Cory Doctorow – Little Brother and Heartland

After devouring a few more of Doctorow’s books, he is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  I previously gave a glowing review to Pirate Cinema, and then moved on to Little Brother and Homeland, the original book and sequel about the exploits of Marcus Yallow, otherwise known as M1k3y.  The story begins with Marcus hacking his way out of his high school’s security in order to participate in an on line game, but quickly turns into a suspenseful and intriguing tale about terrorism and conspiracy.  This is meant to be a YA novel, but the themes are very mature, venturing into civil liberties, social activism, the danger of Homeland Security and the role of torture in stopping terrorism.  As I pointed out in my review of Pirate Cinema, it is clearly as Left Wing in its ideology as Flashback is Right Wing.  Doctorow makes no bones about slamming governments for disregarding civil liberties and for abuse of power.  Some have claimed that the themes are too mature for a YA novel, but I would disagree.  People who make such claims are same idiots who are killing young people’s (especially boys’)desire to read by wanting to make everything sanitized and politically correct.  The sixteen year old character has to deal with some pretty extreme situations, including an introduction to sexuality.  But it’s all, in my opinion, dealt with in a very truthful and authentic manner.

I would give these two books an A+, but read them in order.  I also have to say that the second book, while still exciting and a good story, is definitely a little preachy.

Take a look at the letter sent to Cory by a young reader.  I quote a small part here, but the entire letter can be found on the craphound .com.  This was written by a twelve year old boy.

“Little Brother is one of those drastically important books that deals with real issues affecting everyone. This book was, in my opinion, more than just a book; it was a persuasive, life-changing book, the kind of gem that comes around too infrequently.

Before I read Little Brother I was scared to try something different. I surrounded myself with the same old young-adult novels (you know- goes on a quest, learns many things, big fight with a troll, the end) and never dared to step out of my little box.”

Little Brother alludes to Big Brother, and it’s comparison to Orwell’s classic is notable.  While some may say that Doctorow’s portrayal of corruption within Homeland Security and the violence it perpetrates on its own citizens in the novel is farfetched, I would tell them to look carefully at the news.  Look at the stories of protestors being kettled in the G12 demonstrations in Toronto.  Look at the peaceful Occupy… protestors being attacked with pepper spray.  Or look back at the last era where there was effective protest against government dominance and witness the killing of 4 students when the National Guard opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in Ohio, or the clubbing of protestors during the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968.  Doctorow exaggerates, but it is little more than an extrapolation of what we see in the news.  That’s what good Science Fiction does.  That’s what 1984 did.

Doctorow lives what he preaches.  All of his books are available on his website free of charge.  His bio is very interesting, and when you read about his parents and his upbringing you quickly understand the roots of his ideology.  The video below is pretty long and technical, but watch at least the first few minutes, if you’ve find this at all intriguing.  It gets really, really interesting at about the 15 minute mark!!!  Also, take a look at his web site.  It’s full of amazing things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nZFg-uq5zBA

[Can't seem to embed this.  Don't know why.]

However, in fairness to good reviewing, I have to say that I did not find the most recent Doctorow book, written with the very weird Charlie Stross,  “The Rapture of the Nerds”, to be less than optimally readable.  I couldn’t get into it.  It is a “post-singularity” novel, which is a unique idea.  The “singularity” is a future event, popularized by Ray Kurzweil which describes a time when nano-technology, genetics and AIs have transformed us in unimaginable ways.  “The Rapture of the Nerds” takes place in such a universe.  Many people may enjoy this, but I found it just too far out and had to abandon it after about 50 pages.  Maybe others would enjoy it more.

Nexus by Ramez Naam

The other book that I recently devoured was Nexus, by Ramez Naam.  This novel turned into an interesting discussion about public right to scientific information, and so was an interesting follow-up to Pirate Cinema.  Naam is an eminent neurological and technological researcher, prominent in the development of hardware and software connecting computers with the human brain.  He knows what he’s talking about.

Form Naam’s web site:

Who decides what you can put in your brain? Who draws the line between human and non-human? How do we choose between liberty and security?

This is a scifi novel that relies on hard science, meaning that there is a fair bit of technical jargon and theory involved in the story.  However, I was pleased to discover that there was, indeed, a great story supporting it all, complete with chase scenes, political intrigue and some interesting takes on the future of sex.  The drug, Nexus, is based on a nano-technology that allows intimate communication between the brains which have been dosed with it, and between brains and hardware.  Naam includes a Postscript, supplying details about scientific discoveries currently being made which will likely lead to such tech advances.  It’s another example of how rapid change in technology is evolving faster than our laws and values are able to adjust.

