1984 by George Orwell

1984

This is pretty much the gold standard by which modern dystopian fiction is judged. And rightly so. You've got all the necessary elements - possibly fictional government figurehead, repression at all levels of life, revision of history, brutal police, "anyone could be a spy", lack of art and music, brainwashing, denial of sexual and romantic urges. And, perhaps most importantly, Orwell could actually write. I cared about poor ol' Winston. (Not so much about Julia, mind you - after all, she was just "a rebel from the waist down".)

Books and papers and on and on have been written about 1984 and newspeak and Big Brother and all the rest. I'm just going to touch on a few things. For one, I think Orwell got it exactly right when he portrayed Winston as hating and fearing the revisionism he was deeply a part of - and yet, he still took pride in a job well done as he changed articles and destroyed past reality. That's just so damn human, isn't it? Me, I hate a lot of what my job does, but I take some pride in the way I do my small, administrative tasks.

The other thing that socks me in the gut - well, one of them - is the Parsons and their children. To be betrayed by your kids is a fear common to all parents, I would suspect. And making that an everyday - even a praise-worthy - part of society is just one more way of making sure that all control remains with the state. I can't imagine having no one worth trusting. Literally no one, even those who came from your own substance, that considers you as worthy as themselves. Worst part? Not even the kids' fault - they're the puppies from Animal Farm, raised to protect those who hold the reins.

Regarding current economic events, I just want to throw this out there:
It had always been assumed that if the capitalist class were expropriated, Socialism must follow: and unquestionably the capitalists had been expropriated. Factories, mines, land, houses, transport--everything had been taken away from them: and since these things were no longer private property, it followed that they must be
public property. Ingsoc, which grew out of the earlier Socialist movement and inherited its phraseology, has in fact carried out the main item in the Socialist programme; with the result, foreseen and intended beforehand, that economic inequality has been made permanent.

final thought: I can't believe this was the first time I read this one, but it's so deeply embedded in so much of our culture by now that it seemed familiar from the beginning.

That cover up there is the one I have. But I sure wish I had this one instead.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm

This is how you do it. There's a reason Animal Farm is a classic of both literature in general and political satire specifically - it's damn near perfect. The allegory is simple enough for a literate child to grasp, even if they have no information about Stalinism or Soviet Communism to base it on, and for those who have studied history it maintains its worth as a fable.

The telling of the story itself can scarcely be criticized. You know what's going to happen. It's obvious from Napoleon's first appearance that he'll soon be as much (or more) of a tyrant as the original farmer. Heck, I'd read it before, back in middle school, but I still felt the rush when the animals drove out their owner and burned the whips, seethed with anger at Squealer's endless propaganda (swallowed whole by the mostly-illiterate and trusting workers), shared Benjamin's rage and horror as Boxer is sold to the knackers to pay for the pigs' carousing.

I believe it was Terry Pratchett who said something like, "There's a reason they're called revolutions - it all just keeps coming around to the beginning again." What I found interesting, though, was that the book really isn't a flat out condemnation of socialism or even communism - it's about a promise broken, power seized, and ideals twisted into a horrible shape. I think that's part of why, even while USSR-style communism fades into history, you can apply the Animal Farm allegory to any number of political situations. It's not strictly tied to the obvious.

final thought: This book scared the crap out of me as a preteen. (I was already fairly paranoid and antigovernment way back then.) These days I find it less frightening, but I think it maintains a current of power found in very little political writing.

America 2014 by Jonathan Greenberg writing as Dawn Blair

America 2014

Oh good Lord, that was terrible. I mean, truly truly bad. Oh sure, a few details gave me a chuckle (I especially liked renaming the US "God's United States"), but overall this wasn't worth the effort Greenberg put into writing it. And it sure as hell wasn't worth reading.

I mean, come on. Either go ahead and use the names of current politicians or don't, but things like George Blush, Dick Croney, and John Flashcroft only serve to kick us out of the already-thin plot. And what a plot it is, as tortured as the unfortunate characters themselves. As I mentioned in a previous post, the villeins are such broad puppets they might just as well have said "boogity boogity!", stuck their fingers in their ears, and waggled them at the hapless prisoners who are hauled off for "ultimate rehabilitation" or whatever silly euphemism Greenburg chose for his death camps.

The female characters only exist to rescue the "hero" or pop in and out of bed with him. The underground is entirely made up of thinly drawn cyberpunk hackers and neo-hippies, and every single one of them smokes weed like it's their jobs. The employees of the government are all rabid, grinning psychos who only come onto the page to torture, rape, and taunt the "good guys".

final thoughts:I understand that the author gave away free copies of America 2014 on college campuses when it came out in 2004 as a way to bring attention to the evils done by Bush's administration. I'm as left wing as they come, and I still think those college kids who actually read a free copy failed to get their money's worth.

The Running Man by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)

The Running Man

Ol' Stevie ain't subtle. The points aren't left up to you to figure out, they're all but written in neon: the mass of people will accept anything as long as they are entertained and comfortable, and the most one man can hope to accomplish is near-meaningless gestures at the expense of everything he holds dear.

But, again, I don't read King for the message, I read him for the stories. This is a fun one, too, if your idea of fun is a possible future of deadly tv shows, rising crime, miserable poverty, souring pollution, and fascist governments. Which, yeah, I enjoy all those things as long as they stay on the page.

And yes, our pop culture is getting sicker and bloodier. And yes, our freedoms are being stripped away. And yes, we're getting poorer by the day. And yes, health problems get worse all the time due to our ongoing efforts to pollute the galaxy. And yes, corporations do seem to be pretty much in power. And so yes, sometimes it does feel like all I want to do is raise a middle finger to the whole damn mess and give it a hearty FUCK YOU.

final thought: I want to hear a punk concept album built around this book.

The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick

The Penultimate Truth

Here we've got an exaggerated version of "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Except it's "the powerful get more powerful and everyone else gets seriously fucked." One of my biggest fears is being trapped underground, so the "ant tanks" seriously squicked me out. But as a guy with an abiding interest in the use of propaganda, of course the idea of feeding the people a completely fictitious reality in order to maintain authority is one I'm always interested in.

final thought: I'm not the biggest PKD fan, and this ain't the best PKD book.