…then make sure you read this (the server is somewhat overloaded, so it may or may not pop up on the first attempt).
(Hat tip to the Imperial Chief of Naval Ops)
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77 Responses to “If You Read Nothing Else Today…”
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Gee, thanks. I was actually enjoying my day before this.
April 5th, 2006 at 9:20 pmNice. Very sobering, but nice.
April 5th, 2006 at 9:39 pmWOW! Engrossing and scary.
April 5th, 2006 at 9:39 pmI knew there was a reason why I liked Dan Simmons as a writer, even though I always thought he was pretty left-wing in his personal politics. He’s a superb novelist in a variety of genres, from science fiction to horror to thrillers…yet with this short story he’s outdone himself.
Christopher Hitchens is also a leftist, yet few have written on the War on Terror with Hitchens’ clarity. Yet even Hitchens - and precious few on the political Right, for that matter - have had the balls to come out and name not just terrorism, but resurgent Islam, as our true enemy. And I can’t remember anyone else on either side of the political spectrum laying out just what is at stake in this war so clearly as Dan Simmons just did. For all of us.
Damn, and I thought Simmons’ Summer of Night was scary. This story should have been titled “Century of Night”…and it may take that long for me to sleep soundly again, after reading it.
Bravo, Dan Simmons. Bravo.
April 5th, 2006 at 9:51 pmMost excellent!
I kinda feel like WE are all time travellers. We keep trying to tell the world to take the struggle with Islam seriously and they look at us like we are crazy. Same with illegal immigration, government spending et al. Our kids will look back and think THEY were the crazy ones and wish we’d gotten through to them.
I guess we just keep doing the best we can and hope for a better future.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:01 pmI dunno about this guy, me thinks he is very creatively selling his books. It’s pretty easy to use as “proof” of predictions of the future, events that happened a few months before you decide to post the predictions about them, Jean Dixon was notorious for that. He referenced New Orleans, John Roberts, etc…saying he was told about them on New Years Eve 2005. So my question is: Why not post them on 1/2/05? instead of 4/1/06…after they’ve all happened. I also liked the way he dismissed that premise too, by the time traveler discounting time travel paradoxes…saying nothing could be done about events.
Now with that said, I do agree with his prediction that Europe is headed either towards Eurabia, or a resurgent communist russian occupation. That’s pretty obvious judging from world events. I also think that we as a nation are opening the door wide for multiple small nukes to be smuggled into this country and detonated. We are a divided nation, where race and other people’s sensitivities are more important that guarding our borders….Thanks to kennedy, clintons, mc kinney (hate the new do, you racist), reid, aclu, msm, cair, and la raza…it is my fervent hope that you’re all incinerated in the first wave of attacks on this country, it would be small justice for all the damage that you have done to this nation.
wow…that was harsh,
anyhooo….I’m not going to take this guy too seriously, yet. I’ll keep in mind the names and places his “time traveler” references, and should they start coming to fruition…then I’ll get stressed.
But I will give Mr Simmons this: He is one hell of a writer, I was riveted by that piece…well done.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:03 pmAww, come on….what were the last three words? I hate cliffhangers..
But a really chilling story, and not-so-far-fetched.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:24 pmJaybear…
Given that England today declared burglary suspects should be ‘ judiciously released ‘ instead of cuffed and hauled off to jail, Europe is closer to the end than I had imagined.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:26 pmagreed tradewind. Maybe they’re taking as an example our giving blanket amnesty to people who break our laws to get into THIS country.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:31 pmActually, I considered this to be fiction - fiction with a serious warning, that is. Considering that there are alternate-history stories floating about in the fiction world, I wouldn’t take it as a real-life futuristic possibility anymore than I believe The DaVinci Code to be historically accurate.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:57 pmDeath
To
Islam
April 5th, 2006 at 11:01 pmBelligerant in your face illegals,overstayed visas of people from islamic nations,higher education and the ACLU are the reasons we are going to be very busy soon.
