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Terry Pratchett Knighted
ackthpt writes "Headlines have been popping up on Google News: 'Terry Pratchett declared himself "flabbergasted" to receive a knighthood as he led a group of writers, actors and performers honoured today.' The Discworld author and stalwart adversary of Alzheimers Disease has been a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Services to Literature since 1998. He will be entering the new year as Knight Commander. Well done and Oook, Sir Terry."
Congratulations Sir Terry, a well deserved honour.
I think we can agree that Terry Pratchett has earned an honour of one kind or another.
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Yet it doesn't stop you coming over in large numbers to hang around outside Buckingham Palace taking photos of the Changing of the Guard.
How exactly can one be a "stalwart adversary of Alzheimers Disease"?
I mean, other than the classic "I will die young, thus depriving it of another victim."...
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Congratulations! I'm glad to see that you didn't settle for a new dartboard, even if Detritus does ruin them.
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Just a little FYI. Sorry if we republican (small r) Americans find the whole royalty thing anachronistic, not to mention flying in the face of the concepts of equality and consent of the governed. Who really does care what these inbred people think?
There are many monarchies in Europe, most are stable, democratic countries where individual rights are very well protected... There is nothing anachronistic about keeping traditions...
I've never been a huge fan of the French
What kind of dumb remark is that?
You checked her vagina?!
He's a fantasy author who is best known as the author of the Discworld series.
>needs to think on a much longer scale than election cycles
Which is also a large chunk of the reason we have (had) a House of Lords. Blair and his vile mob did their best to wreck all that though and rip out a perfectly functional line of sanity that allowed him to shove through laws that would never have got passed otherwise. Of course, he used his usual campaign of disinformation and whipping up a frenzy of stupidity in large swathes of the people via the Daily Mail etc.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
He's not American.
Or end up suing himself for copyright infringement.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yes. We wouldn't want a high signal to noise ratio on Slashdot.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
What 'depriving it of a victim'? Terry *has* Alzheimer's. It's a tremendous loss to the literary world, and to the world at large, that his mental faculties are slipping. I've also met him, he's sharper than Harlan Ellison and a lot more fun to chat with
He's pouring his resources into fighting it out of enlightened self-interest, but he's doing a pretty good job of it, much like Chris Reeve did for spinal injuries after breaking his neck. I'm sure it's why a lot of his most recent work has been collaborative, rather than personally authored from start to finish.
Objectively, he's also very good. His handling of multiple cultures is excellent, his political satire is brilliant, his ability to link human themes such as sexism, aging, outrage at injustice, poverty, fondness of pets, bureaucracy, and courage into plots that are fun for both children and sophisticated adults who appreciate more of the subtlety is amazing. His characters are very human, often very warm, and he successfully captures the attitudes of both heroes and villains.
'Jingo' should have been required reading for the Bush Administration before the recent mid-easter mess, just as 'Making Money' should have been required reading for the loan officers of the USA before the housing credit crunch. The man captures important themes about all sorts of aspects of life.
Not to harp too strongly on this, but reading Rowling, or Tolkien, actually doesn't do much. Reading Pratchett exposes people to all kinds of religious, philosophical, psychological and sociological ideas. He actually manages, not only to make political correctness and liberal tolerance funny, but also attractive. Just compare his ueber-policeman, Vimes, to Jack Bauer, and you see what I mean. Although they're both cardboard, Vimes has depth. He is a middle aged man who has accidentally married into high society and learns to adapt to it, even as marriage to a woman who understands powerful men opens opportunities to him he would otherwise not have had.
Another thing about Pratchett which may reflect his collaborationism: he can view his characters from outside. For instance, Vimes appears in books in which he is not the central character, and then we see him quite differently. Even minor characters do this: we see Cheery Littlebottom as a dwarf coming out as a woman in a gender-averse society, with all the conflicts that causes, but in another book we see her from outside the police force just as another faceless instance of authority. It's depth like this that justifies a knighthood.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."