Blind Faith - a story of science and belief

[BonfireLady]

Buried in amongst a thread on a different topic, I saw a recommendation from another MNer for the book "Blind Faith" by Ben Elton. It was written in 2008 but has never felt more relevant. It's 1984 updated in to the social media age. It even has everyone working from home except on designated days where they go in for group celebration and recognition.

The fascinating part is the theme of what happens when faith replaces science in creating laws and determining facts. Underpinned by group thinking, double speak, social contagion and the need to feel validated as an individual.

For any Ben Elton lovers, this is a fantastic enjoyable read. For anyone that doesn't normally enjoy his humour (he's very marmite in that respect) I'd advocate giving it a go. It's an incredible read with a lot of prophetic moments.

Either way, I felt it warranted its own thread. To the MNer who originally mentioned it, thank you again for the recommendation and I apologise that I can't give you the credit for it.

Ah yes I remember reading that book. I also thought it was fantastic. Almost another take on 1988.

I wonder what Ben Elton thinks about gender ideology

Identity Crisis amzn.eu/d/0WuKPsj
I started this last year, but it disappeared under the landslide of books by my bed, and I haven't got around to excavating it.

He is so biting about people blindly following trends and not thinking for themselves, and about the harm this causes, that the book gave me high hopes. But then so did Atwood - how the heck could the writer of The Handmaid's Tale be an identitarian? (And the writer of books where certain people have the privilege of being able to change form at will and 'pass', and magic overrides science, be such a compassionate realist?)

I bought and read that of the back of that same post Op! There were some eerily parallels of relevance with reali life now. I really enjoyed it!

There's an article in the penis news praising him, if you don't want to click the link I'll also post a screenshot below.
Although the fact they were all over him answers the question who's "side l" he's onPink news

Part of article

I didn't get on with that one but really enjoyed Identity Crisis, which came out in 2019. Only 99p on Kindle.

Blurb: Why are we all so hostile? So quick to take offence? Truly we are living in the age of outrage.

A series of apparently random murders draws amiable, old-school Detective Mick Matlock into a world of sex, politics, reality TV and a bewildering kaleidoscope of opposing identity groups. Lost in a blizzard of hashtags, his already complex investigation is further impeded by the fact that he simply doesn’t ‘get’ a single thing about anything anymore.

Meanwhile, each day another public figure confesses to having ‘misspoken’ and prostrates themselves before the judgement of Twitter. Begging for forgiveness, assuring the public “that is not who I am”.

But if nobody is who they are anymore - then who the f##k are we?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Untitled-book-2-Ben-Elton/dp/0593073584

It was such a great recommendation. Glad I wasn't the only one!

I've just had a read of the full article. Very interesting.

TBH I applaud him for swerving the topic live on air. He was being goaded towards saying something that would have put him in a very difficult position.
Reading further on in the article, he currently sounds very open to gender identity being important. It would be interesting to see if he keeps this opinion as more information unfolds in the press. Blind Faith was so scathing about the loss of critical thinking. That must have come from the heart. Perhaps gender identity just hasn't been an important issue for him and he's been very "live and let live".

I read it in 2012 and felt there was no way social media would ever be like that and voila!

If Ben Elton doesn't get it, things are worse than I thought.

I'm sure he will. It took me a while to join up all the dots. Admittedly, I didn't write a best selling book on it all 15 years ago and then fail to spot it 😂 But it's so nuanced that it takes time to see it I think, particularly if you're left-leaning. My own interest started with autistic children presenting as unsure about their gender identity (personal reason) and then grew to the whole issue of women in sport, women's spaces etc etc. I hadn't considered the interconnections at all initially and it took a deep dive in to everything (I read all the different newspapers now and several different blogs/social media forums on both sides of the debate) to "peak" me on the whole issue.

Perhaps gender identity just hasn't been an important issue for him and he's been very "live and let live".

He was 'live and let live' enough to have a trans person play the piano with their penis on his live TV show.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11343947/Moment-transgender-singer-strips-NAKED-live-Channel-4-plays-keyboard-PENIS.html

On that Channel 4 show with naked tw, Ben Elton introduced himself with his pronouns. I had hopes he might then go on to take the piss, but he didn't.

Just read this. Wow. I'm trying to work out how that would play out if a man (who identified as a man) ripped all his clothes off at the end and started playing the piano with his penis.
Would he be hauled away for indecency or applauded for a great knob gag?
I can't help but think of some of the lines in Blind Faith where flesh exposure and celebration of naked genitalia/boobs were just standard ways to show your faith.

Just reflecting a little more on this (and avoiding any plot spoilers for anyone that wants to read it):

Glinner has already cast himself as Trafford
Ben Elton appears to be auditioning to be the hapless Chantoria

I wonder if Glinner can peak Ben Elton? It would take logic, possibly via excerpts from Ben Elton's own book as well as some facts about the women and girls impacted by this, and compassion (genuine compassion for those suffering from gender dysphoria) but it might just work. If it does, he's radical and financially secure enough to step up and help to spread the word.

Glinner, if you're reading Mumsnet (wonder if he does?) are you up for the Life Meets Art challenge?