h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

1) Just letting you know I'm putting a link to this article on the H2G2 Historical Society, which can be found here:

http://www.h2g2.com/A240058

2) Regarding the footnote, Lewis Carroll DID like little girls, rather too much. Not to say he's actually known to have molested one, but his rather unnatural attachment to the young lady who was the inspiration for Alice caused the girl's family to up and move without any reason given. He had a penchant for taking photographs of young girls in various states of undress, and his doodles for his Alice books were laden with suggestive imagery. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want this guy teaching at the local primary school.

I would guess, on the basis of my Fitzgerald knowledge, that that was the nice people's point. But many great men seem to be rather sexually deviant. If not pedophilic, than at least raging hormone machines. Ben Franklin. Martin Luther King. Et cetera. As a female, I don't like excusing this, but the truth is that one often must look at the man's works and overlook his ... works. OK you see my point.

Of course. For my part, I quite like watching Hogan's Heroes, and it's quite an effort to look past the very sordid details of Bob Crane's (Hogan) later life (and death).

At the other end of the spectrum, (just to play devil's advocate) should you applaud Adolf Hitler's works - building the autobahns, building up German esteem and national pride, getting the trains running on time; and overlook the fact that he killed millions of people?

Mustapha the Horned Dilemma

I think I was referring to overlooking the personal life for the effect one has on the Big Picture. I don't care tha Hitler loved his dog, to follow this out - I DO care that he murdered 13 million people. That's big picture.

You're right. My apologies for being facetious.

But you have to realise that subjectivity plays an awfully big part in how we look at other people, and for the most part it goes unexamined and unquestioned.

I realize that. National hero, vicious murderer - it's a matter of perspective. And indeed, Hitler did build up German morale. But then it went crashing down, along with their economy.

It's not always so clear-cut, and one brings one's biases into everything - but that's OK, because we can't help it.

I think it's not so much an issue of not being biased at all but rather KNOWING when we're biased, and understanding why. Lewis Carroll's personal life was a bit shady, but I like the books of his that I've read, as well as Alice in Wonderland being my namesake. Maybe it's just that a lot of very creative people are very, um, unique in other ways.

Quite true...
In fact, most all of them.

Yes. Which supports the theory of "If we all act the same, we all think the same."

Amen.

That's a neutral statement,but for the record, I'm against conformity. Let's make it a movement! Who's with me? Let's call it IMAC(yes I know, but we can both mock and praise apple at the same time).