THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
02/14/03 -- Vol. 21, No. 33
Big Cheese: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Little Cheese: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
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Topics:
Administrivia
Europe (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Acceptable Risk (letter of comment from Fred Lerner)
THE EIGHTH DAY by John Case (book review by Tom Russell)
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
THE SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS (film review
by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (McDonaldization and THE TOILERS OF THE
SEA) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
And did you notice...? (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Administrivia
This issue is being sent out a day early because we'll be offline
tomorrow.
===================================================================
TOPIC: Europe (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
In the American offensive against Iraq, one of the lesser-sung
heroes is Turkey. As a country that is overwhelmingly Muslim,
they have been an unwavering ally of the United States, even to
the willingness to send troops to Afghanistan. Europe is not
fond of Turkey for this reason and historical reasons. It goes
without saying that most other Muslim countries are not fond of
the freethinking Turks who have offered their assistance to the
United States if there are going to be hostilities. This last
week France, Germany, and Belgium acted together to block NATO
from coming to the assistance of Turkey in the event that they
are attacked by Iraq for helping the United States. This is
being viewed by many as a total betrayal of the principles of
NATO.
This all fits in with an article I read a few weeks back
entitled "Power and Weakness", written by Robert Kagan of the
Hoover Institute at Stanford University. ty. The article can be
found at . I should add that what I
have to say here about Europe applies mostly to continental
Europe. It seems to be less true of Britain and certainly of
Turkey, if you count Turkey as European.
Kagan explains the recent rift in political opinion between the
US and Europe as being an outgrowth of the close of the Cold
War. Western Europe, finding that it no longer needed to defend
itself from the Soviet Union, plowed the resources it had spent
on defense into improving their economy. In Europe the so-
called "Peace Dividend" really was a dividend. In the United
States there was no cutback on military spending. Now the
United States has remained militarily strong and Europe is quite
weak. This very much forms each area's political policy and
each is, of course, obliged to defend its policy as moral.
Kagan gives the example of a man in a woods threatened by a
bear. If the man has only a knife to defend himself he is
likely to see the bear as an acceptable risk and be willing to
just leave the bear alone. He hopes that the bear will not
attack him. If the man has a rifle he is more likely to try to
end the risk of the bear. I have some thoughts on this
situation.
Europeans think that Americans are too quick to use force rather
than diplomacy. Neville Chamberlain's brand of appeasement of
Hitler, even today, likely seems more reasonable to them than it
does to Americans, even having seen the aftermath. There is a
European belief that Americans should consult with Europe before
action. On one hand if many countries act independently and
unilaterally, you have chaos. If they all consult, you are
mired in the same dynamics that make committees poor decision-
makers. Nothing would be done. The decision making process
would become mired in Pushme-Pullyou arguments.
The United Nations was designed to avoid this problem, but it
has proven that even it is prey to hypocritical double standards
and to a bigoted and discriminatory usage of its own powers. It
has come to side very openly with factions that equally openly
have dedicated themselves both to hatred and the teaching of
that hatred to the next generation. That it has chosen the
right side to lean toward in the Middle East conflict is a point
of debate. That it continues to fail even to condemn the policy
of hate indoctrination the principals apply to their own
children is reprehensible and destroys any credibility that
organization might otherwise have.
Europe this last century saw the United States as the dog of war
with an inferior understanding and appreciation of the issues.
Nonetheless, it is a dog that can be a potent weapon for their
side when desperately needed. They see the United States as
having been slow to be roused in two world wars but once roused
was a powerful force to be directed against an enemy that they
think most Americans did not fully understand as well as Europeans
did. The Europeans, being weaker, are in favor of subtler and
less forceful political strategies, but were probably frequently
pleased that they did not have to rely on those strategies
particularly when Europe was the battlefield.
Having the power of the United States was again useful in the
Cold War when Western Europe felt threatened, as did the
Americans, by Soviet imperialism. Europe saw itself as having a
superpower enemy to its east and a power to its west to hold it
off. Europe participated in NATO, but the majority of the
resource in NATO as well as most of its control came from across
the water. Europe felt when needed it could unleash the United
States on the Soviets but had quiet doubts as to how much
control that leash gave them. The United States was really the
military and economic power behind NATO and Europe was happy to
be able to marshal that power. Facing a common enemy, they also
agreed generally with the goals of those with that power. Now
with the common adversary and common interests in general removed
from the picture, Europe is frustrated to find frequently the
force is not in their control.
There was some possibility that when at the close of the Cold
War Europe united as a single economic power, it would also
become a military superpower. Instead, Europe spent their
military budgets on their economies. As the conflict in the
Balkans got worse the Americans stood aside giving the Europeans
ample opportunity to show some determination and muscle and to
enter and resolve the conflict. Europe refused to act. Instead,
they formulated a policy to explain why it was more ethical not
to intervene.Eventually the Americans stepped in to resolve the
conflict. True, once the peace was won others cooperated to keep
the peace, but as the Europeans themselves quipped, it was like
the United States had made the dinner and Europe was doing the
dishes.
