Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 16:36:51 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Sum of All Cliches
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Probably set up as a macro in SCRNWRTR ver4.2 . . .

mjw

>>> StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL 06/03/02 04:09PM >>>
	Yah, insert Nazi = no need to think.  What a great labor saving
device!

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Smith [mailto:sgs at aginc.net]
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 2:51 PM
To: WSFA members
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Sum of All Cliches

"Strong, Lee" wrote:
>
>         Dr. Einstein, Ms. Van Dommelen,... Germany's losses, America's
> gains.

There's a great quote (I can't find the original) from the Sultan of
Turkey on the occasion of King Ferdinand of Spain running out the Jews
in 1492:

"What a marvelous man is the King of Spain.  He enriches my kingdom by
impoverishing his own."

(Many of the Spanish Jews went to Turkey, and did quite well.)

>         I wasn't objecting to remembering the Nazi horrors.  In fact, I
> think that many people could use a refresher course.  So maybe these =
movie
> menaces will serve a useful purpose.  However, as a generalization, I
think
> that Nazis and neo-Nazis have been overdone as literary villains since
World
> War II.  I read a fair amount of techno-thrillers and Fourth Reiches are
> boringly common.  Unless a writer has an original take on the subject =
such
> as _The Boys From Brazil_, I say it's time to retire the Third Reich.

Problem I have is that Nazis are a hook for "eeeevil", of the Saturday
morning cartoon variety.  If somebody is "eeeevil", then you don't have
to worry about logic, motivation, or any of those nasty complicated
things that get in the way of blowing up stuff.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."