Editorial – July 2024: Democracy In Action Or Inaction.
Hello everyone,
Science fiction has largely ignored politics on our planet, which allows for a variety of regimes. I suspect this is primarily due to the fact that when a science fiction author adopts a specific stance, readers tend to perceive it as something they agree with, rather than having the ability to critique it. Much of it is functional rather than exploratory, and it is often just a backdrop. SF explores very few political systems beyond dictators, royalties, and democracies. We accept a need to show people, good and bad, in power far more than make a political statement, although we are quite happy to oust them. With SF’s wide scope, we can explore far more than other genres, although not as much as we could, even in satire. It’s almost like a poisoned chalice, although it’s neatly disguised. I mean, in many respects, Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ sequence is political, and so is Anne McCaffrey’s ‘Pern’ books about how the dragonriders interact with the various communities. The ‘Star Wars’ regime portrays the Emperor as evil without providing a clear explanation for his actions. The ‘Star Trek’ regime rarely demonstrated the types of political systems that were acceptable, even on Earth, in contrast to what was depicted as undesirable on other planets. We just don’t really see them that way. It’s all part of life, just not called politics. Regimes didn’t really change; it was just who ran them. Even on our planet, political systems change a bit over generations. The only difference was the number of years they continued, which, in many respects, would not be considered democratic but, a lot of the time, mostly fair.
Even in other genres, political nature is corrupted. It makes for stronger stories than nothing much going on. Even in democratic societies, a significant portion of events remain unreported until the media catches wind of them. Scandal always makes for enjoyable stories. Corruption even more so. Its characteristics are easily recognizable. It makes people untrustworthy and used to serve themselves. Politics is riddled with various forms of deceit. The recent decade in the UK and the USA has illustrated what happens when self-serving goes to extremes and the influence of TV on choice based on’star’ celebrity rather than their question to deliver. Regularly seeing people on screen, regardless of their actions, creates a perception of familiarity, but in reality, you are only witnessing an hour of activity, with no indication of how much of it has been scripted or edited to portray individuals in a favorable light. Whatever the case, this is a form of conditioning, demonstrating the manipulative power of the TV and your preferred media in your life. If you don’t believe me, consider the purchases you make under the influence of advertising. Big Brother isn’t so much watching you, but telling you what to do more subtly than in ‘1984’. Oddly, the only SF books that covered this are the pair of black-humoured books ‘The Space Merchants’ (1952), aka ‘Gravy Planet’ and ‘The Merchants’ War’ (1984), by Frederick Pohl and CM Kornbluth, based on their experience in the advertising industry. Don’t try to be coffiest. It’s not addictive, but you’ll be drinking it night and day. Think of how many caffeine products you have in your life, despite the fact that they are mildly addictive but acceptable.
Individual thought is important except when it comes to management when its representative, and that’s the same in business as much as government, although the only difference is the experience in each job. Professional politicians often lack significant experience in their assigned government roles. However, this is a common occurrence in any government, and it often depends more on luck than on the presence of experienced individuals. Oddly, it is very rare that anyone from the science community, let alone geeks, becomes a politician, so we’re sorely unrepresented in such an environment and would be looked upon as odd there. A no-win situation.
In any democratic society, it’s crucial to remember that unity and collective voting can make a significant difference. Failure to vote means you are pleased with whichever political party is in charge. News frequently reports that some individuals believe all parties are corrupt, so if this is your perspective, choose the party that will cause the least harm. If you don’t want a particular party in power, it doesn’t negate your responsibility to vote. I keep this editorial mostly neutral because I’m not here to make your mind up for you. Don’t believe the statistics alone; they only predict trends. It’s the ‘X’ on the voting paper that really counts.
People perceive a global shift in politics these days, often lacking a clear understanding of the distinctions between right-wing and left-wing ideologies. Right-wing political parties tend towards being self-serving rather than helping the community, the exact opposite of left-wing political parties. Just because you want a change, make sure you check as to which will be the safe one and more concerned about your well-being.
Personally, I tend to be skeptical of any political party that promises tax reductions, primarily because they fail to explain how they plan to pay for public utilities. Money is taken more stealthily than a certain honesty that we need to have finance to pay for them. I’d rather have a true assessment than have small ones that tend to take more from the poor than the rich.
Never be complacent about voting. Certainties are never absolutes. Don’t forget to vote.
Thank you, take care, and good night. Have I made you think?
Geoff Willmetts
editor: www.SFCrowsnest.info
A Zen thought: Think and realize that not everyone thinks enough or is alike.
What Qualities Does A Geek Have? Know where to look.To think intently and draw conclusions.
The Reveal: Considering the size of the population, sport occupies only a small part of it, yet it consumes the most time.
Observation: The film ‘Prometheus’ states that there is a 17-person crew, but if you count the people in the lecture, there are 16 sitting, including the android David and Meredith Vickers standing. Captain Janek is upstairs, still eating breakfast. That makes 18. Later, add Weland and his two nurses for 21. Janek should be aware of the number of individuals requiring sustenance, especially considering that the final three didn’t seem to have eaten upon their resuscitation.
Observation: Speaking of which, there shouldn’t be an exact match between the DNA of the engineers and humans; otherwise, we would be 7-foot-high blue giants. A 90% approximation would be close enough for kinship. 98% would be more similar to primates. Their DNA fingerprint should be in all species on Earth.
Observation: It’s easier to have an artificial gravity than anti-gravity, as all you need is a centrifuge.
Observation: Tyrell should have warned his employees in the film ‘Blade Runner’ about the presence of four replicants on Earth, given their potential to use subterfuge to breach his building. The 4D release does say four, not five.
Observation: More with ‘Blade Runner’. How did Roy Batty know that Deckard didn’t kill Leon unless he was there?
Observation: There is a peculiar aspect to the 1985 film ‘Predator.’ After taking out the guerillas, Hawkins receives a radio message back that there are other guerillas in the area, so why hadn’t the hunter practiced on them? It’s hardly like he needed a killing field.
Observation: When revisiting the original ‘Thunderbirds’, they consistently hear at landing sites that Thunderbird 2 doesn’t require a runway, leading them to assume it doesn’t require one at its homebase, even though it does. The same is true for Thunderbird 1. Would you say it landed vertically? This bias might have influenced General Lambert in ‘The Imposters’.
Computer Observation: I suspect a lot of you with laptops tend to leave it in sleep mode when not in use rather than turn it off. There is one advantage: if you save any open files, it can still download W11’s updates and reboot over night. The more significant issue arises when the system unexpectedly enters a reboot loop. Upon investigation, it was found that 7 files remain in the memory/RAM, irrespective of restarts, and these files cause significant disruptions. It’s unfortunate that Microsoft hasn’t come up with a solution to this issue. If it occurs, intentionally turn off the device, press the on/off button for a few seconds, take a brief break, and then restart. This will resolve the issue as the seven RAM files reset on each reboot. You’d think MS would have done something about that by now.
Feeling Stressed: Scarily, it can only get worse, so feel good that you’re holding your own.
