Very Hottest Photos

It's unusual for a conservative to like sci fi as much as you do. To what do you attribute your interest in it?

I like science fiction on two levels. One, for escapist entertainment, and two, for its historical and social implications. Regarding the former, after one mundane day after another, I want to be entertained by something I cannot experience in life. I want to see aliens, robots, monsters, and half-naked pretty girls, not slice of life sitcoms or the same criminal procedure stories I just saw on the news or read in the crime report. Regarding, the former, I am a student of science fiction, too. No other genre reflects the anxieties of an era quite like science fiction. You can mark the times with it.

Those ‘50’s era flying saucer invasions and nuclear disasters creating giant monsters were all reflections of Cold War paranoia and fear of nuclear disaster. The period of time between Planet of the Apes and Logan’s Run were full of The Late, Great Planet Earth obsessed notions man was going to destroy the earth through nuclear war, overpopulation, environmental disaster, etc. I am spotlighting movies here, but it worked with genre novels and television shows, too.

You are being a bit unfair painting conservatives with such a large brush. I know quite a few ardent science fiction fans who vote Republican. That said, my experience with conservatives who do not like science fiction has shown most have a distaste for flights of fantasy. Conservatives tend to be practical types who just cannot get into wilder landscapes, particularly when it has social commentary. Too much like social engineering, maybe? I have met many conservative Christians who find much of science fiction ungodly. Too many atheists behind it all.

I remain convinced the conservative embrace of practicality is the big reason Newt Gingrich has rarely gotten any traction beyond serving as a policy wonk. He is an idea man. I daresay the most intellectual Speaker of the House we have ever had. But such people do not become leaders. Professors, journalists, and writers, yes. Presidents, no. It is not that gingrich has a lot of personal baggage. Plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle have done far worse than him and thrived. It is more because he has a penchant for legislation paving the way for lunar colonies to achieve statehood than more concrete, down to earth ideas. His unpredictability is his problem among conservatives. Any other reason given is just an excuse.

In all honesty, I confess to finding those who not like science fiction rather boring, small thinking types. Unfair, perhaps, but one’s opinion on the genre in general is often a litmus test for how much I am going to be interested in talking to him. In that regard, I am sympathetic to those who find practical minded conservatives dull. But I have just as much disinterest in too much progressive pie in the sky idealism, and science fiction is certainly loaded up with that. Different strokes for different folks, no?