Of course in the novel, the government is opposed to all of this, claiming that it threatens the sanctity of what is considered “human”.  Hence an exciting ride that goes from colleges in America, to the illegal back streets of Thailand.  Naas doesn’t illuminate the government with much kindness.

I would give this book an A-.

Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow

So, after the right wing propaganda of Flashback, fate chose to drop on me a few novels that are quite the opposite.

Pirate Cinema is classed as a YA novel, but you’d never know it.  Typically, the main character is an adolescent boy coming of age and all, but the bulk of the story is quite mature and fascinating, even if a little simplistic.  In the opening chapter, sixteen year old Trent McCauley is caught pirating videos and gets his family’s Internet access terminated.  This is a disaster for his family, affecting their lives in all kinds of ways, including his sister’s education and his father’s job.  Feeling disgraced he runs away to London, where he experiences homelessness, dumpster diving, and house squatting.  While a little less than realistic, and unfortunately likely to make many people view homelessness as less traumatic than it really is, it is still interesting and adventurous.

But the core of the novel is Doctorow’s fairly obvious rant against the government, big business and copyright laws.  It is the perfect antithesis to Simmons’ Flashback, with Doctorow speaking from a very liberal and environmental, pluralistic idealism.   It’s not as overtly preachy as Simmons.  There are few outright speeches, although there are a few at the end when the pirates hack the government.  Once again we are presented with an entertaining thought experiment.

Like Flashback, Doctorow makes a lot of idealistic ideological points without considering the opposing view.   His points are valid and thought provoking, but since they are unchallenged they sometimes come across as a little shallow.  His point, that stiff penalties for illegal downloading are overkill, is a valid one.  His presentation of big business being able “buy laws” and government trying to sneak unpopular legislation through being undemocratic is simply a valid reality.  His claim that artistic freedom should allow pirate cinema to go unchallenged is not fair to some of the economics of the situation.  Whatever you may feel about pirating and big business, -and I have strongly opposed the claim that the entertainment industry is suffering-, it is still true that intellectual property requires some respect so that people can reap some benefits from their creation.  Artists require some kind of protection.

However, a study released today and reported on the news claims that movie studio revenue increased in the period following a crackdown on major movie pirating sites were shut down.  What a crock!  The study is flawed in a multitude of ways.  First of all, it didn’t look at either cinema ticket sales, or DVD rental at all, only overall revenue.  Secondly, effects on a corporation’s revenue is going to be dependent on all kinds of things and is not going to respond very quickly to any sort of external event.  It’s a rather shaky correlation at best.  Thirdly, major pirating sites were completely unaffected, meaning that the closing of a few hardly dented the amount of downloading.  Thirdly, I know a lot of people who dl movies.  They are mostly people who attend cinemas very regularly.  What is downloaded is very unlikely to affect their movie attendance or DVD buying.  The economic impact is going to be a small fraction of the practice.  Economic impact on movie theatres is much more likely to be a result of on-demand movies being provided through cable TV.  There are many more intelligent, unbiased studies showing almost no impact of pirating video or music on the fiscal bottom line of big corporations.  The drop in their revenue over the past decade or two is a result of them no longer having a monopoly on their media (due to legitimate competition) and a change in demographics because of a shift in the baby boom generation.  They’re greedy corporations, as papered as many of the spoiled stars that work for them, and that don’t want to see their heyday come to an end.  Even though it already has.

So, I have an implicit biased for Doctorow’s message in Pirate Cinema.  Even if I didn’t, like Flashback, it is an adventurous and engaging view of the near future, and food for much thought.

I would give this book an A-.  It is definitely on the list of those books I’d try throwing at teenage boys to encourage them to read.

Finished Flashback

There is no doubt that Simmons’ Flashback has a rather strong right wing bias.  Some reviews that I read called it “Right Wing disaster port” and a “Conservative’s wet dream”.  These are fairly accurate descriptions.  There are a few passages in the book where all pretense at literary license is abandon and the character or narration breaks into an anti-entitlement, anti-Liberal, even anti-Obama diatribe.  While citing entitlement as the cause of the great ongoing recession, no mention is made of the role played by greedy and corrupt banks in causing the biggest part of the debt crisis and triggering the economic problems.  This alone is a serious shortcoming in the objectivity of the novel’s setting.

