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Free will and peace are the aims of the individual
01/08/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Now this is a rare occurrence for Uncle Geoff. Having to re-write his editorial based on rapidly updating news and then hoping the relevance won't be out of date too soon. He would also point out that the material he is leaving out is probably worthy of detailed editorials somewhere down the line. Yes, let's talk religion, SFF fans. Editorial - aug 2005
Free will and peace are the aims of the individual.
Hello everyone
Now this is a rare occurrence for me. Having to re-write my editorial based on rapidly updating news and then hoping the relevance won't be out of date too soon. I would also point out that the material I'm leaving out is probably worthy of detailed editorials somewhere down the line.
This month of July had two multiple bomb blasts in London with the first causing the deaths of at least 53 people and injuring 700 others, both attributed to the terrorist group al-Qaeda. In between both of these, there was the hotel bomb blast in Egypt. Such things are a regular and nearly daily occurrence in Baghdad but it always hits home harder when its on home turf...ie your own country. It's a sharp reminder how small this world we have is getting and how one group of terrorists can reek so much havoc that it hasn't affected someone somewhere. What makes it odd is that this war is only believed in by the minority that is carrying it out. Certainly, the Muslim community as a whole don't want it since it is totally against their creed of non-violence.
Whatever your beliefs about the causes, there is little denying that we are in the middle of a bombing war where it isn't just foreigners but from home-grown people in our own communities that are involved in such activities. I was reading a couple weeks ago how such recruitment of the home-grown foot soldier bomb-carrying terrorist starts and in many respects, it's very much the same way recruits are brought into many of the cult religions around the world. Befriend the vulnerable after a tragedy, persuade by using a subtle form of brainwashing where free will is given up and you do what you're told without questioning it.
Add to that that things are better in the Promised Land with dozens of virgin girls for their every whim and I'm not surprised they're lining up with bombs. The worrying thing is that they aren't strong enough to know any better let alone question what they have been told. It isn't as though anyone has come back from this Promised Land to verify whether this projection is true or not. Taken in this light, it does illustrate how easy it is for some individuals to fall for image or fantasy as given to them by others. For you people reading this are heavily into SF or its grey cousins of fantasy and horror, I also assume you can tell the difference between our interest and the reality out there in our world. If we can't then we're in a sorry world.
What is worrying is that unless you're bloody-minded or strong-willed enough to resist, it's something we can all be susceptible to. We can all fall victims to this kind of emotional blackmail be it in the form of falling for advertising slogans to con-men persuading you out of your savings by the belief you've won a foreign lottery you never entered. If anything, this terrorist recruitment is very much an extreme demonstration of this mind-control technique and the vulnerability of the human condition that the unwary need protection from themselves.
Remove this manner of recruitment could well cut back on the foot soldiers who are the suicide bombers. An army with no soldiers is no army at all as I can't see the men at the top destroying themselves for their cause. The problem is that the easiest way to do this would also hit hard on the Muslim belief itself. In the Middle East where all the young have to read and focus on is the Koran, anything else they are told by the same people is believed without question because there isn't a wider picture of comparison.
Now this isn't an advocating a change of belief or perspective, just that single-mindedness may not always be the best way to go. Learning that there are other beliefs that are similar - the Koran isn't that dissimilar from the Christian Bible after all - and not threatening certainly wouldn't do any harm. The real problem lies with whether clerics would think this is losing their control of their people to show them the outside world. Does showing that there is a different world out there going to damage their faith so much?
When I was very young, I remember being told that if the church has you when you're young then chances are that you'll adopt the ethics of good and evil, not to mention knowing the difference between right and wrong. Some of that has probably rubbed off on me even if I ceased to be a church-goer in my early teens. As an adult, I can take this one step further by questioning what constitutes the terms 'good' and 'evil' and that there are some grey areas. To shoot someone who is armed and about to shoot someone else who is unarmed is probably a good thing. It saves a life from someone who was prepared to take it but where does that place the rescuer in the state of things?
To set off a bomb and kill people who aren't aware of the danger is definitely something that is an evil act. They aren't even asking to be victims. No one or country is going to tolerate such actions and such terrorists who commit such activity deserve nothing but condemnation. This kind of message can be twisted either way depending on who is teaching it. The important thing to remember is our individual reaction to such events and taking into account all the actions that are taken leading up to the event.
Wars such as this are never going to be won by killing - it leads to martyrs - or imprisonment. In the long term, it will have to be a change in ideology that dictates self-survival and tolerance. Whether that kind of reasoning will ever sink in depends on the mindset involved. Certainly not for these terrorists. As we remove one lot, another shall surely rise in its place or even a single individual.
