{"id":1137,"date":"2008-08-19T17:49:13","date_gmt":"2008-08-19T21:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2008-08-19T17:49:13","modified_gmt":"2008-08-19T21:49:13","slug":"unnoticed-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2008\/08\/19\/unnoticed-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"Unnoticed Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while, in communities of which I consider myself a part, I come across something that makes me wonder whether I was ever a part of the community in the first place. This post<\/a> over at Boing Boing directed me to a debate over at io9.com<\/a>, on whether or not “Young Adult” sci-fi was . . . well, I’m not sure what the debate is over. As best I can tell, one side thinks that YA sci-fi is a good introduction to the larger sci-fi genre, and the other thinks that it is threatening to all but hollow sci-fi out from the inside and collapse it.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, I’m sure anyone involved in that argument who reads my summary would be appalled.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d probably say that I’m oversimplying the sides, misunderstanding the participants, and lack appreciation for the ultimate importance of the problem.\u00c2\u00a0 And to an extent, they’d be right.\u00c2\u00a0 But mostly I’d just say that I don’t really care, and that I enjoyed Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress<\/em> in 6th grade and Scott Westerfeld’s So Yesterday<\/em> just a couple of years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Good sci-fi is good sci-fi to me, and it’s something I’ve enjoyed all of my reading life.\u00c2\u00a0 Thus these epic arguments over what appears to be a lot of nothing just seem a little silly.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, it matters quite a bit to those engaged in the argument, but in the bigger scheme?\u00c2\u00a0 Not so much, I think.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s easier to see that when you’re not all that involved with the community.<\/p>\n

What’s my point?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it’s not just the sci-fi lit community that can waste a lot of energy navel gazing.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a point that I think a number of us who spend a lot of time talking and acting on and worrying about political races would do well to remember, too.\u00c2\u00a0 We tease meaning out of every movement, angle, and word.\u00c2\u00a0 And while each of those movements, angles, and words may actually have been intended to impart some meaning, the vast majority of the people out there will miss it.\u00c2\u00a0 And even if you point it out?\u00c2\u00a0 They won’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 Obama to Hawaii?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 McCain’s cross in the dirt?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 Former-Abramhoff-business-partner-and-failed-candidate-Ralph-Reed-was-going-to-attend-a fundraiser-for-former-Abramhoff-investigating-committee-chair-McCain?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t care.<\/em> We can spend our time spinning over the details.\u00c2\u00a0 And perhaps that’s even useful, from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 But we’d do well to remember that it’s the big picture that matters to most.\u00c2\u00a0 If it even matters to them at all.\u00c2\u00a0 Try not to lose sight of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while, in communities of which I consider myself a part, I come across something that makes me wonder whether I was ever a part of the community in the first place. This post over at Boing Boing directed me to a debate over at io9.com, on whether or not “Young Adult” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}