April 5th, 2006 at 11:03 pmOur public servants have become public self servants.Call me selfish but I want to be served, not served up to Islam or anything else that gobbles freedom.I feel as if our government has turned its backs on its citizens.Unless you burn a mexican flag that is.
Well Rhi, in hindsight…I think I was taken in by the power of the writing and my own gullible streak that surfaces now and then (usually when I’m sitting at the poker table). Still, some pretty strong writing and very unnerving.
What, you don’t believe that the holy grail is really the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene? CNN ran a special on the Da Vinci Code the other night, they certainly gave it credence…. They pretty much got all of their “facts” wrong, including where they stated that the Knights Templar were formed to protect the secret of the holy bloodline. The Templars were originally formed as a protective force for pilgrims to the Holy Land. They later were an integral part of the Crusades and the reclamation of the temple in Jerusalem.
“CNN…the mis-trusted name in news”
April 5th, 2006 at 11:06 pmWow.
It is not a matter of psychic abilities, or time travelers or any other literary device. All we have to do is look at where we are going as a people, as a nation. A person is not psychic if he knows he will travel over the patch of road he now sees in his windshield moments later. Without hitting the brakes or a sharp left or right, there is virtually no chance of avoiding that roadway.
It may well be of little use to try to change the future acting as one person, no matter how clearly one may see it. Prophets are by definition the ones that are crying out in the wilderness; the ones that are not listened to, but later remembered. Those who do not wish to hear will not hear, no matter how loud, no matter how high the stakes.
Realistically, all that can be done is know, prepare, and help mitigate the consequences before they are caused. There is nothing to indicate that we in the early days of the 21st century are somehow exempt from history. Pray, but be ready. Liberty, freedom and justice will eventually prevail, but the fight will hurt.
April 5th, 2006 at 11:12 pmFrom Michael P. Kube-McDowell:
“You must plan, you must train, for the battle you don’t want to fight, against the enemy you don’t want to face, on the ground you don’t want to defend. Then, and only then, do you have a credible deterrent.”
“Be prepared to fight when there is no other option – and be prepared to win, because there is no other option.”
April 5th, 2006 at 11:16 pmMr Simmons is making a point that many of us have wondered.Is Islam and its goal of conquering the world going to be our end?I think I hear Judy Tenudo’s accordian in the distance.It could happen.
April 5th, 2006 at 11:18 pmThe difference, Rhi, is that we can see Simmons’ fictional scenario unfolding in real life even as we speak. Leave aside the Time Traveler’s list of alleged future Islamist atrocities and reread instead what Simmons has to say about the actual here-and-now, about how divided, indecisive and confused America is acting in the face of a ruthless enemy that has openly declared its contempt for us and its willingness to conquer or destroy us. Reread instead the parts where Simmons takes us to task for both refusing to learn from history, or admit the truth about our enemies and ourselves.
When it comes right down to it, Simmons hasn’t written a “what-if” novel of alternate history. This is more of a “what will happen” tale. A 200,000-person-capacity “Grand Mosque” in London? Already on the drawing boards; British Muslims want it up and running by the 2012 Summer Olympics. “Greater Eurabia?” It’s coming into being even as we speak. The only speculation in Simmons’ story concerns the specific future atrocities named by the Time Traveler (and who doesn’t think that the Iranians want to incinerate Israel, for example?) The fact of future Islamic barbarism and the massive casualties resulting from it remains.
April 5th, 2006 at 11:49 pmNot too disimilar from Kara Trace’s line in the new BSG: “We fight ‘em until we can’t.”
April 5th, 2006 at 11:58 pmToo many words. Can’t bother. Short attention span generation, you know.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:03 amThere’s a time for peace and there is a time for war. And if we’re going to fight a war, we can’t pussyfoot it. I hope beyond hope that we start to take this damned thing seriously before 9/11 repeats itself.
People willing to die just for the sake of killing us are people that must be stopped by whatever means neccesary.
April 6th, 2006 at 2:18 amChilling.
‘Category error’. As an example, that one he used was very - eye opening.
I think there’s a list of books I need to read…
April 6th, 2006 at 2:41 amTime travel–now there’s a hook! Dammit, though, what were those three words–or is Ranger6 right?
