https://www.stephenhicks.org/2015/12/08/martin-luther-on-the-jews/
This does seem sound. Modern Lutherans (in the US, and maybe in Germany) seem harmless enough these days, which goes to show there are some drawbacks to being familiar with one's founding texts.
I'd heard that Luther said that belief should be based on logic (reason?) and the Gospels, which made modern emotion-driven evangelicals look bad, but either he never said it, or it was from a different period in his life.
Editions of Stranger in a Strange Land: I've read both, and at least used to know the edited version pretty well. There's a lot to be said for the edited version. If you compare the beginnings, the edited version is tighter and more interesting.
I think some of the most striking bits are in the long version, but a lot of what I noticed as only present in the long version were logistics-- a lot about getting people organized and into the right places.
]]>The beginning of Slan was a young man being chased by a mob. He could perceive their hatred, but that didn't protect him.
Mutant had a lot about whether to be public about being a telepath (Baldie) or conceal it by wearing a wig.
I don't know whether the take on psychic powers people are showing in this discussion is at all typical (I don't think it is), but it does seem like a remarkable change.
]]>I just reread The Stars My Destination and I'd say that's tear-the-roof-off anarchism.
Heinlein's Red Planet has a revolution against a greedy, irresponsible company, and is probably interesting about the politics of putting a revolution together.
He was also interesting about mostly side-lining esp as a useful skill that doesn't lead to an elite.
"Telek" by Vance is a rare example about psychic powers being given to the public, but we don't see the resulting society.
]]>As I recall, folks here were expecting (talking about?) food riots in the UK to start immediately after Brexit was first going to be implemented. So far, the results have been bad, but not that bad.
I believe it's easy to predict disaster, but hard to predict the effects of people who are working to prevent disaster-- they don't always win, but they can at least take the edge off.
]]>Countries would have a complicated push-pull between allowing some independence of minds and wanting to control them, and where the point would be a lot of minds roughly on the same side. I was going to say "minds bundled together", but that might be an unfortunate metaphor.
]]>I very much appreciate Heteromeles point about billionaires possibly being good for something, but there's another angle, which is that sufficient power to prevent billionaires is a lot of power. It won't necessarily be used for the goals you prefer.
An easy guess might be that expropriating billionaires will just lead to more competition between billionaires, with some of them being better at using the law against their competitors.
This doesn't necessarily mean there will be a bad outcome-- Charlie's (I think) recommendation of a gradual approach seems less likely to provoke an immune response.
Extreme wealth for individuals is seen here as a hazard, but not extreme wealth for governments.
The US government (or governments, if you want to include states) is fabulously wealthy, so wealthy that it hardly notices the costs of the carceral state. Is this a good thing?
Not so long ago, I would have mentioned the huge US military budget, but it's nice to have something to spare for Ukraine, so I'll take it easy on the strong opinions there.
]]>I don't know whether this is better or worse than killing the ex-leader. It presumably requires freedom to move, and is probably more suitable for nomadic people.
Anyone have information on killing vs. leaving? Is there ever just ostracism while the leader is still alive and in the area? (I've heard about that occasionally happening to cult leaders.)
]]>"my father was a prominent anti abortion activist. clarence thomas was a close family friend growing up. i literally cannot tell you how many times i EXPLICITLY heard from these people, EXPLICITLY, smug glee over the idea of women dying from unsafe abortions."
]]>I don't have evidence handy, but I believe one thing that can go wrong in fiction is translation between English and metric units or vice versa. Precision can be added which just doesn't go with the story.
]]>Half an hour on the weird history of abortion politics in the US. The part which was most surprising to me is the Protestant vs. Catholic (to some extent immigrant) issues which used to be in play.
]]>So if you commit atrocities, you end up saying absurdities.
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