Celebrity Culture vs. The Right Stuff

WSJ's Bret Stephens uses the 4oth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moonwalk as a springboard into the topic of American celebrity culture.

While I'm not sold on the utility of manned spaceflight, there is no denying the teamwork, courage, and honor America's men-in-space displayed. They did things that made space real for us in an era when the high-value products space provided were not even acknowledged as "national technical means."

The space culture values composure under pressure. The celebrity culture values decomposure under pressure. Reality TV in 1969 was Apollo 11. Reality TV today is an oxymoron.