As the Master had Gandalf say in LOTR: “Always, after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”
April 6th, 2006 at 4:30 amLinking the old fashioned way
The line in the sand has been drawn, yet many still refuse to see it.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:02 amI don’t get it…
What’s next? Dan Brown’s, “Da Vinci Code” is based in reality?
April 6th, 2006 at 6:33 am[…] Today’s Must Read. Posted by Ian S. in […]
April 6th, 2006 at 7:52 amThe Time Traveler…
I saw this link on Misha's site and followed it. Wow. Here's a taste: The Time Traveler appeared suddenly in my study on New Year’s Eve, 2004. He was a stolid, grizzled man in a gray tunic and looked to be in his late-sixties or old…
April 6th, 2006 at 8:10 amI refuse to believe that we as a nation will succumb to this cancer. Our enemies, both foreign and domestic, underestimate the will of the American people time after time. I thought of that movie Red Dawn after reading this. I honestly believe the heart of this nation would rather die than submit. Our ancestors survived apocalyptic events and were stronger for it. We have their blood in our veins. This islamic cancer is just another test by God to see if we are worthy of being part of this great nation. I think this is the beginning of the 33 year war foretold by Nostradamus. In the end, we will survive and prosper. First though, we need to CLOSE THE BORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 6th, 2006 at 8:13 amUnited…Islamic…States
April 6th, 2006 at 8:24 amWho is he really talking about here? He didn’t single out people like you, obviously. Especially since you already know that all the scenarios he painted are possible. Not trying to be hostile or argumentative here, but I don’t think his message was for US. Why? Because we already know. Why else? Because as “rightwing” and “straightforward” as we are, those two factors are why people like certain liberals and Democrats will not take that kind of message seriously. And you know why on THAT.
Are we really so far gone as that? I disagree. I do believe there will be more casualties in this war thanks to Muslim extremists like al-Zawahiri and Zarqawi, but it’s not as grim as you say.
Don’t take a story like Simmons’ to be literal truth. It serves as a warning of what might happen if other Americans - and I refer again to liberals and Democrats who think this war is a sham and our enemy is an illusion - don’t get their heads out of their asses. But there’s a big difference between what might happen and what’s happening and what will happen - that last one is reserved for God alone and no one else.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:16 amIndeed. And you’ve never struck me as gullible.
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
April 6th, 2006 at 9:19 amYou may be right, Rhi, and I’d certaily like to think so.
But even if it won’t happen, we need to start fighting this war as if it might.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:32 amI don’t know the “three words” but there are five words that we should all live by:
I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK !!!
April 6th, 2006 at 10:18 amHe might be a science fiction writer; but I think he has seen the very horrible fact of what we are doing to ourselves. We are forgetting that we have an enemy, and that enemy wants us dead, defeated, or enslaved.
I printed it up for my youngest to read; she ships out to boot camp on May 16th. (Alyssa got her first choice, Animal Care Specialist. Her second choice was something to do with Patriot missles, but I can’t remember what.) Though women aren’t supposed to be fighting, I am sure her gender will not stop a bullet or an IED.
I have told all three of my girls that I don’t care if they date someone who is purple with green spots and orange hair and of undeterminate sexual identity–just so long as that person isn’t a Muslim. I guess that makes me a bigot. So be it.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:22 amThat I understand, Misha. After all, it’s kill them before they kill us. BUT - let’s not allow our vision to get clouded by fatalistic visions of a future we could be completely off the mark about. There’s a difference between warnings about the future and being fatalistic. I choose to adhere to the former instead of scaring myself shitless.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:25 amThe three words… that’s haunting.
“Sino-Iranian alliance.”
“Iran got nukes.”
“President Hillary Clinton.”
There are so many possibilities.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:26 amHere’s my take, for what it’s worth.
We know the story deals with Islam’s goal of bringing the entire world under the control of its perverted belief system. He’s talking about a war in the not too distant future that far ecIipses what our military is doing now “in theater”. Iran has deployed it’s nuclear arsenal, Israel is “in cinders” and “The Century War” has come to our shores and is within our communities.
