Posted on 05/31/2015 1:37:18 PM PDT by OK Sun
Over the past month we here in the Sad Puppies Revolutionary Vanguard Party Ministry of Truth have received a number of questions about which classic works of SF do and don't exemplify the goals of the Party. While our cohort John Z. Upjohn has done a fantastic job identifying SJW-infused works, we do not wish to present ourselves as wholly negative, so today we're going to talk about one of the all time great works of SF, a classic of yesteryear which could never win a Hugo today.
Yes, Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
This is of course a story about a group of intellectually superior men -- and only men -- who set about to seize the galaxy from the effete and liberal Galactic Empire. It's a daring plan that requires subtle ground work and will take centuries to realize, not unlike our current project to wrest control of fandom from the Nielsen Hayden clique.
The parallel is made clear in the opening chapter, set on the city-planet of Trantor, capital of the empire. The Trantorians are all elitist snobs who see themselves as superior to the provincials who populate the rest of the galaxy, even though it's clear that Trantor wouldn't be able to survive without constant food shipments from agrarian worlds. It would be anachronistic to impose modern controversies on the story, but no doubt Trantorians see the rest of the galaxy as a bunch of inbred, racist hicks whose opinions should be ignored. Certainly that's the case for Hari Seldon, a brilliant scientist who has proven mathematically that the Empire has become too soft and liberal to survive -- that the vast welfare state the Imperial government has built up will soon go bankrupt, thus proving how misguided liberal policies are. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.sadpuppies.org ...
Never read the Foundation series, might have to search it out.
The best foundation for an alien is a thick layer of grease following by appropriate skin color.
I read it in the late 80s - early 90s. I thought it was overrated.
 We cannot exist without you. |
I think I need to read this trilogy.
It’s a Leftist view of the future: the Second Foundation is an elite group of psychologists who quietly rule the galaxy via manipulation.
I wish I could write.
I’ve got the ideas and imagination but putting it all into coherent form is a who different matter.
The Dune trilogy is far better.
I don't consider him much of a stylist, but he's easy reading.
Agreed!
Ever read The Road to Dune? It contains the original version of the book Dune. Much different than the final product. Quite enjoyable though.
Two of the aspects regarding this future timeline which always intrigued me was the absence of computers and the universal ban on atomic weapons. The computer thing was no accident, Azimov intentionally excluded them.
I saw Azimov speak once at a University in Boston. He was amicable and humble I felt. Somewhat liberal I sensed but he absolutely believed in a future which involved space exploration and colonization.
Easy to read stuff. The Dune series had similar aspects but was prone to certain elements in the later books which I found to be incomprehensible.
I would never consider reading the sequels published after Frank Herbert died.
Q: What is best in Science Fiction?
A: To crush your enemies -- See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!
In it’s most basic form, the Foundation Trilogy is the retelling of the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the West. I thought the first half of the Trilogy was good until the Mule came along. I also read the fourth installment (which came along in the 1980s), but didn’t care for it much (or the subsequent books). He wrote an earlier Foundation related story (”The Pebble in the Sky”) even before he wrote the Trilogy. Thought that one was mildly interesting, but unpolished compared to the other books.
Exactly the reason I hate the Foundation series. It has a very disturbing mindset basically saying “We know what is going to happen into the thousand years of future”. The next step from this is “While it is sad we will kill these millions for our system/revolution it is for the greater good as we know the trillions in the future will absolve us”.
I think this is the mentality that both Hitler and Stalin used to justify what they did.
No, never heard of it. I’ll have to check that out. Thanks!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.