- Joined
- May 9, 2017
It must be explictly fictional, so no religious literature or Greek philosophy or something like that.
Until recently, I would've probably said something like Lord of the Flies, a book that contains pretty much everything you need to know about human nature. But the further we get into Current Year, the more I think that every high schooler should have their eyes pried open Ludovico style and be force fed Demolition Man.
Yes, Demolition Man, the 1993 action movie starring Sly Stallone and Wesley Snipes. The second half of the movie is pretty typical 90s action fare, albeit with a particularly fun villain, but the first half? Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, hell, even Mike Judge had their visions of dystopia. I don't think any of them did as good of a job at predicting the essence of Clown World as Demolition Man does.
The plot is mostly forgettable, but the setting is fascinating. After a massive earthquake, LA gets rebuilt from the ground up as a centrally planned society under the control of a single man. Everyone has an embedded tracking chip that also functions as a bank account. Serious crime has fallen to almost nothing, because anybody who tries to break the rules is automatically cut off from society. There are computer kiosks everywhere, and they're constantly listening. If you swear, they'll automatically issue you a ticket and fine your account directly. Continue, and the computer will call the police.
Salt and meat have been banned as unhealthy. All music is now old advertising jingles, like Oscar Meyer Weiner. Sex takes place entirely through VR headsets. Even kissing is viewed as disgusting and unclean. All babies are born through test tubes.
There's a group of literally underground rebels who have decided to leave the comfort of society in favor of freedom. Since they have no chip implants, they have no money, and have to either steal or eat rats to survive.
Even the way language is used is... uncanny. It reminds me, at least a little, of all the forced friendliness on social media. Of course, the idea of political correctness existed even back then, and that's what they were satirizing. But still. I don't really know how to explain this one, you just sort of have to hear it.
So when a career criminal from the 90s escapes his cryogenic containment, the police have no idea how to deal with him. Everything has been so completely sanitized, bubble wrapped, and retard proofed that there's nobody left who actually knows how to deal with the unexpected. Turns out, the guy who set up this whole system in the first place brought this criminal back to kill the rebel leader who was disrupting his centrally planned utopia. In the end he decides to let the criminals run riot for a while so that he can save the day and exert even MORE control over the populace.
All this is portrayed as sort of a dark comedy, but 32 years later it is ALARMINGLY prescient, and needs to be shoved directly into the brain of every last person in the west.
Until recently, I would've probably said something like Lord of the Flies, a book that contains pretty much everything you need to know about human nature. But the further we get into Current Year, the more I think that every high schooler should have their eyes pried open Ludovico style and be force fed Demolition Man.
Yes, Demolition Man, the 1993 action movie starring Sly Stallone and Wesley Snipes. The second half of the movie is pretty typical 90s action fare, albeit with a particularly fun villain, but the first half? Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, hell, even Mike Judge had their visions of dystopia. I don't think any of them did as good of a job at predicting the essence of Clown World as Demolition Man does.
The plot is mostly forgettable, but the setting is fascinating. After a massive earthquake, LA gets rebuilt from the ground up as a centrally planned society under the control of a single man. Everyone has an embedded tracking chip that also functions as a bank account. Serious crime has fallen to almost nothing, because anybody who tries to break the rules is automatically cut off from society. There are computer kiosks everywhere, and they're constantly listening. If you swear, they'll automatically issue you a ticket and fine your account directly. Continue, and the computer will call the police.
Salt and meat have been banned as unhealthy. All music is now old advertising jingles, like Oscar Meyer Weiner. Sex takes place entirely through VR headsets. Even kissing is viewed as disgusting and unclean. All babies are born through test tubes.
There's a group of literally underground rebels who have decided to leave the comfort of society in favor of freedom. Since they have no chip implants, they have no money, and have to either steal or eat rats to survive.
Even the way language is used is... uncanny. It reminds me, at least a little, of all the forced friendliness on social media. Of course, the idea of political correctness existed even back then, and that's what they were satirizing. But still. I don't really know how to explain this one, you just sort of have to hear it.
So when a career criminal from the 90s escapes his cryogenic containment, the police have no idea how to deal with him. Everything has been so completely sanitized, bubble wrapped, and retard proofed that there's nobody left who actually knows how to deal with the unexpected. Turns out, the guy who set up this whole system in the first place brought this criminal back to kill the rebel leader who was disrupting his centrally planned utopia. In the end he decides to let the criminals run riot for a while so that he can save the day and exert even MORE control over the populace.
All this is portrayed as sort of a dark comedy, but 32 years later it is ALARMINGLY prescient, and needs to be shoved directly into the brain of every last person in the west.
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