Posted on 01/31/2005 1:37:19 PM PST by EveningStar
I've been a science fiction fan for decades and it appears to me that the vast science fiction writers and fans are liberals/leftists. Am I imagining this?
Say hello to Larry and Jerry if you go again and see them. I spent a long, drunken, weekend in a con suite with them here in Memphis several years ago. I've seen Jerry many times since, pretty much every Comdex till almost everyone stopped going post 9/11. He remembered me but couldn't remember if he'd done anything untoward at that con. He always warned me not to say anything in front of his wife. I never let on... to him, that we all just sat and talked (at least as far as I can remember ;^>)
*LOL*
I had to scroll down no further than Post #4 to find someone who shares my view.
This kind of stuff is NOT Sci-Fi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been to several conventions and LASFS meetings where they were present but I've never actually met them. I'm a bit on the shy side and, considering the number of conventions I attended in the past, have met very few SF and fantasy authors.
Hey there! And how cosmic is it that I paged you on Post #65? :-)
I agree about the libertarian streak.
Any chance your editor can be turned from the Dark Side? {grin}
When did Gene Roddenberry marry Nurse Chapel? I became aware of the fact that they were married at the time he died, because she was talking about having his ashes sent into space. (Did that ever happen?)
The real conservatives tend to believe in anti-Science fiction (creationism, Bible stuff, etc.)
Yes, Indeed he was. I've been looking for an excuse to post this from "Time Enough for Love" by R.A. Heinlein
"Political tags -- such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth -- are never basic criteria.
The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number.
The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort. "
I think they got married in 1970.
When did Gene Roddenberry marry Nurse Chapel? I became aware of the fact that they were married at the time he died, because she was talking about having his ashes sent into space. (Did that ever happen?)
According to his IMDB bio they were married in 1969. And yes, some of his ashes were carried into space on a rocket mission launched from Vandenberg.
So much for my memory. :)
I'm a fan of Asimov, but he was no conservative.
Some people are hard to place in politics, because they combine libertarian tendencies with "progressive" tendencies.
I am unaware of any mainstream writer from the golden age who fell for communism. but I suspect many were democrats. This era -- 1920-1960 -- was when mainstream writers were kissing Stalin and Castro's boots and glorifying revolution.
H.G. Wells was supposedly a socialist, but he didn't put it in his sci-fi.
Go up to the authors, artists and actors and just talk to them as if they were real people. They go to the cons to meet and greet, to talk to their readers and to enjoy themselves. Bottom line, it's the same reason you are there. Treat them like you would any other fan, since they are.
FIAWOL & FIJAGDH, two sides of the same coin
Laz was being sarcastic.
OK, but it isn't always easy to peg people. I read hundreds of sci-fi novels in the 50s and 60s without detecting strong political bias, even in Asimov. He, of course went funny in the head after he married the shrink.
I knew FIAWOL but I had to look up FIJAGDH. ;)
That's pretty cool. Do you know if they were put in orbit, or were they sent off into space? Also thanks for the link to the IMDB bio page. I learned a few things I didn't know. I didn't realize that nurse Chapel was in her mid-30's during TOS(!)
Or that he survived two plane crashes! wow...
Ellison is one of the quickest intellectual writers. That probably makes him a Lyotardian or a Lacanite.
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.