In spite of that, I found it a very engaging book.  It is not unusual to have to suspend your sense of reality when reading Science Fiction or Fantasy, so it wasn’t that hard to do so in this case.  As a thought experiment, it’s very interesting, and there are some points in it that are thought provoking.  We do see the danger of cultural erosion currently playing out in some European countries.  This morning on the radio I did hear news reports about four children senselessly shot in Toronto over the past month, some seemingly for the fun of it, some just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This is disturbing when reading about the dystopic gang violence in Flashback, similar to that you see in the movie “A Clockwork Orange” (which could just as easily be accused of political bias).

Yes, it is thought provoking.  As bias as it is, the exaggeration of certain social issues carried to their dysfunctional conclusion has to give us pause to think.  Certain aspects of Liberal political philosophy have a negative underbelly.  While it is noble to have universal health care and to want to take care of the less fortunate in our society, there’s still a right and a wrong way to do that.  To do it inefficiently and with a complete disregard for fiscal responsibility, is the wrong way, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way.  Capitalism has a negative, ugly underbelly as well.  We see it in the greed of financial institutions and the exploitation of workers by big businesses.  But that doesn’t mean that the basic principles of Capitalism need to be thrown out, like the baby with the bath water.

The critical issue is not Liberalism or Capitalism.  It is the way it is done.  If both are done with opportunism and greed, both will fail.  If each are done with integrity and with reasonable boundaries, they will yield success.  That is the difference between the U.S. and Canada.  The reasonable boundaries that we’ve put on Capitalism, and that we need to use more of with regard to Liberal entitlement issues is what has allowed us to weather the economic woes of the past five years with greater success.  We don’t want to be more like the U.S.  Look at the consequences.

This is what Simmons totally fails to address in his book, Flashback.  In that regard it is a shallow book.  However, if you suspend that judgement, it is a thought provoking and engaging read.  The story and mystery are well done.  Simmons is not the first SF author to explore this kind of dystopia.

I would give this book a B+.

“Flashback” by Dan Simmons

Picture a near future where Israel has been nuked, the recession is going into its thirtieth year, minorities have carved up the United States into individual districts, terrorism is an everyday event and youth gangs rule.  This is the world of Dan Simmons’ Flashback.  I’ve only read about one third of it, but whether right wing, anti-liberal propaganda or an interesting social commentary thought experiment, it is undoubtedly the most terrifying prediction of the future I’ve ever read.  And I’ve read a lot of novels describing dystopias.

Add to this a drug addled society, addicted to a new drug called “Flash” which allows users to vividly relive any part of their past lives, and you have a society rotten to the core and spiraling downwards.  While Simmons has utilized almost every nightmare we might have projected onto the future, his prophesy is still eerily plausible, which is the most disturbing part.

Superimposed on this dark scenario is a murder mystery made all the more engaging by the characters’ ability to flash back on events to confirm facts and find new clues.

All in all this is a fantastic read, so far. It makes you think hard about what the consequences might be if we do, in fact, get it all wrong.

READY PLAYER ONE By Ernest Cline – a review

It’s been a long time since I’ve been as enthusiastic about a book as I am about Ready Player One.  I read it in two days because I couldn’t put it down, which I think is a record for me.

The story is slightly reminiscent of Reamde by Neal Stephenson in that it centres around a worldwide video game which permeates all aspects of normal life.  The difference is that in Ready Player One, the game is the setting for most of the novel, and the ideas and the workings of it are central to the plot.  This leads to a fair bit of explanation about how it all works, but it is truly fascinating and so not tedious to get through.  The whole concept is developed in a very plausible and realistic way.  This book may be a very accurate depiction of the future on several different levels.  In addition to predictions about game play, it also provides interesting social comment about centralization of power through the media.

The twist which Cline uses to add extra interest to the novel is the fascination with the pop culture of the 1980s.  It is a theme that runs through the whole plot and is used in the problem solving segments of the story.  It’s not name dropping like in Walton’s Among Others, but is much more effectively integrated into all parts of the story.  Certainly the book is a little more enjoyable if you recognize the references to everything from PacMan to Rush’s 2112, but it also must be fun to discovery this ancient pop culture for the first time.  It is the ultimate video or pop culture geek novel, and I mean that in the most positive and complimentary way.

I can’t help but think that this would make such an excellent TV show, making extensive use of CGI and animation.  Somebody out there needs to do that.

