I've seen a few people complain that the black hole picture is a waste, that humanity has our environment or povery or whatever else as a far far more immediate pressing matter than to take a photo that is 'an orange smear'.

The issue at hand here isn't science funding, the issue at hand is the total structure of industrial capitalism. If you cut astronomy funding to 0, how much do you think of that would go towards social projects? How much would go towards sustainable degrowth? How much would go towards ANYTHING that goes against tje ideological principles of neoliberal capitalism.

On the contrary, there are people who find a deep romantic wonder and an inherent artistic value in things like this. People finding wonder in the world, being humbled by the nature and otherness of it is a beautiful way to look at the world. Don't light your torches at astronomy, capitalism is your issue