NASA's Space Force Golf Marketing Backfires With Trump
NASA package that fell from sky with note mentioning Trump sparks alarm in New Jersey, CBS
“A suspicious package that fell from the sky over New Jersey caused some alarm because it contained a note that mentioned President Donald Trump. South Brunswick police say the package, attached to a parachute, was making a hissing sound and included a note that said: “NASA Atmospheric Research Instrument NOT A BOMB!” If this lands near the President, we at NASA wish him a great round of golf.”
The second paragraph of the story is a little disconcerting. “[NASA] says a summer student employee wrote the note in a “misguided attempt to be lighthearted,” and that the student has been removed from the project.”
On the one hand, I grew up in Washington D.C. I know the Secret Service doesn’t have a sense of humor and that you need to be very careful about using the words “bomb” and “president” in the same sentence (which I just did, but I hope I did so carefully.) There are also things you should not make jokes about while at an airport or on an airplane.
But kicking a student off the project because he didn’t know any better? That seems a little bit harsh. I’d think his boss could have just read him the riot act and then let him off with a warning.
I live in Metro DC – now – and have lived here for 30 years. What this student did was stupid plain and simple. One you’ve been through a shelter in place alert you think about these things differently.
I have to agree and also disagree with you.
That student’s joke was definitely stupid. I’m not disagreeing with that. I’ve never been in a lockdown situation, but I have been unintentionally in the middle of a few riots. People doing something stupid just make a bad situation worse, and I completely agree with preventing that.
But, in this case, it looks like we’re talking about an undergraduate student (a summer student was specified, and summer students are typically undergraduates.) So we are probably talking about someone who is quite young and inexperienced.
In that case, I think firing the student, and potentially trashing the student’s career, is a bit harsh. I would be fine with dragging him (or her) in to a meeting with his (or her) supervisor, having that student yelled at, informed that the joke was not funny and inappropriate, and told that any further errors of that sort would result is him (or her) being fired.
But if it was a first offense by a young and inexperienced student, firing is going a bit too far. People do learn by experience, and that means we have to give people an opportunity to learn. That includes making stupid mistakes.