Outlet and Uplet
It helps sometimes to have a bit more of a spiritual side.
I think if I was left to the world of politics and ideology alone, it would kill me.
Creativity can be an escape, but it can also throw you deeper in.
Same for journalism and serious critique, in a different way.
If there is but one word that could sum up the world of the spirit, perhaps it could be this:
This much
Aye, indeed! There is…
And this much
Yet, is not the ALL.
Who are the Bad Guys?
Anyone know of some sci-fi where the Earthlings are the aggressors?
I.e…
“Hm. Sounds like them boys need some FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I notice a lot of sci-fi is very ‘defensive’in character. The Human Species are always the wronged, and not the wronged against. Deserves an essay in itself.
As I’m sure many scholars have said, there seems to be a correspondence between these plots and deeply-rooted anxieties about immigration, the Cold War, WWII, jihad, and other contentious topics.
But I wonder where all the good aliens and bad humans are…
Which creators have covered this topic? Cartoonists, novelists, screenwriters, etc?
(I posted this on my personal Facebook wall, and got a lot of interesting answers…)
The Crusades, & the Revisionist Assault on Civilization
There is much to be condemned about the actual manner in which the Crusades were carried out; but it is good that Europe was successfully defended, that Christianity survived, and that many good things came out of Christianity at a later point. Like secularism, the rule of law, and pluralism.
The great history Edward Gibbon said, albeit about a somewhat earlier battle (Poitiers, in the 8th century), that if Christendom had not won:
… The Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.
This is a truly horrendous thought.
No Reformation, as there was nothing left to reform.
Certainly no Enlightenment, as there would be no enlightened people to be the torchbearers of individual liberty.
Be thankful you’re not living under a Caliph of any kind.