Posted on 12/11/2004 11:58:45 AM PST by scottybk
I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.
We must daily decide whether the threats we face are real, whether the solutions we are offered will do any good, whether the problems we're told exist are in fact real problems, or non-problems. Every one of us has a sense of the world, and we all know that this sense is in part given to us by what other people and society tell us; in part generated by our emotional state, which we project outward; and in part by our genuine perceptions of reality. In short, our struggle to determine what is true is the struggle to decide which of our perceptions are genuine, and which are false because they are handed down, or sold to us, or generated by our own hopes and fears.
(Excerpt) Read more at perc.org ...
It ain't literature that's for sure, even if he's correct as may be the case here. Reading the excellent Wall Street Journal review (see the link above) ought to be sufficient for anyone. And, as we know, book and movie sales figures are no measure of good quality, in fact they're the measure of how the product meets the lowest common denominator of popular taste.
"I just googled Chrichton, and found he has sold over 100 million books! So,eventhough you are entitled to your opinion, I would say you are in a real small minority."
Ok, I just googled "best sellers" and came up with several other authors of crappy thrillers, such as Clive Cussler and Dan Brown. I'm not saying his books aren't enjoyable reads, I have read most of them, I just find them a little bit too preachy, and often very loose with their science/history/factual basis. There will always be a place in my heart for the crappy thriller and the crappy action movie though.
Maybe next you'll try telling me the best songs in the country are those on the top of the charts?
Wow.
That is indeed a splendid speech regarding the truth of environmentalism. I do think he's dead on target when he describes the movement as a religion, though as a Christian I of course don't agree with the implied underlying theme that since environmentalism is a lie, Christianity is just as full of lies, which is untrue.
All that said, Crichton is a very interesting character. (Did you know he's almost seven feet tall?) If you've read TRAVELS, his travel memoir of sorts, you realize that he's experienced a lot of what he talked about, firsthand. In the book, he talked about a trek deep inside some extremely remote region to find what was purported to be an utterly pristine community of natives, unspoiled by evil white men or their technology, just man living in harmony with nature. When they arrived, he was stunned to find a filthy disease trap populated by obvious products of longtime incest, etc.
On a similar note, on a cruise a couple of years ago, we anchored and made a trip to Fanning Island, which was also painted as a pristine unspoiled example of primitive people living in harmony with nature. I rented a bicycle and rode into the interior of the island. What I found was pure squalor. Pigs tied to the front doors of thatch huts. Human excrement everywhere; apparently, when they need to go, they just squat wherever they happen to be and let her rip.
Very surprising to see something so truthful and cutting about environmentalism come from a major entertainment figure, but I certainly welcome it. And BTW, I love most of Crichton's books. Just started STATE OF FEAR myself and am about to retire to the sunroom and settle in for a long read.
MM
He's on our list. Not the list of potential speakers, but on our list nonetheless... Oh, yes, Michael Crichton, rest assured, you ARE on our list...
Actually, he's a competent writer with an interesting point of view. As others have written here, a little on the preachy side, but not totally unreadable. If I had to take a stab at why he's so popular, my guess would be that he's lionized by people who are too lazy to read the research for themselves, and take his fancy for fact. Some of his techno-babble is pretty laughable. But, hey, it's FICTION!
No, never! I'm stuck on the oldies channel...lol
I got half way through a Clive Cussler novel...boooorrring
John Stossel did a segment interviewing Michael Crichton on Friday night on 20/20. Maybe there is a transcript available online. They talked about the book and its theme. it was a good critique of enviromentalist scare tactics, and also about the many dumb Hollywood people who promote them.
Nice start!
most excellent. Bookmarking for latuh.
"Most of us have had some experience interacting with religious fundamentalists, and we understand that one of the problems with fundamentalists is that they have no perspective on themselves.
They never recognize that their way of thinking is just one of many other possible ways of thinking, which may be equally useful or good.
On the contrary, they believe their way is the right way, everyone else is wrong; they are in the business of salvation, and they want to help you to see things the right way. They want to help you be saved.
They are totally rigid and totally uninterested in opposing points of view.
In our modern complex world, fundamentalism is dangerous because of its rigidity and its imperviousness to other ideas."
Hello Free Republic. Well, hello everyone, really. It's hard to get a perspective on ourselves, and we never completely succeed, but we can try, no? You don't have to even look at the enviromentalist religion, just check out the fundamentalist heavy metal threads here at FR (Dimebag, Damageplan, Pantera murders come immediately to mind.) Looking above, who here is willing the conventional wisdom fundamentalist idea that 100 million copies of whatever sold equals quality or equals a generally accepted definition of "good"? Subvert the domininat paradigm, dude!
Bump & a ping
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IMHO, this is one of the best speeches attacking enviromentalism as blind faith and hokum science, regardless of comments in the speech about religion or comments on the thread.
Here's the thread on his 20/20 appearance with Stossel. Not the transcript, but the text from the 20/20 web site about the Crichton segment.
Foolish Fears / The Big Lie coming up on 20/20 with John Stossel
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1299020/posts
BTTT!!!!!!
Here's an earlier thread on this speech, from just over a year ago.
Remarks to the Commonwealth Club - Michael Crichton (Theme: Environmentalism is really Urban Atheism)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1035163/posts
A two by four upside the head. Chrichton tells it like it is. Let's hope this changes things.
Interesting; thanks for the ping.
I wonder how Lewis & Clark managed to make it through all these lands teeming with indigenous savages who were probably pissed off that they didn't have any more sabre-tooth cats or woolly mamouths to slaughter, and make it back too.
ML/NJ
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