And it has gone in an endless circle for over a decade now and is used
by only a few specialists at a time, many of them doing things that are
not immediately beneficial to humanity. And most people have only the
vaguest idea what it does up there.

People have focused their lives on worse and less tangible things than
the Red Planet, which at least really exists and we can land upon and
use it someday.

Personally I find the fact that Mars is not as much like Earth as once
thought all the more reason to explore that alien world.

You say you’ve been “studying” Mars enthusiasts for ten years, yet you
still seem surprised that they didn’t run and build an altar to you when
you put them down in the alternately rude and cryptic ways I have
seen you do for years.

Shocking psychological fact: People don’t like being made to feel like
idiots and fools and will respond accordingly to the source of those
insults.

This is why some scientists keep wondering why so many people hold
on to creationism over evolution whether it is correct or not; part of
the reason is the condescending attitude of the scientists who offer
only cold evidence and no ultimate purpose in the place of creationism
and its accompanying religion.

I will probably regret having made any comparison between creationists
and Mars enthusiasts, I am sure, but hopefully the real point will get through.

The real shame is that I and I am sure most other rational souls here
and elsewhere don't have an issue regarding the monitoring and stopping
of NEOs that threaten to hit Earth some day. But when we are made
to feel more than uncomfortable to post on just about any other space
subject and, God forbid, have our own views on NEO impacts and/or
ask for more than cryptic evidence, don't expect us to come running
with that altar.