Just what is the difference?
01/01/2003 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

Entering the third year of the new century and things haven’t really changed much for the better. All right, perhaps in each of our own countries in the Western world but on a world-wide scale less collectively so. I’m almost beginning to wish we’d go back to the Cold War period.

Hello everyone

Entering the third year of the new century and things haven’t really changed much for the better. All right, perhaps in each of our own countries in the Western world but on a world-wide scale less collectively so. I’m almost beginning to wish we’d go back to the Cold War period.

Not because I want to see a return to Communism in Russia but the existing tension probably kept the Middle East problems in check. It’s almost like a pecking order has now been achieved. If and when the Middle East can be sorted out to every side’s satisfaction, it makes me wonder which regime or country will wangle its finger and say, ‘It’s my turn for attention next’ and here’s the order of violence I’m going to use to achieve it.

Like our current problems, I doubt if we’d know where to start to bring some peace to the world.

In Science Fiction, it’s very easy to skip a few centuries and start off with a reality which has world-peace rather than show all the problems that had to have been gone through to get it. The reason for this tends to be obvious: No writer is capable or risk giving specific details of our own possible near future.

Not that they want to prophesy and demonstrate something akin to Asimov’s ‘psychohistory’, just that it can’t be given in anything in vague terms cos no one knows how things are going to work out. People do stumble into SF as escapism without seeing its writers necessarily addressing such problems.

It’s been done before. Look at how many stories from fifty years ago depicted the turn of this century and how wrong they were. Backwhen, it wasn’t seen as fifty years but the start of another century. Ah! The romanticism of that generation.

Even in SF stories set in current times, there is always a need to explain why events went on the way they did irrespective of the SF element to keep things in line with what is happening or risk dating the story. Never an easy mix at the best of times. It isn’t helped in this political correct age that not wishing to offend anyone has even permeated SF and satirical swings at society doesn’t appear in our fiction any more.

Are we seeing our civilisation through ruby coloured glasses and not looking at its imperfections any more? Considering SF is the perfect medium to do such society examinations, it is a shame there are no calibre writers using our medium to that end any more. They can’t all expect to have death threats like Salmon Rushdie!

All writers, regardless of genre but especially in SF, tend to be observant of the history that is unfolding in the past or in the present. There is always something that can be learnt from if not applied. Unfortunately, you also get a lot of hack writing where the Roman or Nazi empires are resurrected in all but name.

There are very few well-known stories written that have chosen to base themselves on any other political regime let alone produce something totally new. Are we being swayed too much for escapism?

Even those who know better have never really considered the Middle East in any of their future history equations. Hardly surprising really as Science Fiction is a product of and written for people who probably won’t see beyond the future of their own civilisation or what they’ve read in their history books.

This was probably what Frank Herbert took into account when he created the ‘Dune’ book series, borrowing heavily from an Arabic background simply because few were familiar with it and would look new. Even if you look at Russian SF - and I’ve only read a few not extensively - their future is pretty much of a Western-like civilisation.

The common link here is that Western civilisation is seen as progressive. In the past hundred years alone, we’ve progressed from watching birds fly to creating aeroplanes that can fly to going into space. In the past fifty years, computers have progressed from being bulky tube constructions that fill buildings to the small machines on your desk that have a far greater capacity and ability even if it is used mostly for games.

Our medical expertise is developing so fast that even some of the common cancers are now treatable if caught in their early stages. Our tolerance for different creeds is getting better despite the odd outbreak of racial intolerance. Our dependency on religion as a way of life is dying out for the majority whether it’s because it is seen as an irrelevance or only there for particular occasions like christening, marriage and death.

We don’t have to be led throughout every day of our lives by it. I could go on but all the indications are that Western civilisation is changing and evolving at a far faster rate than other parts of the world. Without its Communist bonds, even Russia is eager to adapt to such evolution even if its economy hasn’t caught up yet.

Given the freedom, Man wants to evolve and maybe find something better through the process. Then we have the Middle East.

Now I’m not being specific to any country here. Some countries are developing but largely at their own pace. The main problem lies with how particular attitudes are holding back its own particular evolution. There is a general feeling that they don’t want to change at all. That the pecking order should stay the same and everyone should know their place.

That in itself is scary. These people aren’t isolated in a distant jungle from the rest of the world. As the aeroplane flies, they are only a few scant hours flying time away. For all the difference the rest of the world makes on them, they might as well be in a different star system let alone an earlier time period since nothing has changed over the centuries.

The attitude of Middle East countries to the protection of their own is irrelevant. Spurred on by religious belief, members of their communities see nothing wrong in stoning a woman to death for adultery to rioting and dying over a passing remark about religion by a journalist.

It’s even contradictory when people from their own community insist that their religion says that such acts are forbidden and that life is sacred but still let such events carry on. Is it me or do I detect a lack of communication between these people? With such mixed messages, is it any wonder that even we’re confused about the Middle East mindset?

A lot of the time this harkens back to religious control. Those who hold the hearts of the people have stronger sway than even the country’s own governments and even the latter would rather not rock the boat. When it carries over into fanaticism where individual lives are an irrelevance, it is totally against the beliefs of many people that Man can act that way simply because they have little to compare it to in the West. A depth that leads to such fanaticism has to be regarded as dangerous as any of the minor Western religious cult fraternities.

