Peter’s answer to “Hi, I've always wondered why the majority of your books take place in the US, or feature US citizen…” > Likes and Comments
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Thanks so much for that detailed answer! It’s really interesting to hear that (and a little horrifying with the Trump signs). I listen to a lot of Australian bands, and I notice they are describing the same culture war we have here in the US. At the same time, when we were having rallies here in response to the murder of George Floyd, I watched countries around the world also rallying for social tolerance and justice. Here’s to hoping the good influence will start to outweigh the bad.
Yeah, it’s wild. The nasty side of society is a small vocal minority. It uses extremes like those gallows to gain undue attention. The media loves the sensational, so they play to that and give them the attention they crave. We have to counter that. We’ve got to appeal to those in the middle, drawing them away from the extremists who want them scared. For what it’s worth, that’s what I try to do in my books. I try to develop wholesome characters people can relate to.
Like you, I hope tragedies like what happened to George Floyd help turn the tide
I still think you should write a book one day about first contact that takes place in Australia. :)
So Peter. Since you jumped down the Rabbit Hole, do you regard Conservative Americans as "bad" and Liberals as "good?" Yes or no?
Am thankful Peter there are decent people like you writing good sci-fi... I'm not optimistic about the future though, especially if the bizarrely schizoid US continues to dominate...
It'd be nice to have other perspectives apart from the generic 'Merkin ones TBH; so yes, deffo Aussie (or Asia-Pacific in general) stories would be appealing...
James, I don't consider conservatives or liberals as good and bad as these are broad terms and it's too easy to gloss over either without examining their positions in detail. They've both done good and bad. What I find alarming is the distinction between rational and irrational. There was a time when liberals and conservatives adopted different rational positions. These days, though, conservatives are often far more irrational than their liberal counterparts—and that's worrying as the era of rational debate is over. A good example is climate change. A healthy conservative/liberal politic would adopt different rational positions on how to deal with climate change. Conservatives might want investment to help oil companies shift from fossil fuels to renewables on the basis that it keeps people in jobs. Liberals might want to hit a target by a certain date even if it means losing jobs. This would result in a rational debate. But at the moment, conservatives are irrational. They can't accept common facts so there's no possibility of debate. And this is true when it comes to covid, voting, etc. On each point, they adopt an irrational view rather than a rational but different view to liberals. To me, that is DEEPLY alarming. You can have alternative opinions but you cannot have alternative facts. I wouldn't call conservatives evil so much as dysfunctional because the reject objective reality with such glee. And it has consequences. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died needlessly in the pandemic because of this irrational stance.
Love your communications with your fans but am appalled that Australians were carrying Trump flags!
Aussies can be as dim-witted and duped as anyone else, Michelle, unfortunately :-(
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Nov 13, 2021 05:50PM
Thanks so much for that detailed answer! It’s really interesting to hear that (and a little horrifying with the Trump signs). I listen to a lot of Australian bands, and I notice they are describing the same culture war we have here in the US. At the same time, when we were having rallies here in response to the murder of George Floyd, I watched countries around the world also rallying for social tolerance and justice. Here’s to hoping the good influence will start to outweigh the bad.
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Yeah, it’s wild. The nasty side of society is a small vocal minority. It uses extremes like those gallows to gain undue attention. The media loves the sensational, so they play to that and give them the attention they crave. We have to counter that. We’ve got to appeal to those in the middle, drawing them away from the extremists who want them scared. For what it’s worth, that’s what I try to do in my books. I try to develop wholesome characters people can relate to.
Like you, I hope tragedies like what happened to George Floyd help turn the tide
I still think you should write a book one day about first contact that takes place in Australia. :)
So Peter. Since you jumped down the Rabbit Hole, do you regard Conservative Americans as "bad" and Liberals as "good?" Yes or no?
Am thankful Peter there are decent people like you writing good sci-fi... I'm not optimistic about the future though, especially if the bizarrely schizoid US continues to dominate... It'd be nice to have other perspectives apart from the generic 'Merkin ones TBH; so yes, deffo Aussie (or Asia-Pacific in general) stories would be appealing...
James, I don't consider conservatives or liberals as good and bad as these are broad terms and it's too easy to gloss over either without examining their positions in detail. They've both done good and bad. What I find alarming is the distinction between rational and irrational. There was a time when liberals and conservatives adopted different rational positions. These days, though, conservatives are often far more irrational than their liberal counterparts—and that's worrying as the era of rational debate is over. A good example is climate change. A healthy conservative/liberal politic would adopt different rational positions on how to deal with climate change. Conservatives might want investment to help oil companies shift from fossil fuels to renewables on the basis that it keeps people in jobs. Liberals might want to hit a target by a certain date even if it means losing jobs. This would result in a rational debate. But at the moment, conservatives are irrational. They can't accept common facts so there's no possibility of debate. And this is true when it comes to covid, voting, etc. On each point, they adopt an irrational view rather than a rational but different view to liberals. To me, that is DEEPLY alarming. You can have alternative opinions but you cannot have alternative facts. I wouldn't call conservatives evil so much as dysfunctional because the reject objective reality with such glee. And it has consequences. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died needlessly in the pandemic because of this irrational stance.
Love your communications with your fans but am appalled that Australians were carrying Trump flags!
Aussies can be as dim-witted and duped as anyone else, Michelle, unfortunately :-(
