The original "Lunar Men" of pre-Victorian England, celebrated for their genius, curiosity and inventiveness:
http://www.amazon.com/Lunar-Men-Friends-Curiosity-Changed/dp/0374194408
Over the past few years, I've formed the opinion that in today's UK, people like the "Lunar Men" are, to an unusual extent in a modern country, feared, reviled and despised by the power structure. The official, and increasingly popular, tendency is to undermine such people and "put them in their place" wherever possible.
Recent real-world examples of (what are arguably) the effects of their absence or inhibition:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/08/13/do1302.xml
I've long felt that much of what's happening in the UK today is a striking (if not surprising) parallel to the events in Atlas Shrugged, a book written many decades ago.
I'm sure it's purely a coincidence that the notion of even reading that book gets slammed so often in the popular media...
http://www.amazon.com/Lunar-Men-Friends-Curiosity-Changed/dp/0374194408
Over the past few years, I've formed the opinion that in today's UK, people like the "Lunar Men" are, to an unusual extent in a modern country, feared, reviled and despised by the power structure. The official, and increasingly popular, tendency is to undermine such people and "put them in their place" wherever possible.
Recent real-world examples of (what are arguably) the effects of their absence or inhibition:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/08/13/do1302.xml
I've long felt that much of what's happening in the UK today is a striking (if not surprising) parallel to the events in Atlas Shrugged, a book written many decades ago.
I'm sure it's purely a coincidence that the notion of even reading that book gets slammed so often in the popular media...
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