12-01-2021, 07:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-02-2021, 01:51 PM by Eric the Green.)
(10-19-2021, 12:36 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Katniss Everdeen, a hero of The Hunger Games, exemplifies someone living in a dystopian society, best described as an exaggeration of all that is wrong with a 3T carried to its logical conclusion, a grossly-inegalitarian order in which survival in a ferociously competitive world offers few rewards in return. Sports are a form of entertainment, but unlike those of recent times in which the losers are still well-paid entertainers so long as they qualify for their teams, sports become winner-take-all... and there is not much to take.
Dystopian fiction typically expresses what people most dread about their time. The Hunger Games are made for largely a Millennial audience, an audience that has the most to fear of bad trends of their time.....
So anyone the age of Justin Bieber and Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus, or older, is born into today's dystopia, and experience their world as one of dread.
Seem's plausible, although I myself feel that we have entered this dystopia, and it could drain away my boomer optimism and idealism.
Today we learn that the nuclear deal with Iran that Trump pulled out of for no reason can't just be put back the way it was. Because Iran has now developed its potential nuclear weapons to the point that it is almost able to produce a bomb. And they demand that the next president won't pull out of it, which I doubt could be arranged even if there was a Treaty ratified by the US Senate, which there won't be, and could also be revoked, especially since we might want to sanction Iran again anyway for further misbehavior. And it has to be redone anyway 4 years from now. So, where does that leave us? Can Iran's nuclear knowledge and progress be destroyed and put back as it was before Trump? Can all the sanctions Trump put on Iran be taken off? If not, do we unleash Israel to do cyber attacks or bombing? Can we bomb and destroy their nuclear program anyway? Do we keep tightening sanctions so that 4 years from now Iran will elect a moderate again? What does a world with a nuclear Iran look like? Does it attack Israel and thus start a war with the USA?
Meanwhile, most countries around the world have reverted to varying degrees of tyranny or authoritarian rule. Where does that leave peoples' aspirations? Do civil wars erupt? China seeks to expand its tyranny to Taiwan, and the USA and its allies are bosltering Taiwan's defenses. Possible war looms. Russia threatens to expand its tyranny to Ukraine. Possible war looms.
And today we learned that the omicron variant has arrived in California. Can the guy be quaranteened? Contact traced? Are there more cases here already? Meanwhile the Delta variant remains on the loose. Americans and many others still refuse to get vaccinated in numbers too high to stop the pandemic. We are unable to get the world vaccinated, and distrust of their authoritarian government causes many people in other countries to resist.
And the COP 26 conference failed, so climate change rages on. Nothing is being done. So we can expect more and more fires, more and more floods and storms, more droughts and water shortages, and higher prices for food, prices that are already now subject to major disruptions from the bouncing economy due to covid restrictions and lifted restrictions.Tipping points that leave us in hothouse earth for thousands of years loom.
While many others peoples live in abject tyranny, in the USA over 40% approve of a madman tyrant liar almost as much as they approve of an honest, hardworking president. Republicans appear ready to take back congress, ending for now all hope of a new progressive era. They are ready to purge voter rolls, impose voting restrictions, gerrymander additional seats, replace election officials with party hacks, and empower legislatures to determine who wins elections.
No-one listens to anyone on-line. You can provide as many facts and truths as you can, and people do not consider them. As far as most people are concerned these days, the only reality is what we already believe. Cognitive dissonance reigns, and can't be broken. What we've got here is, failure to communicate. And boy, are we gonna get it!
Sorry to be so pessimistic. I still harbor some hope that Republicans will lose their current favor, thus allowing us to swerve and shift to a better course. It's all on the ballot.