For the most part I agree with Wirt's statements below.

But I have a problem when the public school system required my kids to read
'Catcher In the Rye' and similar books.  My kids where taught that profanity
is a poor mans version of communication and they will never make much of
themselves using such trash talk.  My kids raised the question, "if we are
not allowed to use profanity in school, why are we required to read books
that use this type of language to put across an idea or moral issue?  Does
this mean the schools are really supporting the use of such language?"
I asked that question at a school board meeting and the answer was
'silence'.  One teacher that was there backed my question but there were 2-3
other teachers that tried to support these books by saying, "but they are
classics".  My response was, 'classic trash' and my kids chose not to read
this kind of book.
Side-note:
My appearance at this school board meeting prompted an interview with the
local paper and a Fox News Reporter based in Phoenix.

-----Original Message-----
From: Wirt Atmar [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 9:03 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Science Fiction. Was : Don't Know Much About
Geography


John writes:

> As an example, at the time of writing, "1984" was complete fiction.
>  Indeed the technology included in the book hadn't even been thought
>  of.

If you focus on the gizmos in 1984, you've missed the point. Science fiction
is rarely about science; most normally the best of the genre are simple
morality plays placed in an alternate "reality".

"1984" was that form of a morality play, but it was also much more than
that.
It was a political tract, just as "Animal Farm" was, a statement of Orwell's
revulsion with the excesses of totalitarianism, particularly Stalinist
Russia. "Farenheit 451" was Bradbury's very similar statement about
authoritarianism and potential rise of a police state. And Kubrick's (not
Clarke's) "2001" was a profound exploration of the nature of God and whether
we could actually ever detect him/it/they.

While most people do unfortunately focus on the gizmos in these stories,
they
are only secondary to the story itself and are no more than the stage on
which the tale is told. But other vehicles could and have been used to tell
the same story.

These stories rise to the level of literature because they say something
profound about the nature of humanity, but that isn't true for the vast
majority of escapist fare that is "science fiction" and it's very important
to be able to discern the difference.

Wirt Atmar
"People, get a life! Move out of your mother's basement and experience
reality!" -- William Shatner, 1987 Saturday Night Live skit, speaking to a
faux Star Trek convention, when irritated by the participants, in which
Shatner himself was being completely serious.

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