Dennis Wheatley, writing thrillers as propaganda during World War II, proved that Germans were inferior from the shapes of their heads;
Frederick Forsyth expresses open contempt for his left wing characters;
Dornford Yates' Mansel and Chandos agree with each other that the Germans are a filthy race.
Anderson does not use such unpleasant language even of his invented Merseians or Gorzuni. His writing is refreshing after the prejudices of the three British thriller writers listed above.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I thought Wheatley's absurd comment about the shapes of German heads interesting as a lingering survival of the largely forgotten pseudo-science of phrenology!
I'm sorry, but I can only have contempt for some leftists, meaning the likes of Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mao, the Castro brothers, Pol Pot, etc. And those who aspired to be like these tyrants.
Sean
Kaor, Sean!
I am not an admirer of Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mao, the Castro brothers, or Pol Pot, either. And yet, I appreciate that Anderson could write sympathetically of Orestes Cruz in THE DEVIL’S GAME, whom, as I recall, you described as a decent if misguided man, and to some degree of Edward Garver, Benoni Strang, Christa Broadrick (did I get that name right?), and others. People are complicated, and may have what they see as good reasons for political and other opinions which you (and I) think wrong. Or they may vote the right way, and be nasty pieces of work personally. Also, it’s not as if right wingers were incapable of being bloody tyrants.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Nicholas,
Thanks.
Paul.
Kaor, Nicholas!
I'm glad to see another comment by you!
Yes, I thought Orestes Cruz a decent, but misguided man (and others on the left like him). But I have to wonder, how might he have turned out if he and his fellow revolutionaries had managed to seize power? Not at all well, IMO. Either Cruz would have become a grimly brutal despot or he would have been soon ousted by those who would become tyrants. Because that HAS been the pattern with most revolutions since Oliver Cromwell ousted the moderate and conciliatory Lord Thomas Fairfax.
Sean
Sean,
If a group of revolutionaries seizes power, then that will happen. But I believe that a population can make a revolution, thus building MORE, not LESS, democratic institutions and preventing any new despotism. There have been movements in this direction but, of course, they have been resisted by the existing concentrations of (primarily economic) power. Either the world will continue to be divided into economic classes and armed nation-states with periodic crises and wars or we will move forward into something better with the help of socially utilized technology.
Paul.
Of course, my main point here is just that MORE democratic institutions are a different prospect from a new group seizing power. I do not expect to convince anyone of the viability of the former prospect in a few paragraphs of argument!
Kaor, Paul!
Correct, because I simply don't believe in the kind of "popular movements" you discussed. Such things have never truly happened in our real world. It will never be that to merely build BETTER socio/political institutions. My view remains that of Edmund Burke, REAL reforms that are lasting has to be prudent, cautious, and based on consensus (which means obtaining agreement even from people you might prefer not to have to deal with).
Sean
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