Volume 9, Issue 6, page 3
OCTOBER, 1962 Recusant Voice of 'The Infinite B V Ä J R Ä Ä fl Earth, Mars, Venus, Saturn,
hVO Z . IX 1V 0. 6 Pluto, and Mars, Venus, us Published monthly, except for the combined January-February and
DOES FICTION CHANGE HISTORY, OR JUST RECORD OF IT?
We knew from the way the George Washington chopped down
chair near our art desk creaked a cherry tree? that he threw a
when Bill dropped into it on silver dollar across the Potoone of his infrequent visits mac, when the U.S. didn't start
that there was something heavy coining silver dollars until
on his mind. So, between snips only a few years before Washwith our shears and dabs with ington's death? Yet those storthe paste brush, we waited for ies have attached themselves
him to relieve the pressure, to Washington until they are
"This- auditorial of yours the remembered symbols of his
on writers," Bill said, pick- life -- maybe more so than his
ing up a copy of the September Presidency, of which you hear
issue from the table. "How can very little."
you say some of this prepos- "Not important."
terous fiction is possibly au- "No, but they show how fact
tobiographical ? Have you ever and fancy can get mixed. Hisread any science fiction?" tory is replete with errors
"Often," we admitted. that romanticists and fiction"And you think some of the eers have fathered -- not as inspace-fight stories could have tentional frauds, but they were
happened to the writers?" presented in such a way that
"Stick around," we said. "If they were remembered, and have
you' re here long enough... " been handed down from one gen"Boloney!" Bill tossed the eration to another until they
magazine on the table, where it became popularly accepted."
caromed against a jar of pen- "What of the story of Jesus
cils and brushes. "Bug-eyed and the Apostles?" he asked.
monsters! Intelligent scum that "A classical example. What
eats people! Circes in space!" chance did history have when
"The submarine and flying the inventors of a myth were
machines were realities in fic- powerful enough to force their
tion long before they were in fiction upon the populace, and
fact," we challenged. "How do incorporate enough punishment
you know these writers weren't for disbelievers that the noncontacting previous existences thinkers 2.000 years later find
in which these things were ac- it easier to conform than to
tual, but which they, eons la- dig up conflicting data."
ter, imagined they imagined? "But there is no conflicting
Your use of the word 'Circe' data!" he insisted.
from Homer's 'Odyssey' shows "Why should there be? In an
how fiction has become a real- era when all writings were unity in your thinking. It's a der control of those who benknown fact that fiction writers efitted most from the myth they
were so accurate in a story had invented, they had authorabout atomic energy that Gov- ity to destroy any evidence
ernment officials suspected an that might be embarrassing.
information leak when we were Remember what happened to the
trying to develop the first great Alexandria library."
atomic bomb." "But this is an enlightened
"Coincidence. Or, maybe a age," he protested. "We have
bit of thought transference," the ability and the brains to
he disputed. sift facts, and eliminate what
"Possibly. However, appar- is preposterous. Such as the
ently you missed the point. We bug-eyed monsters in sciencewere trying to show that much fiction. They'll never be acof history is shaped by fiction cepted as facts. By the way,
-- and that true facts are often what are you doing Sunday ? "
warped by fancy. For example, "We have some work to do."
do you really believe that "Don't you ever take a day
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EDITOR: The Rev. Mr. Dr. ALPHIA OMEGA HART, I-2. D.D., D. Scn.,
F.Scn., B.Scn., HDA, HCA, et al ad infinitum ad nauseum
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POLICY: Don't take it so damn' seriously.
The infiniteness of Man is not reduced
to a"split infinity" by wars, taxes,
or "experts" who seek to sell him what
he already has in an infinite amount.
Sub-Policy: We reserve the right to change
our minds from issue to issue, or
even from page to page, if we desire.
Sub-Sub-Policy: Each Man has the inherent
right to be his own and only "Authority" -- with his wife's permission.
Sub-Sub-Sub-Policy: We have no objection to
"educated guesses" about Man's destiny -- if there's no price tag to it,
and if the guesser has no objection to
our guessing that he's only guessing.
of rest? Remember the Sabbath
Day and keep it holy."
"Like God did after Creation?" we asked.
"Certainly ! I suppose you
think you' re better than God,
and don't have to rest?"
We laughed. "You still buy
that old story of Creation? And
you said this was an enlightened age? Science doesn't bear
out Genesis on that."
"But if you can't believe
the Bible, what can you believe?"
"A six- day Creation, Adam
and Eve and the apple, Jonah
and the whale, Lot's pillar of
salt, Noah and his ark -- all
probably fiction based on possible real events. But time,
and ignorant acceptance, have
made them basic in our thinking. It may be an enlightened
age, but no one remembered to
flip all the switches."
"You're too skeptical," he
accused.
"Here's something you might
think about," we suggested. "If
the mind is all-powerful, and
enough of us accept the fictional version of the past, do
we create a past different from
what it actually was, making a
new actual past? There are
some who contend both the past
and future exist at one and
the same time -- then which is
the real , honest-to-goodness
past and which is the one we
have created by our thinking?"
"It's too deep for me," he
said, rising to leave. "But
I ' 11 tell you one thing -- you
said this part of Oklahoma was
opened for settlement on Sept.
16, 1893, which was 71 years
ago. I figure 1893 from 1962
is only 69 -- not 71, and your
error, or fiction, isn't going
to mess up mathematics -- for me
or any of the 'old settlers'
who made 'the Run'."
It took us several minutes
after he left to find our goof,
but it just shows anything can
happen when you start delving
into the fantasy potentials.