Three words
In a desperate but ultimately vain attempt to catch up on blog reading, I have been dipping into the Ministry Legion of Merit and speedreading all the fine material that has accumulated over the weeks of my neglect. One thing that jumped out at me was this post over at Texas Best Grok. John got hooked into a fascinating little speculative piece by Dan Simmons, the entirety of which can be found right here. Simmons has always been (well, since I started reading his stuff over a decade ago) one of my favorite writers. His science fiction is all sciency, his thrillers thrill, and his horror is creepy as all get out. The ease with which he slides from genre to genre is sickening to anyone who aspires to writing, and he is a storyteller with few peers. This little bit puts a creepy but all to plausible spin on something that has bothered me for nearly five years. Read it.
[wik] And also, congratulations to Mr. Lanius on his 200,000th visitor. Soon, he might be major perfidy.
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Creepy? Yes. Plausible? Well,
Creepy? Yes. Plausible? Well, yes, and the funny thing is, it's written in such a way that by denying its plausibility, or at least its possibility, you become part of the story.
Sneaky, that. And otherwise interestingly written - if Mr. Simmons turned it into a book, I'd buy a copy.
If I'd had a speculation on the "three words" it would have been pushed from my mind by IvyMike's comment @ TBG: "Drink more Ovaltine"
That comment had a similar
That comment had a similar effect on me.
The thing brings into focus something that even hard core warhawks like me too often fail to keep in the front of our mind: this really might not be a war on terror, or even on terrorists.
Even despite their lack of technology or even ability to organize themselves efficiently, the Islamic world does have numbers and fanaticism. With even token access to more powerful weapons, we could easily be placed in a very uncomfortable situation.
Demographic trends in Western Europe are frightening if you read them in the dark of night. Half of all babies born in France are muslim. We lose a continent, they gain a continent.
Unless something changes in Islam - I don't see this going away.