David A. Wimsett's Perspectives

Science is not just being denied, it is under attack. Some conservative politicians and media constantly deny reality to promote their ideologies of control and mass profits for themselves. The goal of despotic tyrants is to deny anything is wrong to keep people from thinking and asking questioning, such as whether or not the depots should be in power. An uninformed public is easy to manipulate with fear, attacks on those who are different and other lies.

This behavior is not restricted to the United States where people now in power have made false accusations that vaccines are dangerous or cause autism with no evidence to back up these claims, all of which have all been debunked repeatedly. The conservative government of Alberta in Canada, for instance, has just released a report stating vaccines are ineffective against viruses and dangerous with the conclusion no one should take them. Dr. Gary Davidson, a vaccine denier and one of the authors, stated “Science is not a narrative or consensus but thoughtful, public discourse. An ‘international scientific collaboration and consensus’ sounds like a conspiracy, and I stand firmly against conspiracy theories.”

Dr. Davidson is dangerously wrong. Superstition is a consensus of a the public. Science is the methodical examination of the world to understand how it works. As more facts are uncovered and a deeper understanding is reached about the physical world, scientists will alter their conclusions to fit the facts. Despotic politicians and media alter the facts to fit their ideologies.

Science is not an international conspiracy. Science has no ideology, any more than the sun rising in the morning does. It is just reality. There are no alternate facts, only people trying to twist things to their advantage. Yet, reality can conflict with those who seek to take and hold power. The first thing any tyrannical government does is control the message of the media. The Nazis did it. The Soviets did it. Vladimir Putin is doing it. Now, selfish and power mad people in the west are doing it.

Don’t buy into this. Don’t let those who have seized power in certain areas lie to you so they can retain power over everyone. Become informed. Think. Question. Discover the facts and demand those who make statements provide documented, peer reviewed proof, not just assumption. Fact checking is vital. A democracy only works when people do these things. To blindly accept the word of a billionaire or politician with vested interests in taking more is the death of democracy.

I was very impressed with Dune part I but was disappointed my part II. The love story between Paul and Cheney, which is so important to Frank Hubert's book, was lost. She was turned into an angry and confrontation character on the currently held false belief that for a woman to appear strong she must become antagonistic. Paul and Chaney support each other in the book. In the movie she comes off as selfish and rude. At the end of the book, Chaney knows that Pail is marrying the emperor's daughter for political reasons and will never love or sleep with her. Chaney will bear Paul's heir. She will hold that power. She does not run off in a huff and ride a worm.

The movie leaves out the birth of Paul's sister, Alia, a vital part of the plot of the book because she is born aware and is the first to confront the emperor. She is so powerful, she silences the Bene Gesserit who have been manipulating genetic parings for centuries for their own purposes. Alia stops their plans.

Now, I support strong women in literature and cinema. My books are filled with strong, competent women in major roles. In my fantasy trilogy The Carandir Saga, some wield swords. Still, all are female characters, not testosterone filled male characters with female names. Women are powerful as women and in many respects stronger than men, such as in social power and pain endurance. It is true, women have been subjugated for millennia in many cultures, including the one we currently live in, denied opportunities given to men and treated as property to be possessed. Yet to think a woman has to become a man to succeed sets back woman’s’ rights.

Motion pictures are a different media than books and changes must be made to fit that media where there is only sight and sound. Producers, directors and screenwriters who change the temperament and essence of characters or the themes of the author to fit some current idea of social acceptance, which can change in years or even weeks, are creating their own story and should not label it as the book author's work or title.

Dune Part II makes these mistakes. I realize they set things up for a Dune Part III, but I won’t go to see it.