Guess who's Amazon's #1 Best Seller?
A popular acronym in IT support is RTFM (Read The F*cking Manual).
So a few days after President Trump's special adviser Kellyanne Conway used the term "alternative facts" and one month after Obama created a Ministry of Truth, people have decided to RTFM.
Yes, George Orwell's dystopian 1984 is currently the most popular book in the world.
However, not far behind are Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, both high-quality instruction manuals.
Our dystopian reality was obvious long before Trump.
Speaking of Brave New Worlds, the United States is now officially no longer a "full democracy".
The US has lost its status as a “full democracy” and is now what the research group calls a “flawed democracy,” thanks to an erosion of public trust in political institutions that pre-dates Trump’s victory. In the EIU’s ninth annual Democracy Index, the number of full democracies around the world fell to 19, from 20 the year before. America’s downgrade puts it at 21 in the rankings, below Japan and even with Italy.
The US has been “teetering on the brink of becoming a flawed democracy” for years, the report says. Regardless of the result of the 2016 presidential election, the US was due a downgrade. Trust has been declining in the US for decades, leaving the country’s institutions battling a “legitimacy crisis” and struggling to sustain representative democracy in its current form, the report says.
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We're Going to Get the Singapore Solution. It's coming.
I've seen it in a few of those weird social media news sites. Before the other day, I had only heard about the replacement for the "failed experiment of democracy" from the Economist and other mainstream economic sources.
The Singapore solution, in short, is a benevolent corporate dictatorship. It's not a real term, I just made it up, but the solution is real. I've heard several economic movers and shakers mention it.
When Drumpf was going up against Hillary I figured they'd rather have Hillary, as she's a capable and loyal corporate steward -- they could rely on her pushing through the program. But they wouldn't care about Drumpf because it gave government a black eye and what says "failure of democracy" like President Drumpf?
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
benevolent corporate dictatorship?
Like this?
Here's a best case scenario
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU]
Beware the bullshit factories.
also
Rolerball, the first one with James Caan, and the Orex and Crake trilogy by Margaret Atwood, mentioned above (really liked it)
WOW! The best oxymoron I've seen since Rocky & Bullwinkle
pointed out that 'government intelligence' is a contradiction in terminology.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
I think I better stock up on soma.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
I'm going to stock up on Foma
To survive in this Granfalloon.
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
What If the Hil Had Become POTUS
Would the US still be lower with Italy on the EIU list? I'm betting not. I'm not defending her at all as much as pondering considering she would have gone through with TPP, KXL and DAPL. The wall (not at all) and the grants for sanctuary cities would have been defunded eventually.
What I want to know is what that sheet of paper of Executive Orders about Obamacare contained. I thought Glenn and his gang would have been able to get more dirt on that one by now.
One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.--Tennyson
I'm not surprised it is #1.
My daughter is reading it, as well.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I suggest "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood,
in case Trump is impeached and we end up with Dominionist Mike Pence as president. It's chillingly dystopian.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Hmmm
The Onion
The Onion again
The Onion wins again
I assumed that was for real.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
I just came back from TOP. I posted that Sanders would
have made a better candidate than Hillary.
Here's their response
You have been found to be Unmutual.
We have a cure for that, you know.
“I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me.
It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.” - George Orwell, 1984
I went there this morning and made several comments
There was a diary up Thanking Trump because it led to activism
I posted CA berniecats take over Dem party, TYT's work on Justice Democrats, and on and on
Got very few responses
Again and again, why bother
Then went back there and Kos has up an attack on NPR which if read a little more is saying that the media, including NPR are responsible for Trump * they didn't cover Hillary the right way
I did get the usual comment of why not write my own diary.
Well, might check back over there in a few weeks
Sure hope Keith Ellison gets the job as head of DNC
Uh oh
Double plus ungood.
Please help support caucus99percent!
Read the "Fine" manual
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Brave New World should be #1
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Huxley was right for most people
but the government is rolling out Orwell for the rest of us.
