Evil: Embrace It
Fredösphere ·
Jul 14, 2011 at 4:24pm
James Lileks made a passing remark during the latest Ricochet Podcast. I suppose it was one of those things that people describe as "sarcastic"; honestly, I've never really understood what that means. In any event, he said that, since the Right is going to take the blame for throwing Granny over the cliff, why not go ahead and throw her over?
Excellent question. By coincidence, I just now discovered a Soviet science fiction novel from 1928 called The Struggle For Space. It describes the world of the future and, as you would expect, the Commies are very, very good and the American capitalists are very, very evil.
This book is a treasure trove of helpful ideas. Look at all the cool evil things we could be doing:
- Invent Death Rays to keep Commies out of North America. (Yes!)
- Live in apartments "furnished with gold, malachite, diamonds, marble staircases and unimaginable luxuries." (Brilliant!)
- Build factories "where the workers are born, live, and die, never once seeing the sky." (Bwa-ha-ha!)
- Breed "bizarre freaks, genetically engineered by the capitalist bosses to make them parts of machines: some have no legs and enormous arms [. . . ] others are only 60 centimeters high, kept in tiny boxes [. . .] still others are two stories tall, developed to lift supplies between levels of the factory." (Fun!)
- Stop exercising, so we look like "children with rickets. Disproportionately large heads with no hair, huge ears, and large, round eyes, tiny chins, and big round bellies that hang down to [our] knees." (Oh, wait; we've done that already!)
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Jul '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
Fredösphere: ... Look at all the cool evil things we could be doing: ·
Death rays? Check
Apartments? Puhleeze. We even have housing for penniless illegals thanks to Frank & Dodd. But Obama has definitely rehabilitated the use of specie.
Factories? We call this China.
Bizarre freaks? We tweaked this one to forklifts and elevators.
Stop exercising? Who on earth has time to stop exercising? This one is silly.
May '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
I should add, do follow the link for The Struggle For Space, which is definitely worth your time. It's only a summary of the novel, so it will cost you a mere five minutes to read. Or just scroll to the bottom; you are gonna love, love, love the ending.
Jul '11
Re: Evil: Embrace It
The Shakespearean tragedy/comedy in the gandma flinging analogy is that without massive reform we are within a century or less from the soylent green trucks making daily rounds to the horror houses of government sponsored old folks homes. One could envision Jon Cleese and Eric Idle style conversations ala The Holy Grail as staff members in these homes slip a few extra yuan to the soylent green truck for a particularly troublesome grandma cackling "I'm not dead yet" and with a "You're not fooling anyone" she is now no longer an issue for the overworked staff.
This scenario is far closer to reality than most people could imagine but then again, most do not realize that throughout history life is truly cheap. Ask the English general that butchered 60,000 of the cream of English manhood in one day at the Somme if you think I'm exaggerating.
The ultimate irony of Medicare is that preserving the status quo virtually guarantees horrific suffering of our elderly in the future. I doubt anyone will put it that way during the debates but I'll push for it in my practice....but I'm not fooling anyone.
Jun '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
I'm always on the lookout for Soviet, utopian, or dystopian novels, especially those in the 20's. Are you familiar with more? Any suggestions would be great!
Jun '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
Ooo, just rummaging around the link you provided. Great stuff!
May '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
Dave: glad you're using that link. If you're into such things, you probably already know the biggies are Cement, sometimes called Stalin's favorite novel, and Mess-Mend, an unusual sci-fi thriller that is self-consciously over-the-top (something that became impossible once Stalin consolidated his rule), and finally Red Mars and Aelita, both of which imagine socialism being cross-pollinated between our world and Mars.
There's one anti-Soviet novel that I wish I could read. It's called Bratstvo Vila (The Brotherhood of Viy) about an evil Soviet scientist who creates a race of zombies called "Mortomats". The novel is anti-semitic and may be too radioactive for anyone to translate. Or, more likely, it's simply too obscure. But it's full of crazy stuff.
In the 20s, Soviet intellectuals were drunk on the political and technological possibilities they thought available to them. Look up Russian Cosmism. Read the ending of Trotsky's Literature and Revolution, where he imagines underwater cities and genetic engineering. The New Soviet Man was all part of it. A crazy time.
Re: Evil: Embrace It
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
Jun '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
Diane Ellis, Ed.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. · Jul 14 at 1:19pm
Yes, I read this one and it was great!
And thanks, Fredösphere, for the recommendations. Looks like I have some catching up to do.
I love the 20's in the Soviet Union for the exact same reason you describe. It's the perfect microcosm for analyzing the thought processes going on that try to justify the socialist way of thinking. I'm using this era to do comparisons to modern times. Perhaps we aren't as fantasy-driven today as then, but the thought processes are still there and still need to be reckoned with.
Jun '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
Diane Ellis, Ed.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. · Jul 14 at 1:19pm
Neither utopian nor Soviet, but definitely post-apocalyptic: The Pesthouse by Jim Crace. Excellent--I thought it was as good as The Road (more optimistic in tone). Crace--a British novelist--can really write.
I am most definitely not a big Stephen King fan, but the one book he wrote that resonated with me is The Stand, another post apocalyptic novel.
And I really resent Diane for mentioning We, even if you already knew about it.
Edited on Jul 14, 2011 at 4:53pmJun '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
tabula rasa
Diane Ellis, Ed.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. · Jul 14 at 1:19pm
Neither utopian nor Soviet, but definitely post-apocalyptic: The Pesthouse by Jim Crace. Excellent--I thought it was as good as The Road (more optimistic in tone). Crace--a British novelist--can really write.
I am most definitely not a big Stephen King fan, but the one book he wrote that resonated with me is The Stand, another post apocalyptic novel.
Also Philip Dick's The Man in the High Castle.
And I really resent Diane for mentioning We, even if you already knew about it. · Jul 14 at 4:51pm
Edited on Jul 14 at 04:53 pm
Jun '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
This is priceless, and pretty well sums up why Communism failed, and similar systems always will fail: "Not only have we abolished cities, but we don't have any government anymore, nor any offices. As for Soviet officials, we keep them in our Moscow museum as mannequins only. But they are so lifelike you can take them for lives ones."
Mar '11
Re: Evil: Embrace It
Fredo, I'm a Russophile, and even I'VE never heard of that book. I can only imagine how you found it.
Nov '10
Re: Evil: Embrace It
This is amazing. I would hate to read the actual book, but that was great. Hollywood needs to jump on this right now. Sounds like the perfect Michael Bay movie, except he would have the Americans win. Maybe Cameron?