Prior to that, we were guilty of failing to recognize the true nature of the beast. It’s something the Time Traveler called “Category Error”. We had lost any sense of ruthlessness as a necessary means to ensure self-preservation.
He also said, “In 2006 you still fear yourselves and your own institutions first, out of old habit. A not unworthy – if fatally misguided and terminally masochistic – paranoia”.
With that quote as a backdrop, I think the author gave us a clue to those three words with this statement by the Time Traveler:
The author then went on to suggest that the June 5th, 1968 event to which the Time Traveler alluded was the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan, a muslim.
That’s a red herring he tossed our way, though. I believe the event the Time Traveler was talking about when he said “it began on June 5, 1968″ was not the actual shooting of RFK, but rather a response to it by President Lyndon Johnson. In his June 5, 1968 address to the nation regarding the shooting he said:
And especially this:
And with that, I’d say the three words that herald Armageddon will come in the form of a newspaper headline:
“Second Amendment Repealed”.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:31 amI was having this conversation with my wife last night.
Bigot:
1. One who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.
2. a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own
Bigotry is an unreasonable hatred of those differing you.
On the other hand, when a group of people with something in common, in this case islam, are trying to kill you, it is perfectly reasonable to hate them and not let them infiltrate your inner circle.
To consider yourself a bigot because you hate the enemy that is actively, openly and gleefully trying to saw your head off, rape and murder your girls and women (and boys for that matter), take your home and land and destroy everything you stand for is a dangerous road to go down.
When the enemy is identified so clearly, cold hatred and determination is exactly what is required to prevent the very scenario this post highlights.
Kill them. Kill them without hesitation and kill them now.
Death to islam.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:52 amExcellent post Mike.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:56 am“Second Amendment Repealed”
Good guess! I was thinking “Religion Of Peace My Ass”, but then again that’s not three words… fits the story though!
April 6th, 2006 at 11:56 amI don’t understand. I read the Bble. OT and NT. I read the Gnostic Gospels. I read the Talmud. I read the Mishneh Torah, (what I can) and i read the Koran and the Hadiths. Once you have done this, it is incredibly clear that Islam, as Mr Porretto says, is toxic to human life. And some of the smartest, best people I know think i’m a total nutbag for “believing this”. I don’t believe it. I observe it. It is the evidence of my eyes, not hearsay. What do you have to have invested in this to not understand it?
April 6th, 2006 at 12:04 pmI couldn’t agree more.
Except I’m not scaring myself with visions such as Mr. Simmons’. Fear is a mostly useless emotion anyway. The only point of it is to alert you to danger. After that, you must push it aside and focus the energy from it, along with your other skills, on the sole purpose of utterly and ruthlessly eliminating the source of the danger as quickly as possible and utilizing every resource you have.
In other words: You don’t fight with one hand tied on your back. You focus like a laser beam, turn your fear into anger and wipe out the danger. And I do mean “wipe out.” I don’t mean “contain”, I don’t mean “hold it off for a later date”, I don’t mean “write sternly worded diplomatic notes of concern”, I don’t mean “stick your head in the sand, hoping the danger will go hurt somebody else instead” and I don’t mean “engaging in a game of give and take with the mugger pointing a gun at me.”
I mean “wipe out.”
Now, I’m not accusing you of any of the above, Rhi, not at all, but I am pointing my finger (as does Mr. Simmons, it would appear) at this nation as a whole, because that’s exactly what we’re doing.
We’re re-enacting the years 1933-1939. It’s painfully obvious if you study history, but this nation has completely and utterly forgotten the lessons of history, at least that’s the only “excuse” I can find for refusing to acknowledge that we’re repeating the mistakes of the past. Repeating them so much that all we’ll have to do to write the history of the early 21st century is to pick up a copy of the history of the Third Reich and change a few names and places.
So am I saying that we should exterminate 1.5 billion muslims? Not unless we have to, and I certainly hope that we don’t. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty certain that we won’t. We didn’t have to exterminate the entire population of Germany and Japan to stop them either.
