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Will someone please send No. 10 a good dictionary with the definition of "progress" highlighted?
Monday, 23 May 2011
Forward into the past
Will someone please send No. 10 a good dictionary with the definition of "progress" highlighted?
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Well, Britain hasn't gotten quite back to the Dark Ages yet. They still have diesel lorries.
Of course, I'm sure the Greens are horrified by that, and are working to have them outlawed in favor of human-drawn carts. Musn't enslave animals, you know- enslaving people being so much more fun for those wielding the whips, as most ancient cultures knew.
The end result will look less like Pre-Roman Britain, and more like a nasty cross between "The Tripods" and "The Bed-Sitting Room". With a soupcon' of "A Clockwork Orange" (must make sure the yobs aren't feeling oppressed, you know).
Next Green initiative- human sacrifices at Stonehenge? Or mass re-education meetups in front of giant TV screens? And if the latter, where will the kWh come from? Will everyone be running on treadmills?
cheers (grrr)
eon
More evidence that "progressives" are leading the way... to the PAST!
As expected, Gaia-worship/environmentalism (they seem interchangeable) always lead to less wealth and more misery. Why are these "green" (really red) movements so prevalent in so many societies today? Why do we hate ourselves? I can't think of any other reason to adopt their foolish philosophies. So much for the mandate to subdue the earth. These people want the earth to subdue everyone else.
Eon, the envirofascists would have all the rest of us running on treadmills to power _their_ giant flatscreens, and powering their personal human-drawn carts. Think of the fun races! The Indy 500 will take a lot longer, though.
With that established, all the rest of us will be too tired to revolt against their tyranny. The sacrifices to Gaia will be of those who are too old or too weak to run, who are thereby deemed societally useless. That'll likely be the new form of retirement, and it'll save a lot on socialized medicine.
Wesley;
I think a lot of it goes back to the Sixties.
The "progressives" spent an entire decade in a drug-induced haze, dreaming of a world where they could simultaneously be eternal gods and eternal children. I think the Greek pantheon was their model; probably the most petulant, self-absorbed, tantrum-throwing lot of any of the ancient belief systems.
At the end of that lost decade, they woke up- and realized that in spite of all their drug dreams, all the hexes cast by the ones who "thought they were witches" like one of P.J. O'Rourke's girlfriends, and all the dogmas of their gurus from Marx to Nietzsche to Hermann Hesse- the rest of us were still here. They've been throwing tantrums and dreaming of our annihilation ever since.
Keep in mind it's not all of humanity most of them want to erase; it's just everybody but themselves. Plus a few slaves for each "Enlightened One", living in their Neolithic socialist agrarian communes- or rather, the castles they see looming over same.
If you haven't read "Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy, I strongly recommend it. Clancy captured the "We Are The Only People Who Matter" mindset of the deep-ecos perfectly. Or you can read Rolling Stone, or Time, or Mother Jones, and get it first-hand.
They are in love with themselves. It'd just the rest of us they can't f**king stand.
cheers
eon
Eon, there is much truth in what you write. The deep-ecos (nice) have been getting away with their garbage (oh no, pun) for almost half a century by accusing anyone who doesn't agree with them of not wanting clean air and water (stupid on the face of it but unanswered for too long). Now we know where their dogma and dictates lead. They must be countered because as you say, to them, anyone but themselves is the enemy (aside from the aforementioned tightly-controlled slaves).
Another writer who captured the deep-eco ethos is Michael Crichton in "State of Fear". I don't think the ecofascists could stomach it, but it can be quite entertaining and enlightening for the rest of us.
While I'm happily familiar with and have spent many a pleasant hour in the Ryanverse, I have not read "Rainbow Six". Thanks for the suggestion; I'll have to remedy that oversight.
This is off-topic but Rainbow Six's chief, John Clark, was introduced to Mr. Clancy's readers retroactively in "Without Remorse", an excellent read. If done properly, that would make a fine addition to the Clancy film treatments, IMHO.
Q: What is the difference between the Deep Ecos and Nazis?
A: The decade.
Wesley;
The term "Deep Ecology" was created by the "Greens" themselves. In their own minds, they are the "Purists", the one who will "Save Gaia" no matter what the cost.
I agree with you about "Without Remorse". According to Clancy himself, it was actually the third book he wrote, with "Patriot Games" being the second. His first? "Red Rabbit", surprisingly. "The Hunt for Red October" was fourth, and (again according to Clancy), that was when he realized he was writing a series. (Right now I'm re-reading his one non-series novel, "Red Storm Rising", co-authored with Larry Bond. While also reading "Battle Born" by Dale Brown.)
cheers
eon
Ironmistress;
The resemblance between the NSDAP and the modern Greenies isn't surprising. After all, they both came from the same milieu'- namely, a rejection of modern civilization and a fascination with primitivism.
Both share a philosophy born of the German Romantic movement combined with Tibetan style mysticism. Not to mention a variety of beliefs gleaned from the likes of UFO "contactees" in the Greens' case, or Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Houston Stewart Chamberlain in the case of the other lot.
