Why I Quit the Mars Society

Having fisked Bob Zubrin’s statement on the election, I think it’s relevant here to tell the story of why I quit the Mars Society: it’s because of the same kind of political B.S. I pointed out in that post.

I was one of the founding members of the Louisiana chapter of the Mars Society, and its president for a couple of years before I moved from NOLA to Denver in 2004. When I moved, I looked forward to getting more involved, given how close I would be to the Mars Society mothership. (As it happened, I lived about ten miles from Bob Zubrin himself, and used to see him at county Republican events.)

In July, about a month after moving, I finally had the time to contact the Colorado chapter and arrange to attend one of their meetings. On the day, I took off early from work and drove an hour up to CU Boulder – not then knowing the school’s reputation.

The meeting consisted of me, another new person, and 3-4 existing chapter members. Instead of discussions about advocating for manned missions to and settlement of Mars, the existing members spent the time ripping on George W. Bush and giggling about how stupid he was, as evidenced by whatever supposed solecism or blunder of his was then in the news.

On and on. With no recognition that the others in the room might have different opinions on the matter or might in fact have showed up expecting something other than shallow partisan political banter of no relevance to the purpose of the organization. The other new guy looked as annoyed as I felt.

A month later, I did it again. With the same result, but that the other new guy didn’t return. And after that, I didn’t return, either. Nor did I ever hear from anyone in the chapter. They didn’t seem any more interested in growing their organization than they did in serving the organization’s supposed purpose.

I attended two more conventions after that, but only because they were held in Boulder and I didn’t have to travel. None lived up to those I had attended in 2001 (which prompted me to start writing Mars fiction) and 2003 (which got me recruited by SpaceX). After 2008 or so, I just kinda forgot about the Mars Society. It seemed even then to be drifting into irrelevance.

When I point out the risk of a leader creating an unwelcoming environment in his organization by letting his personal political concerns intrude, I’m not doing so because I disagree with Mr. Zubrin’s particular political positions or his party affiliation, it’s because I’ve been on the receiving end of that unwelcoming environment – in his own organization.

We’ll See How Long That Lasts

"If Trump actually delivers a humans to #Mars program, the #MarsSociety, and I in my capacity as its president, will certainly support that initiative."

One lion on a hill applies as much to Bob and Elon as to Elon and the BOM.

One expects that his support for any manned Mars mission will be contingent on how closely the mission plan resembles his own, and that his politics will drive him to be even less tolerant of deviations from his own ideas than otherwise.