Oh. Dear. God.
It’s always risky to read what a fiction writer Thinks About Things, “things” being issues in the real world. It’s especially risky when that writer writes science fiction, a genre that often involves some weird takes on the real world and society. Larry Niven has written some of my favorite science fiction short stories, but this, which I got courtesy of Sadly No, qualifies as one of those head-slapping, groaning moments. His suggestion for dealing with the healthcare crisis? Read it and weep.

Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants.



“The problem [of hospitals going broke] is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren’t going to pay for anything anyway,” Niven said.

I know, I know, it’s not news that Niven is a flaming right-winger. It’s just that the freight of astounding cluelessness, not to mention callousness carried in this brief statement is a reminder of the overlap between right-wing politics and some areas of science fiction and fantasy. Norman Spinrad (who has written his share of head-slapping, oh-dear-God takes on the real world) dissected this brilliantly in The Iron Dream.

It’s a connection that most frequently comes out in discussions with right-wing libertarians. After a few posts, you begin to realize that this person’s vision of an ideal society is closest to some post-apocalyptic science fiction novel or high fantasy, and involves him/her striding through a crowded and dangerous marketplace, wearing either an automatic weapon and military fatigues or a sword and a rippling cape. Never, never do they seem to imagine themselves as one of the hoi-polloi in such a world, part of the struggling masses whose misfortunes form a colorful backdrop to the ubermensch main character.

And so you have a millionaire like Larry Niven suggesting a good way to control hospital costs is to frighten the low income Latino community in general (all of whom he apparently defines as “illegal aliens) from availing themselves of medical care. Presumably all these grubby peasants will find some place to bleed or cough themselves to death out of sight or earshot from folks like Mr. Niven.

And no doubt any contagious diseases they contract will thoughtfully refrain from spreading as these unvaccinated and untreated people clean, cook, and baby-sit for the rest of us.