the space program, but to call these men “clowns” is unforgivable. She can’t hold a candle to those brave men and owes them an apology!
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I’m not sure if I already answered you on YouTube… In any case: As Anna clearly says; she’s quoting Tim Lehrer’s intro to the humorous song about Werner von Braun. Lehrer is using the term clown for comic effect…
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Upon further reflection I take back my apology from the YouTube comment. Tim Lehrer’s quote is insulting to everyone who worked on the space program.
Lehrer’s quote was not that of a historian and you didn’t put it in text at the bottom of the screen like you do when quoting historians.
The quote was an anachronism. It spoke to events that occurred 20 years after the time period covered in this episode. By the way, the modern books on the desk of your 1940s set are also anachronisms.
I’m a Yankee transplant to Huntsville, AL and in my 23 years here I’ve gotten to know several American rocket scientists and engineers. You can’t throw a rock in Huntsville without hitting something named for von Braun. He claimed the pronunciation was “von Brown”.
During the war, white southerners treated German POWs better than black GIs. I guess they felt a kindship with another “superior race”. German POWs could eat at restaurants that the black codes kept black GIs out of.
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he did not call them clowns, he called them idiots.
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It’s your prerogative to get riled up about this… but it won’t change my stance, and it won’t stop us from doing similar things again. Our intros serve the purpose of getting the viewers attention. Making them provocative, or even controversial is a deliberate choice as it makes a huge difference in how many people view the rest of the video and partake in the actual learning experience.
None withstanding that I’m a huge fan of the race for the moon, and consider the astronauts and the scientists who enabled space travel, and went into space to be heroes of humanity, I consider sardonic humor an essential tool to expose reality in all it’s ugliness. Your opinion may vary (it clearly does) but this is by far not the most controversial part of the story we tell…
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