George magazine

 

George was a glossy monthly magazine founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. in September 1995 centered on the theme of politics-as-lifestyle. Its tagline was "Not Just Politics As Usual."

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George, known for sexy and outrageous covers featuring famous celebrities, was similar to magazines such as Rolling Stone, Esquire or Vanity Fair. However, the magazine focused mainly on politics and social issues in a way that the general public could find news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.

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February 1997 Issue

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The February 1997 issue of George magazine included a "Survival Guide to the Future" that featured various contributors describing how the world was "now" and providing their thoughts on what the world would be like in 2020.

 "What does the future hold: a new world of promise or apocalypse? We launched a discovery mission to the next millennium to find out what's on the other side. So buckle your chin strap and hold on as George enters the time warp and re-emerges in the year 2020."

 

In the Editor's Letter, Kennedy invites the reader to put this issue of the magazine in a safe place and take it out in 20 years. "It may not get what you want, but you just might find, it will get you what you need."

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"Lung-attacking virus"

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In a section titled "DISEASE: KILLER COOTIES" the future of disease and wellness is discussed, with one author predicting, "Worst-case scenario? An over-populated planet choked to extinction by a lung-attacking virus."

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On a happier note, in the same section the Chairman of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Alabama predicted that some causes of death and common health complaints, such as coronary heart attacks or chronic arthritis, will be proven to be the result of infectious agents — and may be curable.

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Bill Gates

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Also featured in the February, 1997 issue, was a Q&A session between Kennedy and Microsoft founder/philanthropist, Bill Gates, who had a few interesting answers to give:

 

John Kennedy: Will online communities ever replace physical communities altogether?

Gates: It's nonsense to say that people are just going to sit at home and use their computers. But people shouldn't underestimate how much we are going to improve the nature of that computer experience; there will be talking 3-D images of yourself that will enable you to sit and converse with people, play games with people, and a lot of neat things. We will never replace the idea of "Let's go on a picnic together" or "Let's climb a mountain together. "In fact, as technology increases our efficiency, we will have extra time to engage in leisure activities..."

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John Kennedy: Microsoft Just entered into a partnership with NBC for a news channel/Web site called MSNBC. You've also recently launched Slate, an online magazine. As you get deeper into the information business, will your own views color the content of the news you provide the way Rupert Murdoch has set the Fox News Channel up as an antidote to the perceived liberal bias of the establishment press?

 

Gates: I m not interested in doing that. I’m surprised Rupert is able to retain quality people with that approach. I mean, that’s very dangerous and perhaps inappropriate— He claims he’s just reacting, that the rest of the press has a liberal bias. I personally don’t see that. The people you hire to be editors and writers, they have their own opinions. That is their job. My job is to run a great, great software company. I’m very careful to keep my political views separate.

 

John Kennedy: Why do you keep them separate?

 

Gates: Because the alternative is inappropriate. I have my personal views. Then there’s Microsoft, a company that gets involved in very few political things. My own views are those you’d expect from somebody who feels like he’s been very, very lucky and that the resources under his command are really society’s resources. And I have to be clever about how I’m going to funnel those back in. I fund education projects, I fund population control. I’m very big on the United Way.