Post by Kahlessa on Apr 6, 2007 19:52:27 GMT -5
Here’s something interesting I found on the website of an artist and writer named Micah Wright who takes old propaganda/national morale posters and revises them with modern messages. Apparently Crichton sent Micah Wright two emails, which Wright posted on a board with other messages to him.
Here's the link:
homepage.mac.com/leperous/Personal4.html
(You have to scroll down a little but it’s not too far from the top.)
Dear Micah, Your graphical work is fantastic. What is the origin of your propaganda images? Are you using old posters and book covers or are you making your own "homage" versions? They're outstanding. By the way, global warming and nuclear winter are rank propaganda and your support of them therefore ironic. I can send you a speech I gave at Caltech on that topic if you want.
November 23, 2004 - Michael Crichton
Hi, Are you THE Michael Crichton, author of Eaters of the Dead, Westworld and The Great Train Robbery, or are you another, completely different Michael Crichton? ....As for Nuclear Winter and Global Warming, I'm intrigued by your contentions that they're propaganda. It seems that a great preponderance of the scientific community believes in these two theories, and I'd certainly be interested in the reasons you don't. I'm not a climatologist, but I have enough college science education to know that a theory is just that, a decision to believe in one set of facts and ignore and explain away contrary data. Unfortunately for your side of the argument, when I hear scientists say "oh, pshaw, there's no such thing as Global Warming," they usually tend to have a check stub from General Motors and a membership card for the Heritage Foundation in their wallet. It tends to make things rather difficult to believe when the only people saying it just happen to be working for the biggest polluters in the country or Right-Wing "think" tanks. More to the point, however, I think that the terms "Global Warming" and "Nuclear Winter" are actually good metaphors for the problems they claim to describe. If there is a nuclear war, the dust and dirt blown into the atmosphere may not actually blot out the sun and bring on a new ice age, but the term "nuclear winter" brings to mind a barren, dead landscape devoid of life or human civilization. It's probably the power of the image which is to blame for the term's popularity. Ditto for "Global Warming" -- I know that volcanoes make far more greenhouse gasses each year than cars do, but the phrase brings to mind a mental image of a sweltering heat and choking atmosphere filled with pollution and poison. I get that feeling every time I drive behind a Hummer 2, so it's not hard to understand why "Global Warming" is a verbal touchstone. Additionally, there's not a lot I can do about a volcano, but I can work to change people's opinions about Hummer 2's being "cool." Please send me the text of your speech. I promise to read it with an open mind. yours, a fan of your work (if you happen to be THAT Michael Crichton).
Hi, Micah. Yes, I am he. I take your points. At another time I would have agreed. Now I think that the promulgation of false fears is a major issue of our media period and that there are significant costs to promoting ideas that, like nuclear winter, simply aren't true. (Nobody thinks a nuclear war would provide a health benefit but the idea that it will make a wasteland of the entire hemisphere is a fantasy.) False fears have two important consequences. The first is that it wastes adrenalin and puts people into a state of anxiety that is unnecessary and unbeneficial to individual health. The second reason is that it desensitizes the population to fears in general so that when important issues arise, the public tends to discount them. Crying wolf is never a good idea, and never in my view justified. At my advanced age I have concluded that the ends never justify the means. The means are everything. The definition of a "socially responsible" message changes with the times. In this regard the history of the American eugenics movement is instructive (and truly frightening). Talk about a cautionary tale! Anyhow your work is terrific. Here is the speech.
November 23, 2004 - Michael Crichton
A week after this email exchange, Michael Crichton released his new book "State Of Fear" wherein evil environmentalists attack the world with artificial weather machines in an attempt to scare people into believing in Global Warming. It has received mostly bad reviews, and a few good reviews, but I'm a sucker for techno-thriller beach reading, so I'll probably pick it up in paperback this summer.
Hey, isn't it weird... Michael Crichton didn't call me a Communist, Traitor, a Frenchman or a homosexual! Maybe others can learn something from his example?
Here's the link:
homepage.mac.com/leperous/Personal4.html
(You have to scroll down a little but it’s not too far from the top.)
Dear Micah, Your graphical work is fantastic. What is the origin of your propaganda images? Are you using old posters and book covers or are you making your own "homage" versions? They're outstanding. By the way, global warming and nuclear winter are rank propaganda and your support of them therefore ironic. I can send you a speech I gave at Caltech on that topic if you want.
November 23, 2004 - Michael Crichton
Hi, Are you THE Michael Crichton, author of Eaters of the Dead, Westworld and The Great Train Robbery, or are you another, completely different Michael Crichton? ....As for Nuclear Winter and Global Warming, I'm intrigued by your contentions that they're propaganda. It seems that a great preponderance of the scientific community believes in these two theories, and I'd certainly be interested in the reasons you don't. I'm not a climatologist, but I have enough college science education to know that a theory is just that, a decision to believe in one set of facts and ignore and explain away contrary data. Unfortunately for your side of the argument, when I hear scientists say "oh, pshaw, there's no such thing as Global Warming," they usually tend to have a check stub from General Motors and a membership card for the Heritage Foundation in their wallet. It tends to make things rather difficult to believe when the only people saying it just happen to be working for the biggest polluters in the country or Right-Wing "think" tanks. More to the point, however, I think that the terms "Global Warming" and "Nuclear Winter" are actually good metaphors for the problems they claim to describe. If there is a nuclear war, the dust and dirt blown into the atmosphere may not actually blot out the sun and bring on a new ice age, but the term "nuclear winter" brings to mind a barren, dead landscape devoid of life or human civilization. It's probably the power of the image which is to blame for the term's popularity. Ditto for "Global Warming" -- I know that volcanoes make far more greenhouse gasses each year than cars do, but the phrase brings to mind a mental image of a sweltering heat and choking atmosphere filled with pollution and poison. I get that feeling every time I drive behind a Hummer 2, so it's not hard to understand why "Global Warming" is a verbal touchstone. Additionally, there's not a lot I can do about a volcano, but I can work to change people's opinions about Hummer 2's being "cool." Please send me the text of your speech. I promise to read it with an open mind. yours, a fan of your work (if you happen to be THAT Michael Crichton).
Hi, Micah. Yes, I am he. I take your points. At another time I would have agreed. Now I think that the promulgation of false fears is a major issue of our media period and that there are significant costs to promoting ideas that, like nuclear winter, simply aren't true. (Nobody thinks a nuclear war would provide a health benefit but the idea that it will make a wasteland of the entire hemisphere is a fantasy.) False fears have two important consequences. The first is that it wastes adrenalin and puts people into a state of anxiety that is unnecessary and unbeneficial to individual health. The second reason is that it desensitizes the population to fears in general so that when important issues arise, the public tends to discount them. Crying wolf is never a good idea, and never in my view justified. At my advanced age I have concluded that the ends never justify the means. The means are everything. The definition of a "socially responsible" message changes with the times. In this regard the history of the American eugenics movement is instructive (and truly frightening). Talk about a cautionary tale! Anyhow your work is terrific. Here is the speech.
November 23, 2004 - Michael Crichton
A week after this email exchange, Michael Crichton released his new book "State Of Fear" wherein evil environmentalists attack the world with artificial weather machines in an attempt to scare people into believing in Global Warming. It has received mostly bad reviews, and a few good reviews, but I'm a sucker for techno-thriller beach reading, so I'll probably pick it up in paperback this summer.
Hey, isn't it weird... Michael Crichton didn't call me a Communist, Traitor, a Frenchman or a homosexual! Maybe others can learn something from his example?
