The first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States coast to coast since 1918. A striking natural phenomenon in its own right, it has been hyped up by NASA and "eclipse glasses" manufacturers as something that cannot be missed, lest those who miss it be incomplete for the rest of their lives. Like other events that are blown out of proportion (I'm looking at you Dana
White),
money stands to be made by convincing people that they must see this. Hotel rooms in Hopkinsville, Kentucky for example are all but sold out in anticipation for the "event of totality" in which the sun
will be completely blocked by the moon for 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Problem is; if there is even light rain occurring that day, people who have traveled thousands of
miles to see a "once in a lifetime" event (even though total eclipses happen multiple times per decade)
will see nothing. There are thousands of other natural phenomenon that occur regularly such as volcanoes, The Door to
Hell, aurora borealis, etc. that one has a guaranteed
chance of seeing if they spend their
money to get to them. Life
will go on as usual after this eclipse, until a̶ ̶b̶o̶x̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ another event comes along that whips the general population into a frenzy.
Person 1: Brah, you driving to South
Carolina to see the
2017 Solar
Eclipse next week?
Person 2: You is cray cray home skillet. I prefer to maximize my bi-weekly financial gains.
