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"Surrounded By Moslem Maniacs On One Side, And Christian Maniacs On The Other"…

Aug 17, 2010
By .
Politics & Current Events

… "the wise lord Hassan preserved his people and his cult by bringing the art of assassination to esthetic perfection.  With just a few daggers strategically placed in the right throats, he found Wisdom's alternative to war, and preserved the peoples by killing their leaders.  Truly, his was a most exemplary life of grandmotherly kindness."

I'd never have read that passage if not for Ray Bradbury, who introduced me to science fiction and made me a lifelong fan.

Sometimes science fiction, at its best, has said things to a mass audience that could not be said in respectable books and periodicals.

So I found it interesting to read that Bradbury, the last of SF's three grand old men, believes that America is ripe for revolution. Only I don't believe he means it as metaphor.  I quote the passage above in hopes that the revolution, when it comes, won't be too bloody.

Thanks to TJIC, who appreciates a good science fiction reference as much as I do, for the pointer.

Last 5 posts by Patrick Non-White

7 Comments
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7 Comments

  1. David  •  Aug 17, 2010 @5:37 pm

    Ray Bradbury one of the the Big Three? Arthur C. Clarke spits at you from the grave.

  2. Imaginary Lawyer  •  Aug 17, 2010 @6:36 pm

    Ray Bradbury is almost 90 and is becoming increasingly crank-tastic. He also believes women can't and shouldn't write SF. I greatly admire his lifetime of writing, and Something Wicked This Way Comes is still one of my favorite books, but I don't turn raptly to Bradbury for politics any more than I eagerly race to buy SF books written by Newt Gingrich.

  3. Base of the Pillar  •  Aug 17, 2010 @7:56 pm

    Maybe we can put Bradbury and Streisand in a jar and shake it up.

  4. Karl Rove  •  Aug 18, 2010 @7:55 am

    First of all, I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book and that's Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see? That's the reason it's going to be around a long time—because it's a Greek myth, and myths have staying power.

    Ray Bradbury

  5. CTrees  •  Aug 18, 2010 @11:40 am

    Bradbury on anything other than fiction is a lot like Orson Scott Card on anything other than fiction (or honestly, even in his more recent fiction). Just ignore it, and enjoy their classics.

  6. elambend  •  Aug 19, 2010 @11:37 am

    how about a hattip on the reference in the title

  7. elambend  •  Aug 19, 2010 @11:38 am

    Never mind, Illuminatus