Damn. They were both right
Yep! It's a candy mint AND a breath mint.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Or a floor wax and a dessert topping?
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Great illustrations.
Neil Postman's book is certainly worth a read, too, these days. But it looks to me that both Huxley and Orwell are relevant here (though I too preferred Huxley to Orwell).
Huxley's world is a warning to complacent liberals: what they are creating.
Orwell's world is a description of what activist liberals/left are up against.
They both look pretty real to me!
Need I add Brazil?
(edited to add afterthought)
I've seen the last four
panels, before. Thanks for posting the whole thing. They were both right, in some ways. I suspect that, in the end, George R. Stewart may get even more of it right.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Love this Huxley vs. Orwell graphic
and have thought of posting it at various apropos times here (but always wondered if it would lay on the page properly - looks great!). Thanks for putting it up.
The subject of this graphic is worthy of its own essay, for sure.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I just inserted the link
jTc did the rest.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
The US dropped on that list under Obama
We'll have to wait until next year to see how much further we will sink.
Good point.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
How ironic!
The students in my Composition II class will be reading dystopian novels for their research paper. Here are the following novels (I know, 2001: A Space Odyssey isn't a true dystopian novel, but it does discuss how machines can conquer man):
1. 1984
2. Fahrenheit 451
3. Brave New World
4. Animal Farm
5. The Handmaid’s Tale
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. The Time Machine
8. The Road
9. Oryx and Crake
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey
11. The Children of Men
12. Lord of the Flies
13. On the Beach
14. Never Let Me Go
15. The Iron Heel
16. Cat’s Cradle
17. The Giver
18. V for Vendetta
19. Anthem
20. I Am Legend
21. The Hunger Games
22. Atlas Shrugged
23. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
24. It Can’t Happen Here
I will also show this movie to my Composition I class:
Nice to see "The Iron Heel" on that list.
Bravo. That's a good list you've assigned for your students.
If you haven't read these two Jack London essays, you must. Furthermore, I think it would be a really good idea that they be read by every student wondering about how the world works:
What Life Means To Me
How I Became A Socialist
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I would add
25. Earth Abides.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Thanks!
Next semester, I will replace 2001: A Space Odyssey with that one.
2001 is misunderstood
HAL killed the crew because he was given conflicting directives that drove him insane. Clarke's point was that human ulterior political concerns can be illogical and dangerous.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
We only found that out after the movie
I think it was in "2010" - and Clarke admitted that his four books (2001, 2010, 2061, 3001) are not fully consistent with each other and should be considered "variations on a theme" rather than sequels.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
2001 was great
2010 was good
2061 was terrible, so I didn't read the last one.
You didn't miss anything
3001 was mostly "The Far Future According to Arthur C. Clarke", and some of his ideas were just plain silly (a "Society for Creative Anachronism" with dragons? Must have been taken over by the Pern fans).
Nothing much happens until the last few chapters, when it's a scramble to stop the Monoliths from killing off humanity (by stealth-bombing them with computer viruses - Clarke and Emmerich(?) came up with the same idea at about the same time, quite independently).
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
The Handmaid's Tale: coming to the small screen in April
https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/08/hulu-handmaids-tale-teaser-trailer/
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti
Maybe add a John Brunner as well..
Shockwave Rider, for example, has its weak spots, but I'd say no more than 4 or 5 others on your list.
Also, I am glad for your work, I hope it is fun for you. I think it is important.
Bruner is scarily prescient
Every time I see organic produce I think of Puritan Markets. Not only did he get the trend, but he laid it squarely at the feet of American's biblical cleanliness obsessions.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Don't forget
his 2nd of the three, "The Sheep Look Up", kinda appropriate title for today. For a real downer about nuclear war is I think a BBC production called "Threads"
How about THE LORD OF THE FLIES?
A most appropriate addition to the list.
Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
All the King's Men
is another that should see an uptick in sales.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?