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Showing posts with label dystopian literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dystopian literature. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

The Death of the West -- A Howl or a Whimper?

I'm reading an amazing novel written in 1975, Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail, that I can only describe as prophetic. It tells the story of an "armada" of broken down ships sailing from India to Europe with a million poverty stricken souls headed for the promised land. None of the Western nations will face the fact that such an invasion will unalterably change the face of the country where they land. All the leftists around the world cheer on the invaders including the liberal press. They attack the military and the police and proclaim that charity and mercy demand the refugees be welcomed with open arms. Meanwhile, the large numbers of immigrants already in the West see in the "armada" a call to better their own situation against the "racist" European whites and unrest becomes widespread. The pope of mercy is "Benedict XVI" although his persona is more descriptive of Francis.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

What Dystopian Literature Can Teach Us

I just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and I'll be processing it for awhile. I'm sorry in one way that I pursued an advanced degree in government and management instead of English literature, my true love. Two college course ideas fascinate me: 1) propaganda in literature and film. (Philadelphia was a classic example of gay propaganda and would certainly feature in the course.) and 2) dystopian literature.

Here's an observation about dystopian literature. Check it out by reading:
1984 by George Orwell 
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis 
Lord of the World by Hugh Benson
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
All of the governments are strong centralized regimes that treat their citizens as cogs in their well-oiled machine. Freedom is severely limited. An elite class runs everything.  The people are expendable and pragmatism rules. Morality is whatever advances the agenda of the dystopian government.

Sound familiar? We are moving ever more rapidly toward totalitarianism. When Bishop Jenky warned about the historical reality of the attack on religious rights during Hitler's rise to power, he was vilified. But he's absolutely right. The warning signs are everywhere. The gun confiscation from citizens in New Orleans after Katrina. The demonizing and scapegoating of certain groups of people. (In Germany it was the Jews; now it's people of faith and successful businessmen.) The continuous fomenting of mobs like the occupy groups and union thugs. It's happened before.

Sometimes it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys which is why I'll stick close the Jesus Christ and his Church. Meanwhile, do you think the liberal young people gobbling up The Hunger Games get it? We're a lot like Panem which is a lot like ancient Rome  which is a lot like Hitler's Germany which is a lot like Stalin's Russia which is a lot like Turkish Armenia.