Yes, it's Dan Simmons again. Oh, I left his forum in disgust some time ago--actually demanded to be removed--and I haven't been back since. The 'Hot Button Issues' part of that place, once a haven of intellectual civility on the Web, had degenerated into a right-wing circle-jerk, and I could no longer stomach it. At the time, I held little blame for Mr. Simmons himself. True, he had once called me a "twerpy little asshole" because I dared to suggest that there was such a thing as "too rich", and I further clashed with him on gay marriage. Somehow I was able to forgive him these lapses. No doubt I was blinded by his stunningly good novels. Hey, how many of you have had a favourite author of yours call you a twerpy little asshole?
Now, by way of Reddit, I discover this little gem:
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I read that several times, stunned. Did Dan Simmons just publicly call for nuclear weapons to be used on the U.S. Congress? Holy crap, he did.
The irony here is a little thick on the ground. Simmons has long believed that Islamic terrorists are the biggest threat facing the American public. If his name wasn't "Dan Simmons" but instead something like "Muhammad al-Ameer", he'd have just earned himself a little visit from Homeland Security.
And what's the problem supposedly so grave that Simmons thinks nuclear weapons are a good way to solve it? That's right: health care reform. Those damn poor people are going to live longer and sap him of some of his hard-earned wealth.
Who's a twerpy little asshole now?
I can't...quite...bring myself to toss his books, or burn them. Some of them are among the best things I've ever read. But I'm not sure I can read something by Dan Simmons ever again, no matter how successful he's been at camouflaging his views in his published work.
Orson Scott Card fans, how did you deal with discovering your favourite author was a Mormon moron?
2 comments:
Good to see I'm not alone.
Dan and the 3-4 guys in that Hot Buttons sub-forum love to sit there and pat each other on the back while talking about how Islam and health-care are destroying the world (but insane military spending and wire-tapping of US citizens are okay).
They claim to want a real argument, but "real argument" entails not really questioning their premises, and then getting verbally beaten on by the group (while they claim to want politeness and civility; go figure). It's a pure echo chamber, filled with what appears to be bitter old men that refuse to take notice of any reality besides the one they've created. Confirmation bias is a beautiful thing, isn't it?
Dan actually threatened to ban me awhile back for a thread in which I made some rebuttals to those arguments. Apparently asking for empirical evidence and challenging questionable assumptions is a no-no for their clique.
Like you, I still have no problems with Dan as a writer - I just lost a tremendous amount of respect for him as a person.
Exactly. His published *fiction* is still top-notch. His (web-)published *non-fiction* is...fiction of a whole different sort.
And no, we're not alone. Quite a few moderates have left that place in disgust.
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