A rat done bit my sister Nell
With whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And whitey's on the moon
I can't pay no doctor bills
But whitey's on the moon
Ten years from now, I'll be paying still
While whitey's on the moon
You know, the man just upped my rent last night
'Cause whitey's on the moon
No hot water, no toilets, no lights
But whitey's on the moon
I wonder why he's uppin' me
'Cause whitey's on the moon?
Well I was already given him fifty a week
And now whitey's on the moon
Taxes takin' my whole damn check
The junkies make me a nervous wreck
The price of food is goin' up
And as if all that crap wasn't enough
A rat done bit my sister Nell
With whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And whitey's on the moon
With all that money I made last year
For whitey on the moon
How come I ain't got no money here
Hmm, whitey's on the moon
You know I just about had my fill
Of whitey on the moon
I think I'll send these doctor bills
Airmail special (to whitey on the moon)
To whitey on the moon
Thank you
by imjustheretodomyjob
28 Comments
It was hard to see people really digging the space launch, thinking of these exact same words.
I get it. It’s a wonderful thing, and I know the human condition can both celebrate and chastise…but…man, if this still doesn’t hit.
I mean who’s going to pay for those things? Everyone knows war pays for itself because when you blow up innocent people in foreign countries, they turn into gold coins.
/s
Going to the moon and going to war enrich the people who control government; helping the poors don’t.
A rat done bit my sister Nell! With Whitey on the Moon…
I love that song.
A rat done bit my sister Nell
I’m all for less military budget, but let’s not drag NASA into this. Their budget is so small. It’s like 2%-3% of the whole thing and it actually serves to the benefit of humanity instead of killing humanity.
NASA budget this year is $25billion. Military budget is $1 Trillion.
traveling to the moon is an important step in ensuring that we can someday have medical debt on other planets
I’ve always felt people took the wrong message from Gil’s poem. It’s not anti-science. It’s not saying that we shouldn’t go to the moon or that we shouldn’t strive for scientific progress. The point of “Whitey on the Moon,” is to say that if we are so advanced that we can go to the moon, then how is it possible for people to live in such poverty.
It’s *literally* the ideology.
[Conservatism](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservatism):
>a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, **stressing the importance of established hierarchies and institutions** (such as religion, the family, and **class structure**), and preferring gradual development to abrupt change
>specifically **:** such a philosophy calling […] for a **strong national defense**, and for **individual financial responsibility for personal needs** (such as **retirement income and health care coverage**)
If people want social services such as social security, healthcare, and child care — especially for those who need it the most: those on the lower echelons of social hierarchy — they should consider promoting and voting for the *opposing ideology*, as the benefits of collective purchasing have been shown to [lower prices for the consumer](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6724956/), [better protect their rights in an under-regulated market](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022435913000225), and [has led to both better [services] and lower costs](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10312072/).
[Progressivism](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/progressivism):
>a political philosophy and social reform movement focused on **advancing the public good through government action** and often **calling for government to be used to meet popular social, political, economic, and environmental needs** and demands and to **advance rights and protections for marginalized groups**
Can’t believe there are still people who still genuinely believe the government gives a single F about its people
America sneaks up on you, but rarely surprises.
-Gil Scott Heron
It’s definitely Winter in America
If it didn’t take Orion **20 years** to plan and execute, they should have boycotted
Even my small poor Country of Lebanon the Government helps people that cant afford medicines
They got money for wars…
It’s a timeless classic, but I would prefer if it felt old and not relevant. We would be in a better place
Because capital interests control our government and have done so for decades.
Moneyed interests have always had a level of influence but I say in the last 40 years they essentially run our government and it been worse every year.Â
It ensures the money flows and stays up here.Â
The Revolution will Not be Televised.
It has been said that trump suffers from dementia, my sister suffers from it as well. I was told by doctors that she cannot be trusted with her decisions. My point here is how can trump be trusted with running the USA with a war. There is a complete failure in the white house of all parties and the Congress of the United States for allowing this. Over simplified? Yes! True? Yes! So now what???
Functioning healthcare would be cheaper then the current system. No amount of unrelated spending cuts would be enough because funding isn’t the problem.
All of the beneficiaries of these initiatives are chiefly white people
It’s never about what a government can afford, it’s about who they think is worth spending money on
Want, and can are two very different things. America relies on poverty to fill the military. So it pays in the long run to keep people poor, and uneducated.
Look at our current moron in charge. Well off people never go to war. They just start them.
This timeline will be a WILD chapter in someone’s history book one day…assuming someone (somewhat) impartial will be allowed to write about it.
No one holds grudge with NASA. Besides, their budget isn’t even that insane and it’s for the greater good of all mankind advancing space travel and exploration of our space backyard. Wars on the other hand can fuck right off. They benefit no one but the rich who fund them.
Somethings never change, a lot od songs dating back to 1950’s have a simular message.
I say this shit every day. These gov’ts have money for endless wars & endless aid packages to billion dollar companies that are too big to fail, and trips to the moon, and every other bs thing you can imagine, but no one has money to actually take care of the people living within their borders.
its beyond sad & Im not sure why we all don’t riot about this shit on the daily.
Naaaah I can’t go on this one when it comes to slandering NASA. They’re genuine heroes that do good work for the entire populace and trying to write them off as just “launching rockets into space” is stupid. Not only that but their annual budget wouldn’t make a real dent in terms of granting us something like medicare for all or covering social security. They make up less than half of a percent of our annual spending. And their R&D have helped produce several things that help us in our daily life.
* Artificial Limbs
* Cordless devices
* Scratch resistent lens’
* Safety grooves for high ways
* Shock absorbing for buildings
* Baby formula (two core amino acids were able to be added due to NASA’s influence)
* Water Purification systems
* Corrective GPS
* HAACP
I can keep going they have tons of pages and articles about this. But tons of shit that they do winds up helping regular people. And their annual budget is usually in the 20 billion range. For reference, single payer healthcare would have cost us several trillion a year, and social security also cost us a trillion and a half a year.
NASA is good. Leave them alone.