What America wants is to exert its muscle and for Europe to
stand back and approve. That isn't going to happen. America
might possibly be willing to have Europe make no demands on
America and each country to enforce its own policy with its own
funding and the lives of its own soldiers. That probably won't
happen either. Europe, on the other hand, would like to have a
committee of European countries and (possibly) America decide on a
policy that then America would implement with its own funding and
with the lives of its own soldiers. That surely won't happen.
What Europe will get is an American attempt at a resolution to
problems and very little responsibility. Their influence will be
just what they paid for, very small. This small amount will afford
them a certain measure of protection. Countries like Iraq will not
see Europe as a primary target or a battlefield. Their primary
enemy and their restraining force is the United States. Europe
will reinforce that perception by being increasingly negative on a
United States that is beyond their control. They will be
critical. And as they did this last week, they will exercise what
muscle they have to show they have muscle to exercise. From their
point of view, their subtle and peaceful approaches would have
solved any conflict that has arisen and it is America's own
propensity to enter into conflicts that is exacerbating these
conflicts. From the American viewpoint, in the Balkans the United
States eventually had to step in to end the massacre. From a
European perspective the United States simply interrupted the
process of healing. Americans may well ask if America, judged by
the new philosophy, should really have bulled their way into the
essentially European conflicts of two world wars. [-mrl]
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TOPIC: Acceptable Risk (letter of comment from Fred Lerner)
"People could have decided at that time that exploration was too
dangerous and it had to stop until it was made safer."
The Chinese made that decision in the 14th century. Look what
happened to them in the centuries that followed. [-fl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE EIGHTH DAY by John Case (book review by Tom Russell)
Curbs are death traps for baby turtles trying to get across
roads. (Hatchlings cross roads to get down to the pond from the
upland spots their mothers pick for nests.) Curbs are no good
in general. For some darkly mysterious reason, curbs suddenly
started appearing in new developments sometime in the middle
1950s. Older suburban neighborhoods don't have curbs. I've
been saying God must have had a senior moment on the two
millionth day: "Let there be curbs!"
So . . . when I spot John Case's new "thriller" THE EIGHTH DAY
on the New Books shelf at the library, I just gotta grab it.
Perhaps once again he has a science fiction novel in a thriller
cover? Perhaps it's as good as his New York Times bestseller
THE GENESIS CODE? Should I review it for MT VOID???
In THE EIGHTH DAY John Case tells us about an ancient Middle
East religion, the Yezidi. Yezidis believe that God had a much
earlier "senior moment." Aha! (Case doesn't call it that.)
This belief, our hero discovers, is central to a billionaire
evildoer's schemes.
For more than half of THE EIGHTH DAY there are only occasional
references to (undisclosed) secret experiments by scientists at
"Very Small Systems" in Silicon Valley. As in the first
paragraph of this review, there are horrible deaths, a bit of
real(?) history and religion, some irrelevant science (maybe), a
dark mystery, and, don't say I didn't warn you, some explicit
"nesting." And a few good plot surprises. But after reading
over two hundred pages I don't yet know if THE EIGHTH DAY is
science fiction, fantasy or "thriller." Then . . .
Finally! The hero learns about the goings-on at the VSS
laboratory. Since that comes so far into the book, I won't
reveal what it's all about other than to note it is a current
subject in science and technology publications. Will VSS
succeed? Or will it create a monster? But John Case has
tricked the reader (that is, me).
In the end, the hero's scientist friend must help him overcome
the billionaire's devices. Otherwise the hero will never regain
the fair maiden's hand. Will the plan succeed? And is THE
EIGHTH DAY science fiction after all??? [-tlr]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE MAGDALENE SISTERS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This may be an authentic expose of conditions for
penitents in convents, but really comes off like a women's
prison film. What makes this film different from some is that
it is no fictional imagining though the frequency of the
outrages may be exaggerated. This film is made more meaningful
after the various sex scandals in the Catholic Church that have
occurred since the film was produced. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high
+1 (-4 to +4)
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS won this year's top prize at the Venice
film festival and the Volkswagen Discovery award at Toronto.
Still, I find it to be in some ways hackneyed. Writer/director
Peter Mullan claims that though the names have been changed to
protect the innocent, everything we see in this film actually
happened. Of course, it makes a stronger and perhaps distorted
statement to have all these horrors happen to a small number of
women over a short period of time. Nevertheless, it really is
damning that they occurred at all.
This is a film is about life in a convent, but it is no THE
BELLS OF ST. MARY'S. The young women committed by their
families to the Magdalene convents are essentially imprisoned
without trial. They are totally subject to the will and
apparently non-existent mercy of the nuns. Mullan suggests that
the system is a corrupt and sadistic as any prison system
anywhere.
Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff) was raped at a wedding by her own
cousin. Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone) was attractive and was
getting too much attention from the boys. Rose (Dorothy Duffy)
was an unwed mother. None of these women in their late teens
was criminal, but each was sent by her family or warders to the
convent as penitents. There they seem to be part of a Dickens
story where they are cruelly and brutally mishandled by
repressed and hateful nuns. They are subject to beatings and
abuse. They are essentially slaves with all choices taken from
them. In one scene there is lesbian abuse. Even the local
priests sexually abuse them with impunity.
There is no sympathy or any positive emotions shown by any of
the nuns. Any humanity we see comes from the girls themselves.
The help and support the girls give each other is the core of
the film.
With only a few minor substitutions this could be the sort of
women's prison film Ida Lupino could have directed. Instead it
is about women committed by their families to work in convents
as penitents. This is pretty strong stuff when you realize all
the abuses in it are based on fact and actually happened to
somebody. But the film still never really rises above prison
melodrama or as lurid expose. This is a strong film about a
shameful period in recent Church history, made all the more
timely by events since the completion of the film. I rate it a
6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS (film review by Mark
R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Based on Jane Smiley's novella "The Age of Grief," the
film has an intriguing title, but is just not very interesting
overall. It is a character study of a not-very-believable
dentist who suspects his wife, also a dentist, of infidelity.
There is just not enough story to keep an audience interested.
Rating: 4 (0 to 10), 0 (-4 to +4)
Most stories have a beginning that sets up the premise, a middle
in which the plot develops, and an end in which the premise is
resolved. This film is no different except that the plot stands
stock still in the middle act.
In the first ten minutes we establish that the main character
believes his wife--both are dentists--is having an affair. He
sees her preparing for a performance of in an amateur opera
company and imagines her making love to a man she is performing
with.
Then we are to the middle act in which he toys in his mind with
the possibility, he discusses the possibility with his worst
instincts made corporeal, and he takes care of his family
through a bout of the flu. But none of this advances the plot.
Except for the adding of texture to the story this could have
been a short. The greatest interest in the film comes in some
philosophical voice-overs about the nature of teeth, but the
film never overcomes its static plot. We see David and Dana
Hurst at home, helping the family through a bout of vomiting
influenza. And we see business as usual while David mulls over
his fears. At first lets his paranoia get the better of him,
getting his advice from his own worst fears, which he sees
personified as a particularly unpleasant patient. He behaves
strangely. Later he gets back into his routine. Mostly we just
see his family life.
There is not enough humor to keep this film amusing and though
there is texture there is very little substance here. I rate it
4 on the 0 to 10 and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The first thing is not exactly reading per se, but relevant to
something observed on a panel at ConJose. A column in the
"Boston Globe" at discusses how
"scholars increasingly dispute the idea that mass production
threatens the existence of particular cultural identities, either
abroad or at home. After all, regional cuisines are displaying an
unexpected vitality in this age of chain restaurants and global
brand-names. Why? Many people, it seems, are content to preserve
their local cultures through food that is as processed and mass-
produced as a Happy Meal." There is a discussion of this from
ConJose at .
Victor Hugo wrote three books as a triptych: LES MISERABLES (about
humanity), NOTRE DAME DE PARIS (about religion), and THE TOILERS OF
THE SEA (about nature). Of the three, the last is rarely read
these days. But it is perhaps the most science fictional, since
part of it has to do with sea monsters (though of the cephalapod
variety rather than the saurian). I am not saying that one should
read it *because* of this, however, but because it is Victor Hugo,
and so far as I know he never wrote a bad book. At four hundred
pages it's even slightly shorter than NOTRE DAME DE PARIS, and
certainly shorter than the 1463-page LES MISERABLES. (I mention
this because people are always saying they don't have time to read
long books. They often say this while picking up Robert Jordan or
Tom Clancy novels.) [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: And did you notice...? (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Last week I talked about Gary Westfahl's editorial saying that
science fiction has raised our hopes too much about the safety
of space flight. Here is a nice piece on how science fiction
has raised our expectation about medical procedures and that is
perhaps a good thing. One does not generally think about how
science fiction inspires medical progress, but techtv.com's
looks at this effect.
According to an article in the New Scientist, scientists are
looking at the origin and reason for hiccups. It may be a
holdover from the respiratory systems of our amphibian
ancestors. looks at this engaging
possibility.
People who were amused or horrified by the high-tech advertising
that was predicted in the film MINORITY REPORT might find the
report at on digital advertising of
some interest.
Bhutan in the Himalayas has joined the technological world.
Imagine. Kuensel, Bhutan's national newspaper, tells the story.
Up in those mountains people are actually getting on the
Internet. And what are they finding? Their mailboxes are
filling up with junk e-mail. It is the long arm of spam. No
doubt there are people suggesting to them that huge sums of
money purloined from Nigeria should be transferred to banks in
Bhutan. See .
I haven't gotten much feedback on this column. Are people
enjoying it? Are the links usually in place? [-mrl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Fine words and insinuating appearance are
seldom associated with true virtue.
-- Confucius
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