Update:  After writing this it occurred to me that this would be the perfect novel for a parent and teenage child (especially father and son) to read together.  The younger one would relate to the futuristic game playing and the older one could fill in the info about he 80s.  It would give them a lot to talk about.

This would be my top pick for books read this year.  The others would include:
Blackout by Mira Grant
Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Rule 32 by Charlie Stross
and, of course,
A Storm Of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Fifty Shades of Porn

In 1978 a landmark movie was released that would change the face not only of film but of western culture.  The movie was National Lampoon’s Animal House and it began a trend of movies that were unheard of before its release.  Riding on its coat tails was everything from Revenge of the Nerds, to Airplane to Porkys to, most recently, The Hangover.  It was the glorification of stupid.  It was permission to look at vulgarity, ignorance and slobbishness  (slobitude? slobbery?) as not only acceptable but also as desirable.  As with most such pivotal points, the subject has become a little more refined over the years, but the central sentiment still remains.  (You see this in Punk, where the viciousness drained out of it after a few years, but the energy and spirit remained.)  I recall a noticeable shift in social norms as well.  It was a long awaited vindication for the ignorant and an excuse for those who were into wild, mindless partying.  It was a glorification of ignorance which, I feel, was at least partially responsible for the rejection of intelligence in American society.  (It is interesting to note that the movie bombed outside of N. America and Australia, where this glorification of the ignorant does not seem to exist to anywhere near the same degree.)  It was a sociological event.

I believe that we are at a similar pivotal point with the release of Fifty Shades of Grey.  Since the rise of the Internet, the porn industry has flourished.  When I was a kid, porn was a few magazines hidden under the bed, and, if you were really lucky, sneaking a look at your friend’s dad’s 8mm movies one night when the parents were out.  Porn became more accessible with recorded media such as VHS and DVD, but still was tucked away from most people and especially from kids.  The recent access to the Internet has changed that.  In the past five years, increased Internet access through smart phones and tablets, plus the fact that many teenagers have a laptop in their room, not to mention adults having unrestricted access, has resulted in easy access porn for everyone.  Not only that, but anything with a camera attached provides the opportunity to make your own personal porn, leading to all kinds of sharing among people of all ages.  Yes video sexting is real and wide spread.  If you can get a teen or young adult to talk honestly, they’ll tell you that porn is pervasive.

I believe that this has an impact on our society, in fact I’m certain of it and will post something at a later date that explains that.  I don’t want to get into whether this is a good or bad thing in this post as it would require an oversimplification of the issue.  Suffice it to say that it is a reality.

And then comes Fifty Shades of Grey, a novel which is not only regarded as poorly written porn, but also one which deals primarily with sado-masochistic themes.  In spite of repeatedly terrible reviews, it becomes a sensation, getting a lot of mention and discussion on TV and radio.  It is the legitimization of porn, giving rise to a new term, “mommy porn”.  People talk about it opening up new and healthy dialogue about sexuality, but that’s kind of like people saying that violent movies are a social commentary on violence.  The reality is much more obvious.  This kind of book, which used to be in the back of the store with the Romance novels, now gets front row centre billing.  It is really just Harlequin Romance juiced up a lot with more graphic sex.  And it is the graphic sex which seems to be giving it its legitimization, -being somehow profound or socially significant.  The end result will be the legitimization and normalization of porn.  Like the legitimization of vulgarity with Animal House, it will evolve and become more tempered as it insidiously permeates our culture.  This is not a value judgement on sexuality, or even on sexuality and youth; it is just a statement about how a particular phenomenon is capable of infiltrating our cultural psyche.

Right now it is seen as an adult phenomenon, but with porn not only being accessible to the young, but probably more accessible, this normalization of porn will have ripple effect through our society.  We already see it in a normalization of various sexual behaviours in young people.  The release of Fifty Shades… will likely be viewed in twenty years as a turning point in sexual standards and attitudes.  Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter worthy of considerable debate.  But it is likely inevitable.

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore has long been one of my favorite authors.  Two of his best works, Lamb and Fluke, are easily on my top ten favorite book list.

So it was with great regret and disappointment that I had to abandon reading his most recent work, Sacre Bleu.  The story centres on the impressionistic artists like Matisse and VanGough, painting a tale of a conspiracy surrounding a particular shade of blue paint.  Like his earlier book, Fool, which utilized Shakespeare’s King Lear, Moore seems to be trying to saturate his novel in historical research and context, -but I would have to say that both of these books are in fact his least successful.  Moore is a master of irreverent comedy and satire.  While there was a little witty banter in Sacre Bleu, most of it left me profoundly unamused and unengaged.

