It's Atlas Shrugged in that a catastrophic decline in standards and competence is inevitable in a society that abandons (and vilifies) merit. It's not a 1:1 match with the circumstances of the book, but the spirit is the same.
Atlas Shrugged is about the rebellion of John Galt, but it's more about the ruin caused by weak, petty and jealous men with weak, petty and jealous ideas. That ruin didn't occur because the great men abandoned society - it occurred because society abandoned the great men.
It showed a civilization that destroyed itself over progressive ideals and then turned on the people who still had standards and principles, openly despising and devaluing them but parasitically living off their efforts. But most importantly, those parasites could never, ever admit that they were wrong, and that their worthless ideas had failed them. It's not a stretch to imagine that the worthless ideas of our own delusional progressives (mass immigration, affirmative action, rejecting standards as racist) directly led to this outcome.
Of all the fictional dystopias, our trajectory most closely matches Atlas Shrugged. With a heavy helping of 1984, of course.
Don't forget Brave New World. I've never found 1984 particularly compelling because living in squalor and oppression is pretty much the one thing that can get the masses off their butts and revolt.
That's why China and Russia turned to communism, because life under the Czar and warlords was so shitty. And it's why so many countries eventually through off the yoke of communism, because that's a pretty shitty life too.
What was compelling about Brave New World is that if you package oppression as comfort and a life of leisure, people eat it right up.
Admittedly I haven't read Brave New World yet, just a summary. I see what you mean about 1984, but it's scarily predictive of just how effective propaganda, the fabrication of enemies and emergencies, and the redefinition of words can be, and how effectively leveraging them (and plain old fear) can make people abandon their own interests.
People still have their bread and circuses, and without those I'm sure they would revolt, but they have been very quick to submit to their own subjugation even on things they truly hated, like lockdowns.
Getting the masses to accept squalor without comfort might not seem terribly likely right now, but I think on a long enough timeline, if you can gradually condition their expectations, tinker with their awareness until the truth is completely obfuscated, and turn them against those few who are capable of seeing through it, you can get them to accept anything.
The biggest mistake of our current overlords (aside from believing their their own propaganda and falling into the same decline of competence they're inflicting on the world at large) is moving too fast.
All that is to say I don't find a 1984 scenario particularly implausible, and it's more than a little relevant to our current circumstances. I'll make sure to read Brave New World, though.
It's Atlas Shrugged in that a catastrophic decline in standards and competence is inevitable in a society that abandons (and vilifies) merit. It's not a 1:1 match with the circumstances of the book, but the spirit is the same.
Atlas Shrugged is about the rebellion of John Galt, but it's more about the ruin caused by weak, petty and jealous men with weak, petty and jealous ideas. That ruin didn't occur because the great men abandoned society - it occurred because society abandoned the great men.
It showed a civilization that destroyed itself over progressive ideals and then turned on the people who still had standards and principles, openly despising and devaluing them but parasitically living off their efforts. But most importantly, those parasites could never, ever admit that they were wrong, and that their worthless ideas had failed them. It's not a stretch to imagine that the worthless ideas of our own delusional progressives (mass immigration, affirmative action, rejecting standards as racist) directly led to this outcome.
Of all the fictional dystopias, our trajectory most closely matches Atlas Shrugged. With a heavy helping of 1984, of course.
Don't forget Brave New World. I've never found 1984 particularly compelling because living in squalor and oppression is pretty much the one thing that can get the masses off their butts and revolt.
That's why China and Russia turned to communism, because life under the Czar and warlords was so shitty. And it's why so many countries eventually through off the yoke of communism, because that's a pretty shitty life too.
What was compelling about Brave New World is that if you package oppression as comfort and a life of leisure, people eat it right up.
Admittedly I haven't read Brave New World yet, just a summary. I see what you mean about 1984, but it's scarily predictive of just how effective propaganda, the fabrication of enemies and emergencies, and the redefinition of words can be, and how effectively leveraging them (and plain old fear) can make people abandon their own interests.
People still have their bread and circuses, and without those I'm sure they would revolt, but they have been very quick to submit to their own subjugation even on things they truly hated, like lockdowns.
Getting the masses to accept squalor without comfort might not seem terribly likely right now, but I think on a long enough timeline, if you can gradually condition their expectations, tinker with their awareness until the truth is completely obfuscated, and turn them against those few who are capable of seeing through it, you can get them to accept anything.
The biggest mistake of our current overlords (aside from believing their their own propaganda and falling into the same decline of competence they're inflicting on the world at large) is moving too fast.
All that is to say I don't find a 1984 scenario particularly implausible, and it's more than a little relevant to our current circumstances. I'll make sure to read Brave New World, though.