“What They Did to My Planetarium”
ALAN writes:
Several months ago I had occasion to visit the Planetarium in St. Louis. It is the same building that I visited numerous times from 1963 through 1974. But it stands now within a cultural and metaphysical setting radically different from where it stood then: Trendy, cutesy, cutting-edge, and drenched in hip-and-cool. It is now part planetarium, part fun house, and part platform for political sloganeering.
The Planetarium in 1963:
The setting is one of traditional form and restraint. Well-attired, well-mannered grown-ups. Men wearing suits and serious hats, not blue jeans and ball caps. Women wearing dresses, not pants and t-shirts. No tattooed women. Parents in control of children. Grown-ups did not use profanity in public settings. No screens. Hour-long presentations. Classical music. Nothing overly loud. Classrooms and library of astronomical books and periodicals. No “play areas” for children. No feminism, “diversity” or “inclusion”. People did not carry amusements with them.
The Planetarium in 2025:
The setting oozes hip-and-cool. Form is ignored or derided. Hyper-casual attire. Men in blue jeans and ball caps; women in pants and t-shirts. Tattooed women flaunting their “body art.” Conduct befitting adolescents. Children in control of parents. Play areas for children. “Adults” using profanity to show how hip-and-cool they are. Screens here, there and everywhere. Presentations lasting thirty minutes or less, with surround-sound at hyper-volume and hyper-fast editing of scenes. No classical music. No classrooms or library. Political ideology rampant. Feminism, “diversity” and “inclusion” now shape vocabulary and frame of mind. People carry amusements with them.









