Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?

[Tim]

I found an excerpt from Ursula K. LeGuin's book "The Language of Night" titled "Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons" that explores the reasons why Fantasy and Sci Fi are less that treasured by more "serious" people.

Some of this is very interesting, and considering the date I'm sure a few of you have probably read this, but I'm curious who has and what they thought of it.

The article itself I found here:

http://adam.shand.net/library/why_are...

I will probably buy this volume soon, and I figured I'd share and see what my fellow... um... whatever we call ourselves thought of it.

[Doug]

I'd say let us know what you think.

Also, I have no idea why anyone would be afraid of a fire-spitting, 60 foot scaled monster with a massive wing span that could quite easily swallow a cow. Who'd be afraid of that?

[Colin]

A biologist would.

[Kaan]

This topic is not complete without the following awesomely cheeky response by her: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Cha...

[Tamahome]

They're so cute and cuddly in Game of Thrones...

[Vladimir]

Tamahome wrote: "They're so cute and cuddly in Game of Thrones..."

Yes, in the same way that baby alligators are cute and cuddly (until they grow teeth).

[Skip]

Never deal with dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. (From my Shadowrun RPG days - I don't remember if it was in the books or a player comment, but I always loved that.)

On a more topical note, I think that Ms. LeGuin's rant about anti-intellectual nabobs is thoughtful and on-point, but I think she is mixing two separate issues.

To a large extent the wealthy people referred to are successful because they exclude everything other than their main interest from their lives. It has nothing to do with fiction and reflects their personality more than anything else. The anti-fiction bias among white collar workers has more to do with an increasingly vocational university system that sells skills useful to a particular job rather than a broader education.

As someone who works in a very technical, niche field, I see the results of this often. While it produces people that are very competent at what they are doing, it can also leave them unable to have a conversation with a client and it can leave them missing important issues that are outside the scope of their expertise.

Her point on teaching imagination and creativity are the most important to our future, and the future of learning. We are rapidly reaching the point where the routine will be completely automated. The only value humans will be able to offer in the job market is in fields where the scope is too large and complex or too unique to easily automate. Having a broad skill set and a flexible mind are going to be the skills employers will be looking for.