Well, I can't say that I agree with you there. Stories can deliver a message well without being bad (though I do agree that if done badly it can be really bad). Though storytelling for it's own sake has it's place too.Bob the Gunslinger wrote:It is. This kind of writing is called "wanking" and often comes across like a brat having a tantrum. It's terrible uncreative and dishonest toward the readers. If the author wants to discuss his ideas on society, he should write an essay. If he wants to tell a story, then he can tell a story.
Frankly I think you can agree that the Minbari and Eldar societies are a far cry from ideal: certain aspects of their societies are better perhaps, but the problems associated with their societies are explored. They may be enviable in some ways, but certainly not all.Bob the Gunslinger wrote:Yes, and I don't see any stipulation for "ideal society wanking" in that characterisation of scifi. I think it's pretty clear that Asimov, Ellison, Clarke, pretty much every damn writer worth his scifi salt can deal with "alternatives" without wanking about how society would be soooo much better if we all just did what he wanted.
Except maybe Heinlein..
"What would happen if" is a stipulation, and improvement over what society we have should hardly be verboten.
As above.I don't think the problem is with idealized alien societies vs human societies so much as with the concept that any society at all can be ideal. It's very hard to pull that one off convincingly, and 99 times out of 100 it comes across as retarded or forced--hence the cliche and people's reaction to it.
And as for the statistic you named, I blame the Bermans and the Bragas of the world.