A modern-day Amelia Earheart (that's her name) launches 'round the world flight next week

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If I may paraphrase Pterry for a moment, this seems a little like standing on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards!ā€

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Cool, I saw her on her last day working at our local news station in Denver talking about moving on. Iā€™m so happy and excited for her.

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Hardly. Modern aviation is so incredibly advanced compared to Earhartā€™s time itā€™s not even funny. Flying around the world is routine these days, and depending on the plane can even be done without landing to refuel.

More fascinating to me is that there are people in the world who will name their child after a famous historical figure and then rear that child from an early age to ride on the coat-tails of the historical figure and vicariously live through them and their fame.

I simply canā€™t understand the mentality that would lead people to exploit their own children to chase after phantoms of the past, instead of allowing a child to live their own life and be their own person in the present.

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Earthart or Earheart? Is this like Ghandi / Gandhi?

Hardly. Modern aviation is so incredibly advanced compared to Earhartā€™s time itā€™s not even funny. Flying around the world is routine these days, and depending on the plane can even be done without landing to refuel.

Oh, okā€¦ Debbie Downer.

More fascinating to me is that there are people in the world who will name their child after a famous historical figure and then rear that child from an early age to ride on the coat-tails of the historical figure and vicariously live through them and their fame.

I simply canā€™t understand the mentality that would lead people to exploit their own children to chase after phantoms of the past, instead of allowing a child to live their own life and be their own person in the present.

Wowā€¦ thatā€™s what youā€™re getting from this?

Do you know her parents or something? Or are you just being pretentious, insulting and negative like usual? Or, are you simply projecting your own experiences with your own parents upon others you donā€™t know?

You seem like a very unhappy person jealous of the happiness of others and I honestly feel very sorry for you. I hope you begin to realize someday that life is too short for your kind of petty bitterness and find peace within yourself and begin to share it with others.

In other words, grow up.

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The article sounds so downbeat up to the fold! Agahajanian is a nice rejoinder name, though. Also, 17 stops. Itā€™s going to be hard landing the little craft around Denver, towing that Air Malaysia jet and all the super-hungry steampunk alt-history Amelias. Bermuda Triangle Party 2016!

Or, maybe, naming her after Amelia Earheart is a way of showing respect and appreciation for a great American hero.

Also maybe, influenced by her name or not, she chose to become a pilot of her own accord?

Flying a plane might be safer and more comfortable than at the dawn of aviation, but I would not consider being a pilot a walk in the park.

A little less cynicism can go a long way.

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So they should say that sheā€™s going to retrace her namesakeā€™s route but without the disappearing.

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ā€œwho plans to fly across the worldā€ So the world is flat after all!

I donā€™t think you really understand what ā€œexploitationā€ means. This young woman has not been exploited. She seems to be in complete control of her life (and chosen CAREER), and sheā€™s clearly a very intelligent PILOT, which is no easy feat.

Why so disparaging of someone who is clearly very passionate about what she does? Youā€™re really focusing entirely too much on her name, and not enough on the obvious determination and drive this woman has. I was going to include ā€œtalentā€ as well, but that seems to belittle her accomplishments ā€“ sheā€™s a pilot, for Peteā€™s sake. Why are you so negative? Becoming a pilot takes a lot of hard work. I donā€™t understand why youā€™re trying to throw her under the bus when the ONLY personal thing you know about her is her given name.

She is more than her name, and itā€™s clear to me you didnā€™t watch the video at all.

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Psst.

I think you might have missed an important person in history that would make your conjecture seem insensitive.

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Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart? Who holds the stars up in the sky? Is true love just once in a lifetime? Did the captain of the Titanic cry?

Pfft. Amy Johnson FTW.

Dale Earnhardt Jr?

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So I point out that a stunt that was impressive almost a century ago is no longer as impressive because modern technology makes it almost unimagineably safer and Iā€™m told Iā€™m a downer?

I read a story about a woman whose parents named her after a famous pilot, with the article discussing how she even grew up believing herself actually related to the historical figure, with the piece dripping with so much florid romanticization that it reads like an interview with Santa Anna, and you angrily fault me for drawing conclusions you personally feel are too negative and skeptical?

Iā€™m sorry, maybe Iā€™ve just been exposed to more bullshit in my life than you have. Maybe my rose colored glasses have been discolored by it. Maybe Iā€™ve seen too many things like child beauty pageants and unfortunate children named ā€œDoctorā€ by their controlling and ambitious parents. Maybe Iā€™ve met too many people who cling to the notions of bloodlines and descent grasping at fame and influence by invoking alleged family connection to famous historical figures.

Despite what you may believe, being critical and skeptical of things does not instantly make someone miserable, or even merely truly cynical. The acts of questioning and doubting are not negative things. Itā€™s entirely possible that I question and doubt too strongly for your tastes - that if you were to doubt as much as I do, you would be unhappy for doing so - but I find I do not personally suffer for it in any regard.

Believe whatever you want to believe about me personally. Pity me if you feel it appropriate. It leaves me mystified, but ultimately it is entirely benign behavior.

As for what I believe? My pool of experiences and knowledge leads me to make a few assumptions about Ms. Earhart and her family. Yes, theyā€™re rather unpleasant assumptions - but they seem to fit based purely on the (admittedly extremely limited) knowledge I have of the situation.

