The Handmaid's Tale

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arayder
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The Handmaid's Tale

Post by arayder »

My wife has started reading The Handmaid's Tale :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid%27s_Tale

As she reads she occasional stops, tells me about the story (I tell her not to since I plan to read the book after her and don't want the spoilers). Last night she asks "What would we do if we were stuck in a society like that?".

The question, often prompted by dystopian tales, is one that drives the mystery and suspense of the story. Reading the novels and seeing the movie's in the genre often prompts one to ask, "What is the matter with these people?

Don't we have a bit of this in our culture already? Let's suppose an older man having grown up in a highly conservative rural community and in his later years moves a city with a nanny state mindset. He can't really understand why he can't carry his pistol around and have a shot gun in the rack in the back window of his truck. He wonders why everyone drives so aggressively and why people look funny at him when he says, "howdy". He gave his grandson a swat on the behind at the park for talking back to city park worker and a lady sitting nearby threatened to turn him into child protective services.

He feels lost.

All this got me to thinking, value judgements aside, if the same shock is encountered by some honest freemen, sovcits and the like.