Art, life and in-between

It's always amusing when mainstream reporters suddenly discover that life imitates art. Their stories are almost always more illuminating about their authors than either life or art.

Case in point, the plot to use remote-controlled planes to kill innocent civilians.

While some journalists think this is an entirely new idea, others, like Torie Bosch at Slate, found some parallels in thriller plots. Story is here.)

Bosch's reference is to a 2010 novel by Susan Hasler entitled Intelligence. (Dsclosure - I haven't read it and don't know the author.) But the truth is, the idea of using radio-controlled aircraft is a lot older than that - and yes, I've used it myself at least two or three times. Given that, I'm going to guess that there are several much closer parallels in other books. Maybe many other books.

But so what? Is there any evidence that the would-be terrorist was inspired by fiction? (Or even watching The Office, which the reporter claims the book is close to - echoing something pretty prominent in an Amazon review, by the way.) Or vice versa - if you look carefully at some of the unclassified reports on Iraqi capabilities prior to the invasion of Iraq, you'll surely see parallels.

I don't mean to lash the reporter (let alone the author); the story isn't making any great claims. It's just stating the rather obvious in an obvious way. Kind of like this blog entry.