If new knowledge is presented? If I come across additional evidence about the situation which directly contradicts my current assumptions? Naturally I will question those assumptions and disregard them as appropriate.

In the meantime, however, Iā€™m perfectly content to come to skeptical and unpleasant conclusions if that is what my experiences and prior knowledge lead me to. The fact that you care so strongly about my arriving at such ā€œnegativeā€ assumptions mystifies me as much as anything else, but again, it is an entirely benign behavior in a practical sense, so what do I care?

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Sorry, this response makes no sense.

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The man you refer to was born Michael King, Jr.; was named after his father Michael King, Sr.; and both men had their names changed to Martin Luther King by the father when the son was five years old after visiting Germany in 1934.

King, Sr. was himself a pastor, and took the same name for himself, so it would be hard to argue he was attempting to vicariously tap into Martin Lutherā€™s reputation through his son. And King, Jr., although quite young, presumably agreed to changing his own name, meaning he had a choice that an infant never would.

Thereā€™s still something to be said for the controlling influences of a father than expects his oldest son to follow in his footsteps and take up the same profession, of course. But then again we are talking about a child born in 1929 to an African American family in the Deep South during Segregation and the Great Depression, not one born in 1983 to a Caucasian American family in the Midwest during the Reagan Era.

But even if we donā€™t discount the elder Kingā€™s actions as a product of their time, whatā€™s the problem? Are we so reverent of King, Jr. that we are afraid to criticize the actions of King, Sr.? How is it insensitive to recognize that the sonā€™s life was strongly manipulated by the fatherā€™s influences? Itā€™s no more insensitive than to recognize that King, Jr. himself was a problematic figure notorious for his treatment of women, among other matters.

Yet even putting all of that aside, no one in their right mind would suggest that King, Jr. is famous because he emulated Martin Luther. Itā€™s not as if he is known for having re-enacted Lutherā€™s famous nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg - especially not well after the fact in an age when such an act is far more trivial that it had been historically.

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So I point out that a stunt that was impressive almost a century ago is no longer as impressive because modern technology makes it almost unimagineably safer and Iā€™m told Iā€™m a downer?

No, youā€™re Debbie Downer, specifically. :smiley: If you still donā€™t get why after watching the video link and reading your own insulting, hurtful drivel towards an entire family youā€™ve never met, then I guess weā€™re at an impasse here.

Sorry, but the rest of your post is tl;dr for me atm. Continue to revel in your bitterness, pedantic drivel and lack of joy for the accomplishments and adventures of others if thatā€™s your thing.

Iā€™m actually kind of thankful you lack the self-awareness to see how pathetic your attack on her parents and Amelia are, because that would just make you a pretty despicable person through and through. I think youā€™re simply detached from your own actions and it makes you more pitiable than loathsome, in my opinion.

Maybe if you didnā€™t use the word ā€˜maybeā€™ so much, Iā€™d be more inclined to believe this actually was your life experience. Rather than the one or two anecdotal first or second-hand instances I now suspect it actually is.

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To be honest, I didnā€™t watch the video, but then again youā€™re admitting to pulling a tl:dr yourself, so there you go.

Itā€™s strange that you respond to what you perceive as insulting and hurtful remarks in kind. You believe that Iā€™m ā€œattackingā€ Ms. Earhart and her family (how exactly can one attack a person whom one has had zero interaction with?), and you believe the appropriate response is to therefor (actively and personally) attack me? Do you not realize the hypocrisy?

As Iā€™ve admitted, Iā€™m making some strong and unpleasant assumptions - but theyā€™re born out of what I believe to be a rational basis founded in the limited evidence I have at hand. Are they ā€œinsultingā€ and ā€œhurtfulā€? Clearly to you they are, but innately, in and of themselves?

The reality of manipulative parents exploiting their children is undeniable fact. To suspect the behavior when one sees evidence of it isnā€™t cruel or malicious, itā€™s merely pragmatic and realistic. True, my evidence is extremely limited, and my personal biases distort my perceptions, but I admit to those limitations and am prepared to change my assumptions based on new information. What about that is insulting or hurtful?

If we are to posit that the only point of contention as to whether a comment is insulting or hurtful is if someone, somewhere might be insulted or hurt by it, then all of human speech is insulting and hurtful.

Humans are irrational creatures perfectly capable of being insulted and hurt by anything and everything, including the very facts of reality itself. Consequently, it would be patently absurd to censure every unpleasant thought or assumption merely because it is unpleasant. Faulting me for drawing unpleasant conclusions is therefor ludicrous.

Where you see ā€œaccomplishmentā€ and ā€œadventureā€, I see something else entirely. Yet somehow, despite the fact that you and I disagree, only one of us is calling the other ā€œpatheticā€, ā€œdespicableā€, ā€œpitiableā€, ā€œloathsomeā€, and the like. Why is it I can accept that your perceptions are different than mine without having to resort to villification and character assassination?

Put more simply, why does it bother you so much what I think or say? I could be entirely wrong on this. If you feel I am in error, fine - logically critique my statements, point out the fallacies in my argumentation, put forth the effort to debate with me - donā€™t simply resort to petty mudslinging and flat dismissals.