But we do need to start realizing that we’re facing a brutal murderer in a dark alley and that there’s no doubt that he’s about to kill us if we let him.
It’s in the Koran.
We need to quit pussy-footing around and start realizing what we’re at war with, because until we do, no matter how uncomfortable naming the enemy openly and honestly makes us, we’ll just be putting off the inevitable, making the fight even more brutal in the future. We can fight this war now, or we can leave it to our children and grandchildren.
Unless the “Religion of Peace” is checked and unless it’s made clear to it that the Caliphate is not an option, they’ll keep gunning for it. Why wouldn’t they? It’s what they want, after all, as they’ve so helpfully told us over and over and over and over and over and over again for CENTURIES while we’ve been submissively plugging our ears because we don’t like the truth we’re facing.
This isn’t a war that we can “opt out of.” Yes, it’ll be brutal, yes, it’ll be costly, yes, it’ll take a long time.
But we’ve long since jumped out of the airplane (some 1,300 years ago, actually), and we’re going to hit the ground sooner or later, because we can’t wish it away.
The only question is: “Do we pull the cord to the parachute?”
April 6th, 2006 at 12:14 pmI think making it clear that we WILL if there isn’t a radical change in the muslim world that assures us that the oppression, murder, honor killings and general 7th century attitude will end.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki dragged Japan into the 20th century. Perhaps we need an encore for the middle east.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:28 pmMisha, Imperial Naval Chief, Dan Simmons,
Thanks a whole freakin’ lot for freaking me out; the family and I have Indy tickets this year. Reading that bit nearly made me puke.
Other than that, nice piece of writing.
Misha, long time reader, first time poster; love the site, fan of the attitude.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:42 pmI suspect it won’t be a war that touches this country in a meaningful way, inasmuch as there are too few Islamist radicals here to actually hold territory and we are an armed people.
Nothwithstanding that, buy a gun if you don’t have one, buy another if you do. I’ve been toying with the idea of a new gun for a while; I will be purchasing a gun or two this weekend.
Any suggestions? I want a 9mm automatic pistol, and I’m thinking of a Bushmaster x-15 semi-automatic.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:50 pmI like to think of it as a cat-and-cat game, Misha - little cat vs. big cat. The question is, who are we? (And just because the big cat has longer claws and more teeth doesn’t mean he’s immediately the favored one in this fight.) I guess a better question would be, Who’s going to pounce first? Wait too long and you lose; pounce too soon and you’ll miss.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:57 pmGot one, Martin, getting another as soon it at arrives…and am considering a third.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:00 pmI think most who read here will agree that the threat is Islam. Not “radical” Islam. Islam. And I think we can also agree that given the directives laid down in the Koran, a “moderate” Muslim is one who isn’t serious about their ‘faith’, or a Muslim who hasn’t revealed themselves as a “radical” muslim yet. How will we know when the conversion occurs? When we hear the blast and the subsequent screams of the wounded and dying. Call me ‘intolerant’; I won’t tolerate that which would destroy me and mine and our way of life. Call me a racist; you’d be an idiot since the cancer of Islam spans the globe. If you would do that, I can say that the distinction between us is clear. When you realize that tolerance and peace is not a choice, you’ll be meeting the enemy on your knees, with your eyes shut. I chose to meet them on my feet, with my eyes open.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:09 pmBeats my 3 words hands down. However, your 3 words will lead inevetably TO my 3 words.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:33 pmI prefer to see it as a Monty Python sketch.
My assailant is facing me, waving his weapon and making all manner of threatening noises and gestures.
Which is the point where I pull the lever and release the 50-ton weight.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:35 pmLast Three Words:
Gore Was Robbed
April 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pmHeh. Now if only I’d seen Monty Python…nevertheless, I couldn’t agree more, either.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:53 pmOh, and speaking of Mr. Simmons, am I the only one to find it slightly astounding and quite interesting that he’s what you’d call “leaning to the left?”
Now, if I’d written anything like that (would that I could!), it’d be what you’d expect from somebody like me.
