To what degree does the science fiction genre today relay a "progressive" worldview?

Question

As a child growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I was often fond of science fiction. Perhaps that was in large part because the year 2000 seemed futuristic, and there often seemed to be a sense of possibility in the air. After the turn into the 21st century, though, I have found myself looking far more to the past than the future, not the least because while the future is a mere fancy, the past, in all its vastness, is there for us to learn from.

In an article at the American Thinker website that appeared yesterday, Glenn Fairman provided some words about the way that political "progressivism" has insinuated itself into the science fiction genre. I didn't really notice this when my political views were starting to form in the late 1980s, but I think there is much that is true in what he has to say:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/03/post_7.html

Your comments?

Answer 1

Scientists are being elevated to near gods by Progressives. Science is now a matter of "consensus" to be used to modify human behavior rather than the research that would actually prove its validity. Proof is not what they seek. They seek to create a world that will ultimately result in much less regard for human life as the masses just become many mouths to feed. "Humans" are the enemy of planet Earth in their eyes which doesn't bode well for the future of humanity. The authors of this grotesque world are hoping to move to the first planet that would support life once their computer model gets it all under control. Its no longer science fiction.

Answer 2

Excellent article. And strangely, at least until our Space Ship of State breaks up reentering reality's atmosphere, we're living their "dream".



For example..



"As is the fantasy of all good Progressives, a feel-good socialism holds sway on the socially conscious Enterprise. Everyone is fit and trim with gleaming white teeth: especially the ship's engineer with the air filter over his eyes. In Space Utopia, there is no money and everyone works for the enjoyment of it. In fact, only the Ferengi, an ugly troll-like race of crafty mendacious space Capitalists (who resemble the way Jews were characterized by the authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,) are interested in filthy lucre. And as in all liberal daydreams, there is no killing of animals for food or any want for anything of substance because Man, the Promethean Savior, has revolutionized economics and extinguished the concept of finite goods and material scarcity. Anything from a roast turkey to a pint of Romulan Ale can be created instantaneously from atoms in their fantastic replicators. Men can then be free to race around the Universe at many times the speed of light in starships that get a billion miles to the gallon and stick their noses in the business of peoples who did just fine without the future's equivalent of NATO. It truly is a brave new world and it all runs as if by magic -- and economic magic is the summum bonum of the liberal mind."



Now tell me that's not where we're at today. Ben Buzz Light Year Bernanke is leading US.. TO QE INFINITY AND BEYOND!



To a Utopia where debt no longer matters lol.





(And anyone paying attention can see that jewbashing is on the rise.)

Answer 3

I spent most of my life as a science fiction junkie, so know somewhat about this.

Before I answer your question I remind you of Robert A Heinlein, who famously said any society sophisticated enough to require that people carry identification is already on the irreversible road to Tyranny.



That being said, I offer you the original Star Trek. In the future, Planet Earth will be socialist and there will be no need for money because everyone will do what they do best and thanks to free energy (!) there will be no poor people.or rich people;, but just wonderful people.

Can't find the link I was hoping for but this will do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgYl9wOCkkI