Friday, January 11, 2008





"[Tonnies] rhetorically exploits contemporary fears, citing the possibility of an 'ecological 9/11' in support of the idea that humans must colonize space."

--Publishers Weekly on "After the Martian Apocalypse"

Of course, that was before Katrina.

I suppose that, theoretically, there can be a fine line between "rhetorically exploiting contemporary fears" and taking an honest look at what the future has in store. But when giving voice to legitimate concerns becomes "exploitation" or "alarmism," you just know there's a motherlode of repressed fear hidden beneath the zeitgeist's unassuming surface.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Repressed fear and monumental denial I'd say.

Anonymous said...

And what happens when, finally, fear is no longer repressed, denial is rejected, and our prospects become clear to most?