April 6th, 2006 at 2:05 pmMr. Simmons is an artist. Some see his work and recant their views, some reject his. He stirs thought and reaction in all in awe or aversion. A few will hold little interest and stear clear of his craft. Others, though, will be inspired, as I believe he hopes, to great thoughts of their own.
April 6th, 2006 at 2:41 pmOur discourse is proof of his skill.
I admit that I had to sleep on it to understand what would change my mind from holding a gun on someone and forcefully ejecting them from my home.
The main character thought of the Time Traveler as nothing but a provocateur and was on the verge of tossing the him out.
What three words would dash his views and change his mind…
I am you
Yep, that phrase just struck me like a slug of Victory Gin.
April 6th, 2006 at 3:05 pmDamnit Emperor,
…this is one post that has stuck in my mind all day, it won’t leave. I was completely taken in by it last night…not being familiar with Mr. Simmons writings, I took it as valid predictions. Having had most of the morning and a sleepless night (due to a sleep disorder) to think about it, it could be a very accurate scenario of the near future. Living just a lakes distance away from the Space Needle in Seattle makes it even more immediate and alarming.
I’m listening to talk show where these two college idiots are drafting an initiative to ban recruiters from college campus’s(campi?)because of ther perceived bigotry and sexism and lies to students. Every caller to the show was a vet or current military person, they called these dopes on their stupidity and bigotry and these kids STILL didn’t see the validity of the opposing point view, so strong is their conviction that the military is a waste of time and money.
Up here in Seattle we have an anti-war group that displays signs in their window that says “support the insurgency”. Seattle is considered one of the main targets of the next islamic terror strike. How can they not see that? do they think their islam ass kissing will save them? Ask the CPT hostages about that strategy.
These are just two examples of the insanity and blindness that infect this nation. I find it appalling that such a large group of our fellow citizens…fellow Americans (whether they want to be or not)…fellow human beings are so blinded by hate and agenda that they cannot see the beast pushing against their door. A beast that will consume them regardless of how hard they try to appease it. That’s what scares me the most, they are a HUGE hindrance to the effort to defeat islam. If those masses don’t come on board in this fight, I could see this thing devolving into a guerilla war…with US as the insurgents.
I agree with Blackiswhite when he says:
I don’t see much of a distinction anymore, after looking at what Afghanistan has done after being given the gift of free elections and democracy…Odds are good that Iraq is headed down that road also. islam is a disease, with a vile deviant philosophy of death and subjugation…it has more in common with nazism, stalinist communism, and the tribal bigotry of Saharan Africa than any religion I know of. Why so many people are afraid to call it what it is is puzzling to me, if they are afraid of offending the arab street, then those fears are based in self delusion. The damned arab street gets offended when their women cross a street unescorted!!, they’ll riot and kill each other over THAT!! They know nothing but violence and revenge, it is the foundation of their culture and their so-called religion.
A good strategy would be to deport them all…all adherents of islam, and then isolate their nations both geographically and economically. Then we need to target them….precisely and violently…screw the woodstockian theories of dialogue and appeasement, they are antiquated and useless against this enemy…they will do nothing but get our children murdered.
Time to wake up and get very very angry, in a righteous sort of way.
April 6th, 2006 at 3:44 pmMisha:
Not really, but I guess that’s because I know some liberals/Democrats who put priorities before partisanship.
Jaybear:
The latter is happening already.
I don’t really find it a surprise…you pointed out that they’re consumed by hatred and their own agenda, that it’s not a stretch to think that some Americans would side with the enemy. Some folks take their freedoms for granted until it’s too late. I’m not talking about those of us who see the danger already, either.
April 6th, 2006 at 4:05 pmThe 3 words couldn’t be “I am you” because the Time Traveler had already called the writer “Grandfather.”
I very much want to know what those words are. The message is a Churchillian wake up call, a vision of a very dark future if a simple warning isn’t heeded. England only survived because the US was there to back it up - but we have no other country which could (or, probably, would) do that. We’re IT, and if we don’t wake up, the Islamic Boogeyman will get us.