I’m an avid reader, but I found myself putting the book down for days and only picking it up again reluctantly.  I really wanted to like it, so I read almost half of it before deciding to just let it go.  I kept waiting for something to grab me, but it just didn’t come.  Maybe I missed something.  Maybe the second half is better, -though that’s no excuse for the first half being weak.  Maybe his next book will rekindle his appeal.  I’m sure there are those out there who will enjoy the book because of it’s subject matter.  I’m not one of them.

Sorry Chris, I would give this book a C-.

ENDER’S GAME MOVIE

A few posts back I got excited about a Monkey Wrench Gang film.  Now I’ve stumbled on up to date information about an Ender’s Game movie, which has been kicked around for nearly a decade.  Ender’s Game is a novel by Orson Scott Card which won both the Nebula and Hugo awards for best SciFi novel.  This is at least the second attempt at producing it, and this one seems to be into scheduled filming so the odds look good.  Reports are showing it with Harrison Ford and with Asa Butterfield as Ender.

Once again I have to caution myself about expecting too much from a screen adaptation of one of the best SciFi books ever written.  Dune went through more than a decade of being kicked around until it was finally snagged and directed by David Lynch.  That first version of the movie was a disaster.  It wasn’t until the multi-part TV series that Dune was adequately portrayed.  I fear that Ender’s Game may be the same.  The nuances and the depth of the book may defy a single film.

I realize that Ender’s Game and Orson Scott Card are the subject of a lot of controversy these days.  Card has, in recent years, come out with some pretty extreme right wing social and political beliefs.  Many liberals see his work, especially in the light of his professed convictions, to be praising totalitarian ideas.  There’s no doubt that the society depicted in many of Card’s books seems to glorify a military state, although is most recent books, Hidden Empire and the others, seem to be directed more at warning about the dangers of a military and over-partisan run government.  Robert Heinlein or John Sclazi for that matter are no better or worse in that department. The controversy around the idea of children killing children has probably become more of a non-issue after The Hunger Games.

A novel titled Hamlet’s Father raised a storm over perceived anti-homosexual statements.

In actual fact, the record of Card’s views on politics and sexual orientation seem to be confusing, inconsistent and seem to have drifted to the right and become more extreme in the past ten years or so.  It is to be noted that during that time Card suffered a stroke, from which he seems to, at least apparently, recovered.  I have to state that his outspoken comments on sexual preference seems odd, coming from a writer who has included the issue, with a reasonably favorable and even hand, in many of his novels, including some involving the exploitation of children.  One can’t help but speculate on unresolved issues here.  Dare I also say that Card is a fervent Mormon, which in itself shows some suspension of reasoning ability.  (Yes.  I know.  That did slip out.)

But it doesn’t matter.  I loved Ender’s Game, it’s four sequels and the Shadow series that followed it.  People who say they’re not well written, I think have their own ulterior agenda.  And I’m really looking forward to the movie, albeit with some trepidation.

BTW, none of the listed movie trailers on YouTube are real (at least at posting time) or I would have included one.

The Monkey Wrench Gang

Oh, I guess it doesn’t take much to make my day, but I was absolutely ecstatic when I stumbled on the fact the The Monkey Wrench Gang is being made into a movie with a 2013 release date.  Finally, a reason to hope that the world doesn’t end at the end of this year.

The Monkey Wrench Gang is Edward Abbey’s classic comedy novel about environmental terrorism.  It has often been dubbed one of the principal inspirations of the Earth First movement and of radical environmental activism.  But the story is really a raging, irreverent comedy that doesn’t want to take itself too seriously, -kind of like Abbey himself, in whose works I always immerse myself whenever I visit his old stomping grounds in the American South West.

One troubling note is that the movie is said to star Matthew McConaughey and John Goodman, and is being directed by the guy who directed Twilight.  There is some hope in the inclusion of Jack Nicholson, although, who knows, it may be a quick walk on.   I guess that before getting too excited I should caution myself with memories of the travesty that was done to Youth In Revolt, -a great book that was mutilated almost beyond recognition when transformed into a movie.  Ah well, one can hope.