The only difference here is that all the unwary are hooked and the rest are wary. In the Middle East, they are all driven by either one or other cause with very few in any sort of middle ground. Whether this is from being purely bloody-minded or have better education to think for ourselves is debatable.

Using belief as a means for control is nothing unusual. Human history is full of such uses. Belief in a deity, any deity, doesn’t mean people following priests who preach a message regardless without any consideration to whether an act is right or wrong. To throw conscience out the window is dangerous.

To do it as a group common voice even more so. It makes Pandora’s Box look tame in comparison. When it extends beyond religion to a form of racism or however else you want to try to describe it, there will always be a problem. A ‘them’ and ‘us’ situation and we, the infidels, are seen as the danger from a side that isn’t likely to give any quarter.

We’ve either seen or experienced the action of Middle Eastern terrorists enough to know a different mindset is working here. Thankfully, it hasn’t affect all their society yet. We’ve either seen or read about what we regard as barbaric laws that are carried out in these countries as well. Quite rightly we are upset as it’s a far cry from what we regard as civilised behaviour.

We react on a national or world-level. In response, such nations tend to think we’re interfering in how they do things. In some respects, they might be right. How can we in the UK frown on Spanish bull-fighting as cruel when we allow the landed gentry over here go fox-hunting? As an evolving society, we see them as people who appear to be stuck in the Middle Ages or the equivalent for that part of the world.

Is it any wonder that there is a communications failure going on here? Why it appears so impossible to find some sort of middle-ground to bring any sort of compromise?

It’s a worse impasse simply because there is no way to see a quick solution. It won’t be anything like financial ruin that transformed a nation like the USSR towards democracy. With many of these Middle East nations being oil suppliers to the West, supplying financial aid isn’t going to be much help.

Even access to western culture isn’t going to help that much, especially in places where women aren’t allowed out in nothing less than a concealing purdah. The state of undress that Western women display is clearly taboo...at least on their home soil. If anything, even that tiny example, indicates that in their eyes we are seen as decadent.

We are seen as the enemy despite the fact that we have accepted all religions into our society. We might laugh at some of their idiosyncrasies but it’s also an indication that we can see a different viewpoint. We can laugh because we recognise imperfection. With fanaticism, there is no sense of humour. Something else that must make Western society look odd to them.

Maybe we’re also transitory? Who said evolution, even social evolution, suddenly stops? The difference between Western and Middle East civilisation is that we’ve left the starting block some time ago. Whether it is religion or dictatorship that is holding them back is hard to say, Which ever, evolution doesn’t come without some price and one can only hope that it doesn’t come at a bloody price.

In this new century, the world is once again on the brink of a potential world war with ground rules that will prolong it as long as one of the enemy remains standing ready to press a detonator button. Such a war cannot be beaten by territorial gain or a crushing of a people. It has to be beaten on an ideological level. A proof that a war is pointless without any victors only casualties.

In that respect, Science Fiction really should be up there with a shot at showing futures and their consequences. Then again, with no sign of the Middle East affecting the future maybe they’ve stayed in their backwater and never ventured into this brave new world or century.

Evolution dictates we change or die when faced with superior forces or environmental changes. Social evolution means we can be tolerant of our neighbours if they don’t infringe on our territory. When that happens, we face an uncertain and dangerous future. Somewhere down the line there has to be compromise and that can only come by understanding from both sides.

If it’s purely one-sided and the other side doesn’t open up, things will never change. It might destroy old cultures but on the other hand it might allow them to evolve in parallel with our own. Heavy thoughts, folks. As with plotting a Science Fiction story, it doesn’t always pay to consider the first solution as the only solution.

Thank you and good night

Geoff Willmetts

editor: SFCrowsnest.com

PS For those keeping up with my health. Still stuffy with catarrh down my throat but its probably better than hearing jungle drums. This might be a local problem. People who have been stuffed up like this have stayed that way for at least 5 weeks so all the decongestants in the world aren’t going to help you if you’ve caught it.

Food for thought: In a lot of interviews with American TV actors in recent years, there is a usual proclamation that a particular production crew and its actors were nice and there were no assholes. Obviously they want to keep working in the industry but one has to ask which TV show has these ‘assholes’ and why are they still in the business?

(Less Serious) Thought For The Month: Roswell. The original ‘UFO’ incident not the TV series. The consequences of our own aeroplane crashes doesn’t leave much left. If an extra-terrestrial spacecraft had crashed backthen and indications that the wreckage had been spread over a wide area, then how can could there have been anything of significance left to reverse engineer especially when we don’t know what we were looking at. Bang goes another theory.

PPS: For those keeping track, I’m still about 18 months (mid-May 2001 still if you think I’m just repeating the same message every month. We had a lot of material that month) behind with going through the ebook samples. Thank you for your patience but let me know if you’ve sold elsewhere so I can reduce my pile or if you’ve changed address. This isn’t much of a repeat, just to show you’re not forgotten. Those sending in samples, be prepared for a wait and read the Guidelines elsewhere on this website. They are there to help you do some of the right things.