M Fnord Wrote:Fen-positive stories do exist in media, but they’re often non-local (the Blue Blaze Irregulars saving the day somewhere in not-America), of niche interest (Starfleet researchers exploring the brave new world of Pandora discover a new beastie) or relegated to “fad/lifestyle” news (a Fen company releases some pretty new chunk of Future from the WFC).Including in Hollywood (note the http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... n_Fenspace]Television in Fenspace page on the FenWiki), which seems to help improve the image of Fenspace in the US.
Pro-Fen forces exist both in the general public and in the government.
M Fnord Wrote:Handwavium panic lurks beneath US-Fen relations, and it’s not going away anytime soon.Sometimes called the "Black Scare", purposely echoing the "Red Scare" meme of the Cold War. Opinions are divided as to whether this helps or hurts either side of the debate.
M Fnord Wrote:The ‘12 GOP Convention was a bloodbath, radicals & moderates scrambling for the prize, no real presumptive nominee. Great TV, if you like that sort of thing. Eventually a compromise candidate - one supported by everybody & nobody - gets nominated.Republican or Democrat? With the GOP making an elephant-sized mess at their Convention, I'd be tempted to give this one to the Dems.
Things proceed from there. Eventually somebody wins, haven’t decided who yet. Whoever it ends up being, it’s a relative moderate on everything.
As for which Democrat... if it was up to me, I might pick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Boxer]the junior Senator from California (in OTL currently the chair of the Senate Ethics Committee and the Democratic Party's Chief Deputy Whip, so she's got the resume for a shot at the Oval Office). But that's just an idea from somebody who doesn't even live in the USA.
M Fnord Wrote:The Artemis evidence is disposed of shortly thereafter in the infamous April Fool’s Day Purchase. This actually leads to a pro-NASA backlash in the ‘14 midterms, as a bunch of Representatives who supported the shuttle sale were lambasted as all-but-traitors and thrown out.Something that Noah half-expected (his grumbling in Cosmic Party was about the chatter in Ops, not about the Purchase), but went ahead with anyway because he thought it was the least messy way out of the situation.
M Fnord Wrote:That brings us to 2015 or so and that’s where the train of thought derails. Discuss.I'm not sure where to go from here, and not sure we should go anywhere from here at this point. If we pencil in elements of the History of Fenspace, somebody's going to assume the last day mentioned in our notes is Fenspace's "present day". Let's leave the future to the future...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012