Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/29/a-week-into-the-trump-administ.html
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related?
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2017/01/policy-change-future-us-visits.html#more
… As for my worst case nightmare scenario? Given the reshuffle on the National Security Council and the prominence of white supremacists and neo-nazis in this Administration I can’t help wondering if the ground isn’t being laid for a Reichstag Fire by way of something like Operation Northwoods. In which case, for me to continue to plan to travel to the United States in eight months time would be as unwise as it would have been to plan in February 1933 to travel to Germany in September of that year: it might be survivable, but it would nevertheless be hazardous.
would prefer that Stross’s nightmare scenarios not come true.
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I see that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is at #25, though whether that’s because of the new TV show or Mike “The Commander” Pence or both is not clear.
One dystopian novel that really should be in there is Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America”, which hits even closer to the mark than the others about what happens when a celebrity demagogue who shouts “America First” and his racist henchmen take the White House.
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Same here, but from the re-shuffle it looks like internal security focused on those who oppose the administration has just gained equal importance with defense against America’s enemies abroad.
I know I’m already going to be spending less time in the U.S. over the next two years than I normally do.
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atwood’s book should really be up there. illegitimi non carborundum!
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nice! source?
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Tumblr…
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What people need to reading is Animal Farm. Trump’s wall is the same as Napoleon’s grain silos and windmills. It’s a ruse to keep people busy and distracted while he consolidates power.
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Read Brunner’s Shockwave Rider if you want to be optimistic, read the same author’s The Sheep Look Up if you want to be realistic.
(spoiler below)
The Sheep Look Up ends with two characters in the UK discussing how smoky the air is. One of them comments that there’s a westerly wind and “America is burning”.
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We’re gunna beat Trump people I can feel it 
Got to believe. The worst of times will often bring out the best in people. I was heartened by the airport protests. We got to light it up…
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As a bookseller, I experienced this firsthand today. I think we had maybe two copies of 1984 left when we closed for the day, and people were continually asking where they could find it. I really hope this opens some eyes to the nightmare we’re currently living in. The Trump voters won’t get a thing out of it, but the people who couldn’t be bothered to vote might.
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Jerome K. Jerome, The New Utopia (essay) [1891]
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We [1924]
Andrei Marsov, Love in the Fog of the Future [1924]
Jack London, The Iron Heel [1908]
Aldus Huxley, Brave New World [1932]
George Orwell, 1984 [1949]
Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano [1952]
There you go, everyone start reading.
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IMO, also add
Alan Moore, V For Vendetta [1987-8]
Read it, don’t watch the film (at least not until you have finished)
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Note I only gave references for pre-1960 and four of the seven before 1930. I’d like to include film like THX1138 but it’s a version of “We”. Not saying “V” is any less relevant.
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Gotta watch out for those lizard people…
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I recommend “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William Shirer.
Why read about a fictional dystopia when you can read about the emergence of a real one?
Maybe hide the cover lest someone get confused and punch you in the face. I had an uncomfortable walk across campus once with people giving me ugly looks… and then realized I had that book in my hand instead of in my backpack.
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In the “Current Events” section?
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well . . . it’s lovely
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