Deeper investigation has dampened my spirits.  It looks like this film was originally scheduled to be released in 2009 and then in 2011.  Maybe it’s run into a little trouble.   Read the book.  Please.

“Sisterhood of Dune” – Book Review

Sisterhood of Dune is an interesting parable for our times.  While it will be most interesting and understandable to those who are following the Dune megaseries, it provides an enlightening reflection on a major issue of our times.

The story takes place several hundred years after the battle of Corrin, when the human race finally overthrows a millennium of tyranny by computer AIs and mechanical tyrants.  The Butlarians become a fanatical, anti-technology group that reaches religious proportions and begins a cleansing campaign that even the new Emperor is unable to control.  Troughout the story we see the strength of this fanaticism slowly build until it is a force that none of the power structures are able to stop.  In the beginning these opponents depend on the integrity of human reason, only to find it easily swept up by passion.

The fanatics become bolder as they gain more momentum; at first they opposed only thinking machines but soon they wish to eliminate all technology.  As they become more powerful, you see that the very thing they are fighting against also begin to gain more power.  That which is suppressed is given power in the end.

Sisterhood of Dune is a bit slow in the uptake, but quickly weaves drama and conflict in which allows us to see many of the vested groups familiar to us from the other books begin to evolve and take shape.  It is interesting to see some of these powerful groups at their fledgeling stage.

More importantly, it is a cautionary tale about anti-intellectual fanaticism and how easily it can grow if allowed to take root.  Many conservative extremists in our current society would like nothing better than to hobble intellectual and scientific communities.  When your position is one of ignorance, it is important to silence those who know better.  From that perspective, Sisterhood of Dune is an enlightening and frightening tale.

I would give this book a B+.

 

Luddites and Conservatives

The most recent installation in the Dune SciFi series is Sisterhood of Dune, continuing the story of the post Butlerian civilization.  Don’t stop reading; this is not a book review, although I’m enjoying this new book particularly because of its relevance to current political trends.  I’m going to guess that Herbert and Anderson, the authors, are being inspired in no small way by political news and issues in the American leadership campaigns.

In Sisterhood of Dune, the Butlerians are a group of religious zealots who, after the overthrow of the AI despots which had cruelly ruled humans for centuries, campaign to destroy all forms of technology, condemning them as evil.  This is reminiscent of the Luddites who operated in England in the early 1800’s.  Angry at the rise of technology in the textile industry after the Industrial Revolution, with that technology resulting in the loss of many unskilled jobs, the Luddites rose up against the factories, burning and destroying them in protest.  They regarded technology and progress as being evil.  The movement spread to agriculture, with workers smashing farm machinery such as threshers.  Rather than raising themselves up to meet a new challenge, these unskilled workers chose to rebel against progress to protect their own ignorance.  The movement ended up clashing with the British military and “machine breaking” became a capital offence.  In 1813, 17 Luddites were executed in London.

In modern times, Luddite behaviour has switched from anti-industrial to anti-technology and anti-intellectual, and is seen clearly in the more extreme elements of right wing, conservatism.  It is seen in Santorum’s disdain for universities and the conservative disdain for intellectuals in general.  It is seen in the rejection of the scientific proof for Global Warming and for evolution.  It is seen in the fear of stem cell research and other medical research.  One has little trouble seeing religious zealots swarming a laboratory or research facility and smashing it in the name of God and Jesus.  Hasn’t happened yet, but it doesn’t seem to be out of the question.  In order to protect a world view that is vulnerable to the common sense of modern progress, these conservatives rant against that progress, hoping that the noise and fuss they make will eclipse the truth.  Certainly we see the same kind of thing in the anti-western paranoia seen in some Muslim nations.

(This is not to say that all progress is good.  Clearly, an argument can be made for the fact that we are losing some important, fundamental values and social structures in the name of progress.  Moving ahead blindly is never a good idea.  However, there is an old saying that applies well here:  Be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.)

Conservatives who are anti-intellectual often cherry pick their objection, making choices regarding which technologies they accept and which they protest.  The same science that disproves creationism is the one which allows them to turn on a TV set.  The same science that confirms Global Warming is the one that allows them to fly from city to city in their campaigns. There is usually a self-centred, self-serving, self-righteous hypocrisy underlying their protests.

I’m not an Ayn Rand fan, but her theme in Atlas Shrugged of the intellectual elite being offended and marginalized by the ignorance of the masses is strangely applicable here.  Oddly, it’s aimed at conservatives (-other than Ron Paul-), not liberals.