The Time Traveler

http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm ^ | Dan Simmons

[SandRat]

“Quod erat demonstrandum”

[ConorMacNessa]

Great post, SandRat - I have seen this article before, but it bears repeating again and again until the general populace awakens from its slumber!

[annie laurie]

Isn't this by Dan Simmons?

[ml/nj]

I have seen this article before.

Me too! (This morning here on FR)

ML/NJ

[irishtenor]

Good story. I wish there was a forum on this site where we could post stories for sharing with each other.

Please... My Latin is zero. Please translate.

[sodpoodle]

SR

My Latin is too far gone...

I am printing for my family and friends. Copyright be damned.

Thank you
sp

[sodpoodle]

QED - quod erat demonstrandum. Latin for "what was to be proven". Hence, a common way of identifying the conclusion of a mathematical or ...

[JerseyJohn61]

bttt

[GoLightly]

Yes, it is. His follow up article to the original story is also a worthy read.

[kcar]

bump

[Checkers]

bump

[SandRat]

I don't know the author

[annie laurie]

Thanks; I was fairly sure it was his. As I recall, it generated a VERY heated discussion on his forum, back when he originally posted the piece on his website.

I didn't see the follow-up, though; I'll have to check it out.

On another note ... nice to chat with you again (remember de Montfort? ;-)). Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving :)

[pigsmith]

bump

[GoLightly]

Course I remember you!

The link to the article has been posted here several times. I think I finally book marked it when it was posted... about two weeks ago(?).

Here's the link to the followup:

http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_05.htm

[Sam Cree]

Dan Simmons is a talented writer, thanks for the post.

[annie laurie]

Thanks for the link :)

A couple of snippets for interested passersby:

************

"Other forum-posters were incensed that I could not see the true evil stalking the world today—the United States of America, with the mendacious madman George W. Bush at the center of this expansionist evil empire, dispatching the U.S. Marine Corps to steal oil from innocent nations, subjugate them, and to slaughter babies there.

There’s nothing new in this response. It is a very small (although very common) mental box and it seems to satisfy its occupants’ needs for superiority, condescension, simplification, demonization, and conspiracy. It does interest me that the two people posting the most hyperbolic condemnations of the United States on this forum—explanations that it is actual genocide that the imperialist America and its lying, conniving, murderous president (and, by association, all other Americans) are promulgating and executing—are from Germany and Serbia. The irony here speaks for itself and will be passed by without further comment."

And ...

"Those who equate Christian fundamentalism with Islamic fundamentalism choose to ignore that when a tsunami hits Indonesia or an earthquake ravages Muslim Pakistan, it is Christian charities that are often the first to respond. And no one need convert or submit to proselytizing to receive such help. And unlike Hamas or Hezbollah, which also include charities among their lists of organizations, Christian churches and relief agencies do not fund or carry out terrorism. Helping others, not jihad or suicide bombing, is hardwired into all modern Christian thought."

[Lawgvr1955]

Very interesting read. Thanks for posting.

[GoLightly]

The poll of Muslim attitudes toward suicide bombing of civilians was pretty shocking.

[annie laurie]

The poll of Muslim attitudes toward suicide bombing of civilians was pretty shocking.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I was really shocked ... it's just more evidence of what I've reluctantly come to realize since 9/11 (which was a wakeup call for many of us here, I think), and which has been borne out by the events of the years since.