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Are most Science Fiction authors and fans liberals/leftists?

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?


TOPICS: Astronomy; Books/Literature; Cheese, Moose, Sister; Chit/Chat; Science; TV/Movies; UFO's; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: fantasy; fiawol; sciencefiction
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To: EveningStar
I'm a LASFS member

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 ;^>)

101 posted on 01/31/2005 4:25:20 PM PST by Phsstpok ("When you don't know where you are, but you don't care, you're not lost, you're exploring.")
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To: theFIRMbss
Only the ones who dress like Stevie Nicks and read about cool dragons . . .

*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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

102 posted on 01/31/2005 4:30:42 PM PST by DoctorMichael (The Fourth Estate is a Fifth Column!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: JoJo Gunn; dfwright
The series "Earth: Final Conflict" and "Andromeda" were both ideas that Roddenberry had come up with but never been able to get produced. With the boom in television SF that took place in the 90's (in which the success of the new Star Trek series played a large part) his widow Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was able to sell both series and see them developed. "Earth: Final Conflict" ended after a five year run in syndication; "Andromeda" is currently in its fifth season, appearing both on the SciFi Channel and in syndication.
103 posted on 01/31/2005 4:30:52 PM PST by Bear_in_RoseBear (On that train all graphite and glitter, undersea by rail / 90 minutes from New York to Paris)
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To: Phsstpok

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.


104 posted on 01/31/2005 4:33:56 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: Snake65

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}


105 posted on 01/31/2005 4:41:51 PM PST by bootless (Never Forget - And Never Again)
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To: Bear_in_RoseBear
Andromeda was the other one that escaped my memory. Thanks. I used to catch 'Earth Final Conflict' occasionally on WGBH on cable, but never often enough to get the feel for what was going on. The show probably would have caught my attention if I could have ever seen the episodes from the beginning in order. 'Andromeda' never even got my attention. I couldn't get past the 'Hercules' guy at the helm. *shudder*

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?)

106 posted on 01/31/2005 4:49:26 PM PST by dfwright
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To: EveningStar
No, but Sci-Fi fans tend to be libertarian (economically right-wing + socially libertine).

The real conservatives tend to believe in anti-Science fiction (creationism, Bible stuff, etc.)

107 posted on 01/31/2005 4:52:24 PM PST by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: Perdogg

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. "


108 posted on 01/31/2005 4:57:05 PM PST by AntiBurr ("Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it" Santayana)
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To: dfwright

I think they got married in 1970.


109 posted on 01/31/2005 4:58:49 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: dfwright
I liked the first two seasons of Andromeda; IMHO the series declined after they fired series developer/lead writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe between seasons two and three.

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.

110 posted on 01/31/2005 5:01:17 PM PST by Bear_in_RoseBear (On that train all graphite and glitter, undersea by rail / 90 minutes from New York to Paris)
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To: Bear_in_RoseBear
1969

So much for my memory. :)

111 posted on 01/31/2005 5:04:39 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: Lazamataz
Isaac Azimov was a far-right conservative...

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.

112 posted on 01/31/2005 5:05:26 PM PST by js1138
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To: EveningStar
Heh, I try to look everything up before I post, just for that reason. ;)
113 posted on 01/31/2005 5:05:51 PM PST by Bear_in_RoseBear (On that train all graphite and glitter, undersea by rail / 90 minutes from New York to Paris)
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To: EveningStar
but I've never actually met them

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

114 posted on 01/31/2005 5:08:01 PM PST by Phsstpok ("When you don't know where you are, but you don't care, you're not lost, you're exploring.")
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To: js1138

Laz was being sarcastic.


115 posted on 01/31/2005 5:08:20 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar

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.


116 posted on 01/31/2005 5:11:18 PM PST by js1138
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To: Phsstpok

I knew FIAWOL but I had to look up FIJAGDH. ;)


117 posted on 01/31/2005 5:13:53 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: Bear_in_RoseBear; EveningStar
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.

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...

118 posted on 01/31/2005 5:17:09 PM PST by dfwright
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To: dfwright
According to his Wikipedia entry the capsule containing his ashes orbited Earth for six years before burning up in the atmosphere.
119 posted on 01/31/2005 5:22:30 PM PST by Bear_in_RoseBear (On that train all graphite and glitter, undersea by rail / 90 minutes from New York to Paris)
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To: EveningStar

Ellison is one of the quickest intellectual writers. That probably makes him a Lyotardian or a Lacanite.


120 posted on 01/31/2005 5:24:44 PM PST by RightWhale (Please correct if cosmic balance requires.)
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