Come on, what are the 3 words?!
April 6th, 2006 at 4:52 pmSHMG™, if I ever read that headline…if the war isn’t already on, then I’ll fire the first fucking shot.
April 6th, 2006 at 5:19 pmLos Angeles Crater
Surrender of London
Lots of chilling phrases would fit. I got the sense that they refer to something that all who come from a time after the event would recognize, but would mean little to anyone else. Hence, “Three Mile Island” would mean very little to anyone until after that (overhyped) event. “Watergate” would evoke images of a canal, if anything, to a denizen of the ’60s. I think that’s the point. Very like Hitchcock, the impact lies in what is left unsaid, not in any (however realistic) graphic representation. Very moving writing. If I could do as well, I could sit here all day and watch the royalties roll in. Well said, sir. Well said.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:57 pmHow about these 3 words?
phobos, kerdos, and doxa
In a word, very.
The traveler is his Grandson. He stated it.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:59 pmI love you.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:21 pmIn a very manly fashion, I hope.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:28 pmUmmmm. Nope, just going to walk away…
April 6th, 2006 at 8:54 pmLOL!!!
No, the three words…
April 6th, 2006 at 9:09 pmthree word follow-on:
I’ll call you
April 6th, 2006 at 9:23 pmEr, Brokeback or non-Brokeback, Sire?
:p
April 6th, 2006 at 9:49 pmI just wish that I knew how to quit him.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:29 pmHi! This is my first comment ever, although I have been reading this site for years. I just could’nt help myself.
Delenda est Islam
April 7th, 2006 at 12:25 amHi Raj, and welcome aboard.
Good choice of words too. I couldn’t agree more.
April 7th, 2006 at 12:38 amProbably not what he had in mind, but chilling enough! They call forth some other words in response, something like, “The United States government [or maybe just Congress] is hereby dissolved.” Hell no, we won’t let go! And I suspect the military & law-enforcement communities are weighted with people who agree with us.
“For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.” —Patrick Henry
April 7th, 2006 at 2:44 amI haven’t felt so sick after reading a book since I read 1984 when I was in high school. I try to comfort myself with the thought that we’ve met serious challenges to our nation before (Civil War, fascists, communists) and we’ve always prevailed. I hope that the events described in Mr. Simmons’ short story never come to pass, but I think that the only thing that will stop them is the same thing that has kept us safe in the past:
The Grace of God and the blood of those Americans willing to fight and die to defend our country and way of life.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:19 amGod help me, but I am saying just that. I never thought I’d see the day come when I’d be for ANY type of genocide but the way I see it at this time is a case of “Us or them” and I’d prefer to see the Western culture flourish.
April 7th, 2006 at 11:30 amDammit! Now there are pizza bits all over my monitor.
That is only a start. After we wipe them out, we destroy every copy of the koran we can get our hands on, anyone caught hiding a copy will be considered a muslim and shot without question. We remove all traces of ANY teachings by mohammad. As far a history is concerned islam needs to be a blank spot.
So as Rome did to Carthage, the west needs to do to the followers of mohammad.
April 7th, 2006 at 2:01 pmThe 3 words: Message From Dan
April 7th, 2006 at 11:31 pmThink about it.
[…] Another one that’s really killing me, is reading this piece by Dan Simmons. Man, I loved Ilium and Olympos, and I’m a pretty big fan of the Hyperion books. Song of Kali was pretty great, too. But after reading that piece, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to enjoy those books again, without the stench of hatred and fear that pervades it polluting my mind. Gah. (I am actually holding out some small hope that this was a Swiftian satire, but reading message board comments like this afterwards isn’t helping.) […]
April 10th, 2006 at 1:27 pmEvidently Mr. Simmons has bowed to the PC impulses of the posters on his forum and pulled “The Message” from his site.
Anyone got the full text? Maybe I’ll post it for posterity…
April 13th, 2006 at 3:33 pmYes, Woody, I do.
I sorta figured that something like that would happen, so I took the liberty of saving it.
April 13th, 2006 at 4:25 pm