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| Manifest Destiny (Painting by John Gast) |
Although
the concept of Manifest Destiny was
rejected by such luminaries as Abraham Lincoln
and Ulysses S. Grant, it nevertheless played
a significant role in 19th century America.
Wikipedia
quotes historian Frederick Merk while
explaining
this central theme of Manifest Destiny: “A
sense of mission to redeem the Old World by high
example […] generated by the potentialities of
a new earth for building a new heaven.”
Unfortunately,
today's version of Manifest Destiny might
not sound nearly as noble. Since the
West (and
most of Planet Earth) has already been won (or
lost, depending upon one’s perspective), it’s time
to literally move on up (as in up, up and away).
Nowadays,
Manifest Destiny is rocket science, and
what’s fueling these spaceships is not so much
idealized religion as it is commercialized materialism.
In
her article “The dark side of space: how capitalism
poses a threat beyond Earth,” Izabella
Kaminska discusses such business ventures
as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Richard Branson’s
Virgin Galactic, and Robert
Bigelow’s
Bigelow Aerospace.
Although
Article II of the U.N. Outer Space Treaty
clearly states that “outer space… is not
subject to national appropriation,” Kaminska fears
that capitalistic “barons” won’t necessarily play
by these rules.
She
envisions the possibility of a “megalomaniac” one
day renaming Mars. Whereas Earth at
least has
the semblance of legal hoops through which capitalists
have to jump, outer space at this point does
not.
Kaminska
therefore wonders: Will space be the next
Wild West?
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