Similar causes generally have similar results. Or, as the old saying goes, those who lie down with dogs will get up with fleas.
cheers
eon
Eon, apparently the Greens will save their "beloved" god-mother Gaia at the expense of the rest of us. Do you suppose they have an inkling that in carrying out their warped program they are ensuring their own destruction as well, if they follow their own beliefs? After all, Gaia would be better off without them too, and the hordes of filthy eaters (like the rest of us) they would eventually breed. If Gaia doesn't like the rest of humanity, what makes them so special? They could offend her and not even realize it, for Gaia is a fickle godess, like all false gods.
On to a more pleasant topic - I always thought "Red October" came first, based on the publication date of my copy (1984 - interesting how many times that year came up in so many diverse references). My copy of "Without Remorse" was published in 1995. And wasn't "Red Rabbit" published later still? I saw 2002 as the publication year. But Mr. Clancy knows best when he wrote his books! Maybe, early in his writing career, he didn't think his first works could get published?
"Red Storm Rising" is a grand, sweeping tale. Definitely worth reading more than once. I hadn't heard of Dale Brown, but if you recommend him, based on our shared enjoyment of Clancy's works, I'd probably enjoy his writing too, so thanks in advance!
Mr. Clancy has done more than most to entertain millions, while also presenting situations that show what people who work towards a worthy goal can do when they work as a team against those who want to make the world a worse place. It seems schoolchildren could learn more truth from his novels than from their textbooks, particularly when it comes to patterns of thought and the way people work together, and where beliefs and ideas - both good and bad - when implemented, can lead. Clancy presents a reality in his fiction: Actions have consequences.
Wesley;
Exactly right on all counts, both "green" and Clancy.
The Greens genuinely believe in their innate superiority, just like any insular cult group does. They also believe that they don't need the rest of us, and can build a Utopia without us. I used to ask them things like, "can you build a safe sewage system?", or "do you know how to remove an inflamed appendix?", but after a while, their blank looks got tiresome. (NB; Yes, I can do both. Farm kid who grew up to be a CSI lab rat, you know.)
As for the much more pleasant subject, I'm going by an interview reprinted in "The Tom Clancy Companion". And you're correct- Mr. Clancy didn't think "Red Rabbit" or "Without Remorse" were as likely "sales" as "Red October". This was the literary market of the early 1980s, remember. Political thrillers dealing with the Vatican weren't "hot" yet; the controversy over John Paul I's death was still too recent. And "Vietnam" war thrillers were out of style due to the fall of Saigon being too fresh in everyone's memories, too.
Except for "Red Storm", which of course isn't a Ryan novel, Clancy wrote the Ryan books more-or-less in chronological order. They just didn't get published that way. His publishers (Naval Institute Press) were floored by the response to "Red October", and asked him if he'd written anything else. He mentioned "Patriot Games" (which takes place before "Red October"), they grabbed it, and the rest is history.
If you like "Red Storm", you might be interested in Clancy's collaborator, Larry Bond. He writes similar novels on his own, mostly set in a non- WW III world, and like Clancy's, mainly concerned with naval warfighting. If you're also interested in armored warfare, Harold Coyle is a good read- start with "Team Yankee". (Bond and Coyle, BTW, are Academy types- Annapolis and West Point, respectively.)
Dale Brown is also very much in Clancy's mould, but where Clancy is a Navy enthusiast, Brown is an Air Force fan. He ought to be; before he retired and took up writing, he was a Lt. Col. SAC "bomber puke". One warning; his portrayal of the politics of national defense (not to mention service infighting)at the executive level is less congenial than Clancy's. (But probably a bit more accurate- look up the "Admirals' Revolt, 1948-49", sometime.)
Personally, I consider all of the above as "near-future SF". It's really a school all its own, with a long history in the field. Even Fred T. Jane, of "Fighting Ships" fame, wrote such stories- 100 years and more ago.
cheers
eon
Eon, the Greens tend to be a highly insular bunch, spending all their time talking to themselves and their favorite media parrots about the evils of civilization while comfortably ensconced in their glass-and-steel air-conditioned ivory towers. Perhaps if they took a field trip to aboriginal Brazil or Australia they'd see humanity living as their dictates would lead to.
But, there'd still be trouble in paradise - Like all humans, aborigines use natural resources to construct their huts, raise crops, and - the Horror! - even occasionally hunt. Likely too, the aborigines would not be inclined to accept, much less implement, the learned lessons of the benevolent Greenie illuminati. So, the aborigines would merely be another people group that would have to be sacrificed in the grand Gaia cleansing.
I'm looking forward to taking you up on your suggestions regarding further reading of the Clancy caliber. My wife might also enjoy Mr. Brown, since her dad was an Air Force officer, and she would be likely to relate to the characterizations. And if Mr. Brown portrays political games a little less rosily than Mr. Clancy, well, perhaps he was anticipating our current crop of bureaucrats – or was at least more willing to let us see their warts.
Thanks, Eon, for sharing information on both statist folly and enjoyable literature.
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