Asimov and those guys by Dennis G. Noodling around the internet I found myself at a page of quotations from legendary Science Fiction writer Isaac Asimov <http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/16667.Isaac_Asimov> . I was quite a fan of his work in my youth, but I haven't read him in years. As I was reading the quotes it seemed that he could be talking about our current crop of wingnuts and their twisted view of reality. For example:
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that `my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'" Isaac Asimov <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16667.Isaac_Asimov> "They won't listen. Do you know why? Because they have certain fixed notions about the past. Any change would be blasphemy in their eyes, even if it were the truth. They don't want the truth; they want their traditions." Isaac Asimov <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16667.Isaac_Asimov> (Pebble in the Sky) "All the hundreds of millions of people who, in their time, believed the Earth was flat never succeeded in unrounding it by an inch." Isaac Asimov <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16667.Isaac_Asimov> Now of course he wasn't talking about our current crop of wingnuts, he was talking about the wingnuts of his time thatwhile still crazymaintained some grip on reality from time to time. In our time that grip has been lost and rejecting reality in any form has become a litmus test. To be a serious contender for any office in the Tea Party run Republican Confederate Party you must attack reality at every opportunity. Word salads and fantasies are all you need. It is all a competition to see who can get the deepest into candylandfrom T-Paw's insane fiscal plan <http://blogs.forbes.com/leonardburman/2011/06/08/tim-pawlenty-plays-fan\ tasy-tax-policy/> to Santorum's denial of science <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/tim-pawlentys-dub\ ious-economic-assertions/2011/06/07/AGxyZRLH_blog.html?hpid=z5> to Newt's new campaign strategy <http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/06/09/pushing-the-professor-out-of-th\ e-car> to Cain's word limit on legislation <http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/07/238779/herman-cain-long-bi\ lls/> Rick Perry's Day of Magic <http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/06/09/would-it-be-wrong-to-pray-for-i\ njuries/> to well, anything Palin or Bachmann might sayit is all crazy town all the time. http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/06/09/asimov-and-those-guys/ <http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/06/09/asimov-and-those-guys/>