In Science Fiction, there was always speculation that a single person in a secret laboratory could produce an atomic bomb or generate a deadly virus and hold the world to ransom. As this reality enters its own Science Fiction age, the grim reality of these options are surely dawning. Oddly enough, we tend to under-estimate the psychological controls that we can be brainwashed with which is far more deadly, although even that has been covered in SF. Even as we remove an ideological danger, the menace of a single threat with a selfish agenda must surely be on the cards as well. Whether it is a madman or an intelligent criminal, the threat will still be the same. It really is up to us to take our own education with a lot more responsibility to show what kills one kills us all. We need to show greater tolerance as the world around us shrinks so that we can all fit in together.
In many respects, it is an insane wish to rule the world. A single individual would have great problems in running everything his or her way, let alone hold it all together. We are all far too individualistic to want to choose a single path let alone stay on it for years on end. To hold everything together with military rule would also depend on its officers and men believing the same thing as its leader and it would take a vast army to undermine everyone.
Yet we are all susceptible to forms of brainwashing in one form or another. If you're going to remove one form, then all others must be viewed in line as a similar threat so it never becomes too extreme. To do otherwise would put us all at risk.
We British tend to be seen as rather irascible, stubborn and bloody-minded. Can't dispute any of that. If we're going to export anything around the world then it is that together with our ability to get on or tolerate the strangers in our midst providing that they respect our space as well. If such tolerances can be developed then no terrorist organisation will survive because it will have difficulty recruiting. All it really takes is for every individual to be bold enough to ask, 'Why?' Question the evidence presented as to why they should take a particular course of action or offer better solutions. The only way to beat this form of mental control is the ability to think for yourselves. To do otherwise is to demonstrate why so many of our population can be thought of as sheep rather than sleeping wolves.
Be safe, individual and happy. Enjoy the rest of the website. Thank you and good night Geoff Willmetts editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk
(Less Serious) Thought For The Month: Let's stay serious this month, huh!
Something for neo-writers to ponder on: Can do better than one thing this month. Look in our website guidelines. There's more than enough for you to chew over for the next month or so.
PS If you've survived this far in the editorial, let me reiterate something from the website newsletter and the above editorial. As you can see from the main page, we have one of the biggest SF/fantasy/horror monthly reviews columns on the Net. Our success has increased the number of books that comes in and our policy is to read everything before giving a review. You want the bottom line about what you're going to choose to read. We roadtest books so you have some idea of what you're letting yourself in for. That means actually reading the product and telling others what you think. For that, we're always on the outlook for more reviewers.
Apart from the ability to put words into sentences, you also need to know how to précis, either know or do a little research on associated subjects and can express opinions constructively expressing good and bad points about the books you read. You'll even get a little editorial help in how to write good copy and that can always lead to other things. I did say you have to love books and willing to read beyond your favourite authors, didn't I?
If you like reading books in the genre, think and show you can write a decent review and, most importantly, live in the British Isles (sorry, expense, time and distance travelled prohibits elsewhere), Our 'Review Flyer' is now part of our Guidlines. We can't pay you but a review for the price of a book has to be a good incentive.
We have one of the most popular SF review columns on the Net. Do you think you're up to writing a review? If you think you can, then you're really going to think you've landed your hands in the biscuit tin.
PPS: For those keeping track, I'm still about 20 months (beginning of July 2003) behind.
With going through the ebook samples, I have removed some who've gotten published elsewhere. Thank you for your patience but let me know if you've sold elsewhere so I can reduce my pile or if you've changed address, especially e-mail address. I can't give you my comments unless either is up to date. Currently, doing spot-checks to see if you're still there when I reach your sample in the pile is making it easier on my time and catching up on the slush pile.
This isn't much of a repeat, just to show you're not forgotten. Those sending in ebook samples, be prepared for a long wait and read the Guidelines elsewhere on this website. They've been updated are there to help you do some of the right things and reduce the number of times I'm repeating myself over silly grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that you shouldn't be making. It makes editing a lot easier if any editor has less work pointing out poor English which should have been sorted out in the first place and more focused on other areas of your work.
There's an old editorial adage, if you can't aim for perfection why should an editor nurse-maid you to that state? If you're a writer, then you should understand the words and grammar of the job you're supposed to be writing or are you considering it as mundane and boring as any other job to get right? Fall in love with making every sentence the best you're ever written, read up and understand the rules of grammar. Be prepared to put a story away for a few weeks and go back to it for a self-edit. A lot of the time, errors will just stare you in the face when you didn't see them the first time round. Once you know where your weaknesses are, they can be sorted and allow you to move a little higher up the ladder towards making your material look its best.
Please don't confuse this with my short story slush pile which is kinda low at the moment. We're always willing to give short story writers a chance to be seen if they can withstand my scrutiny even if we can't pay for their efforts. Don't forget also, we've got a teaching ground of one page stories, so check out the rules elsewhere on the website.
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