Rodger Carlyle's Blog
May 17, 2021
SECRET WEAPONS
In 1981, the first year of the Civil War, Richard Gatling invented the first automatic fast firing weapon, the Gatling Gun. Originally from the South, he was a passionate patriot of the United States and prayed that the Union's adoption of his weapon would make war so deadly, so terrible that the South would quit the war.
The men responsible for arming Northern troops saw the weapon as a deterrent, but refused to equip the troops with it because they were afraid of the expense of "a flood of bullets" on the treasury.
So the weapon remained a secret and the war went on for three more years costing tens of thousands of lives.
Which begs a question appropriate then and today; is a secret weapon a deterrent if nobody knows about it?
The men responsible for arming Northern troops saw the weapon as a deterrent, but refused to equip the troops with it because they were afraid of the expense of "a flood of bullets" on the treasury.
So the weapon remained a secret and the war went on for three more years costing tens of thousands of lives.
Which begs a question appropriate then and today; is a secret weapon a deterrent if nobody knows about it?
May 10, 2021
political correctness
I was thumbing through my political facebook (mind numbing) research this morning and came across a mayors race posting. In the post, a liberal leaning candidate posted a comic of himself disguised as Captain America. He was vanquishing his older and more conservative opponent made up to be Hitler, complete with swastika armband.
It occurred to me that this fake Captain America probably hadn't studied the rise of the Third Reich, complete with its socialist agenda. A political movement that stifled free speech, imposed strict gun control, and a welfare state. The Nazis set out to save the German people.
The rest is history. But some study history and offer us advice.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it."
H.L. Mencken
It occurred to me that this fake Captain America probably hadn't studied the rise of the Third Reich, complete with its socialist agenda. A political movement that stifled free speech, imposed strict gun control, and a welfare state. The Nazis set out to save the German people.
The rest is history. But some study history and offer us advice.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it."
H.L. Mencken
May 3, 2021
About my writing
History is funny; it is normally written by the victors. When you look at history from both sides, you often learn about aspects that one-sided narratives ignore or even cover up. The key to determining where to look for alternative history is often found by examining the popular versions and looking for pieces that don’t fit correctly.
I look for bits and pieces of stories that don’t fully add up and then research from other sources, what might be missing. From both sources I create a possible narrative that tells a more complete story. I present these narratives as pure fiction, but based on a lot of history. Most importantly I write adventure stories, page-turners, fun to read. If at the end, the reader is just a little more skeptical of company narratives, that is a good thing.
For you experts or ‘tribal members,’ my writing may piece together technology or experiences that occur over a lengthy period and present it as part of a story. I do this not to mislead, but because a story written during an evolutionary time frame, by definition, is slow and probably boring. Only a scientist can read with excitement the story of how the elephant evolved from a whale.
I try to write stories that are politically correct to the period of the story, not the present. For example, throughout history, religion has been an important part of life, even to those who don’t always live up to their faith. Revisionist history teaches us nothing about how we got to today. Even worse, it masks the pain, suffering, and reevaluation that leads to progress. If you are concerned about the correctness of one of my stories, read the next one.
I look for bits and pieces of stories that don’t fully add up and then research from other sources, what might be missing. From both sources I create a possible narrative that tells a more complete story. I present these narratives as pure fiction, but based on a lot of history. Most importantly I write adventure stories, page-turners, fun to read. If at the end, the reader is just a little more skeptical of company narratives, that is a good thing.
For you experts or ‘tribal members,’ my writing may piece together technology or experiences that occur over a lengthy period and present it as part of a story. I do this not to mislead, but because a story written during an evolutionary time frame, by definition, is slow and probably boring. Only a scientist can read with excitement the story of how the elephant evolved from a whale.
I try to write stories that are politically correct to the period of the story, not the present. For example, throughout history, religion has been an important part of life, even to those who don’t always live up to their faith. Revisionist history teaches us nothing about how we got to today. Even worse, it masks the pain, suffering, and reevaluation that leads to progress. If you are concerned about the correctness of one of my stories, read the next one.
