The hardest part of this book club is not re-reading this in one sitting.
Others have already mentioned in greater detail than I'd get into, the most striking parts, so I won't deep dive there. How the higher-ups are exceedingly compassionate, despite what it seems to the boots; Dubois' refutation of Marxist theory of value; corporal punishment in general (which I would find agreeable if any nation had competent governance)
What stuck with me re-reading these chapters is this small paragraph, sentence really, after Johnnie eavesdropped on Zim and Frankel.
I had an unsettling feeling that I had been completely mistaken as to the very nature of the world I was in, as if every part of it was something wildly different from what it appeared to be -- like discovering that your own mother isn't anyone you've ever seen before, but a stranger in a rubber mask.
As much as I'd like to read solely as escape from the real world, that in particular stuck current events in my head like an intrusive thought. I think people around here felt similar, though perhaps to a lesser extent, during Gamergate. What do you mean videogame companies and reviewers hate videogames?
But that's a sentiment I'm struggling with quite a bit now. I'm sure some of you are as well, especially those with close family of different political opinions. Never in a thousand years would I have expected the entire world to just roll over for tyranny over a bad cold, and yet here we are. The world we were taught about, values the Western world supposedly held dear, run roughshod over. Now you are required to show proof of being injected with an experimental "vaccine" which neither prevents you from catching or spreading illness, in order to travel, or even be in public spaces in some cities. And it only seems as though it will get worse. And what recourse is there for the common citizen? The world we were taught to live in, clearly doesn't exist. This representative democracy is neither representative of the populace, nor a democracy [acccktually its supposed to be a republic] any longer. Blatantly stolen elections (or at the least highly statistically improbable), senile men propped up as a figurehead for who knows who is directing things from the shadows, if there even is anything, the foremost values of the US appearing to not be freedom, but instead a deep-set need to spread alphabet and bn degeneracy to every corner of the globe.
It's one thing to say "the government is corrupt/inept/not looking out for your interests, etc." and quite another to fully have that internalized. For it to be so blatant. For you to know that nobody is coming to save you from any of this, it's just how the world is, and all the pretty lies you were taught growing up were just that. Maybe they weren't lies back then, but they are now.
Escapism is only appropriate in so far as what you are trying to escape from is limited in scope (either temporary, localized to a small area/group, or both) as it allows you to mentally remove yourself from stress and come back and deal with it when you are in a better frame of mind. Indulging in escapism otherwise is harmful.
I'm not saying this to lecture you, but to point out that there are a lot of major issues right now that aren't simply going to go away.
I think the Kübler-Ross model of grief has some relevance here (though it's not perfect.) People are grieving for the loss of the world they were brought up in (or realizing that it was a lie, depending on how you look at it). 'Most' seem to be in the Denial and Bargaining stages, professing that the government is just trying to protect us and if we'd all just wear our masks and get the shot this will be over and we can go back to normal. Pretty much everyone here I'd imagine is somewhere in the Anger and/or Depression stages. We're (justifiably) angry at our governments betraying their founding/professed principles, and/or feeling there is nothing we can do against this assault on our freedoms. None of these reactions is dealing with the problem in a healthy way (at least on their own.), and I'd argue in this case that simple Acceptance isn't healthy or right either.
What we need to do is start actively working toward fixing these issues. And I'm not talking about donating to causes, or voting for politicians (we saw in the last election how effective that is.) Lobbying your local and state politicians to actively oppose these totalitarian/marxist mandates and policies, punish the people and organizations pushing/enacting them, and enact laws and policies to expand and protect personal freedom and traditional values; Preparing yourself/your family to be independent from the existing system pushing enacting marxist values and policies, and attacking the values and people that built the western world; Educating your friends/family about what's been going on. These are the types of things that need to be done (among others) if we want to reverse the takeover of our society by marxists.
The hardest part of this book club is not re-reading this in one sitting.
Others have already mentioned in greater detail than I'd get into, the most striking parts, so I won't deep dive there. How the higher-ups are exceedingly compassionate, despite what it seems to the boots; Dubois' refutation of Marxist theory of value; corporal punishment in general (which I would find agreeable if any nation had competent governance)
What stuck with me re-reading these chapters is this small paragraph, sentence really, after Johnnie eavesdropped on Zim and Frankel.
As much as I'd like to read solely as escape from the real world, that in particular stuck current events in my head like an intrusive thought. I think people around here felt similar, though perhaps to a lesser extent, during Gamergate. What do you mean videogame companies and reviewers hate videogames?
But that's a sentiment I'm struggling with quite a bit now. I'm sure some of you are as well, especially those with close family of different political opinions. Never in a thousand years would I have expected the entire world to just roll over for tyranny over a bad cold, and yet here we are. The world we were taught about, values the Western world supposedly held dear, run roughshod over. Now you are required to show proof of being injected with an experimental "vaccine" which neither prevents you from catching or spreading illness, in order to travel, or even be in public spaces in some cities. And it only seems as though it will get worse. And what recourse is there for the common citizen? The world we were taught to live in, clearly doesn't exist. This representative democracy is neither representative of the populace, nor a democracy [acccktually its supposed to be a republic] any longer. Blatantly stolen elections (or at the least highly statistically improbable), senile men propped up as a figurehead for who knows who is directing things from the shadows, if there even is anything, the foremost values of the US appearing to not be freedom, but instead a deep-set need to spread alphabet and bn degeneracy to every corner of the globe.
It's one thing to say "the government is corrupt/inept/not looking out for your interests, etc." and quite another to fully have that internalized. For it to be so blatant. For you to know that nobody is coming to save you from any of this, it's just how the world is, and all the pretty lies you were taught growing up were just that. Maybe they weren't lies back then, but they are now.
It's one thing to realize that the world you grew up in no longer exists it's another thing to realize it never did.
Escapism is only appropriate in so far as what you are trying to escape from is limited in scope (either temporary, localized to a small area/group, or both) as it allows you to mentally remove yourself from stress and come back and deal with it when you are in a better frame of mind. Indulging in escapism otherwise is harmful. I'm not saying this to lecture you, but to point out that there are a lot of major issues right now that aren't simply going to go away.
I think the Kübler-Ross model of grief has some relevance here (though it's not perfect.) People are grieving for the loss of the world they were brought up in (or realizing that it was a lie, depending on how you look at it). 'Most' seem to be in the Denial and Bargaining stages, professing that the government is just trying to protect us and if we'd all just wear our masks and get the shot this will be over and we can go back to normal. Pretty much everyone here I'd imagine is somewhere in the Anger and/or Depression stages. We're (justifiably) angry at our governments betraying their founding/professed principles, and/or feeling there is nothing we can do against this assault on our freedoms. None of these reactions is dealing with the problem in a healthy way (at least on their own.), and I'd argue in this case that simple Acceptance isn't healthy or right either.
What we need to do is start actively working toward fixing these issues. And I'm not talking about donating to causes, or voting for politicians (we saw in the last election how effective that is.) Lobbying your local and state politicians to actively oppose these totalitarian/marxist mandates and policies, punish the people and organizations pushing/enacting them, and enact laws and policies to expand and protect personal freedom and traditional values; Preparing yourself/your family to be independent from the existing system pushing enacting marxist values and policies, and attacking the values and people that built the western world; Educating your friends/family about what's been going on. These are the types of things that need to be done (among others) if we want to reverse the takeover of our society by marxists.