Blade Runner was the first dystopian movie that I can remember. It had all the usual tropes from the genre: futuristic lights and tech, a post-apocalyptic urban setting, interesting attire, cool vehicles, etc. It was gritty. It was a world you thought about but not one you thought you would experience. If you’re a fan, you know what I’m talking about.
The one common thread among typical dystopian movies/novels is the populace. A defeated society is usually subservient to some all-knowing authoritative body. Their hope for a better life is crushed under the weight of fighting for their basic needs of survival. There’s usually a drug involved, one that mutes the impact from belonging to the bloated lower class while an exclusive set of elites, usually bureaucrats and mega corporation heads, drink from the fountain of a good life. Most of the protagonists are flawed in some way. There are no superheroes among them, just people who were mentally strong enough to keep fighting, yet their demons will always haunt them.
The dystopian genre eventually expanded with the introduction of zombies. World War Z, 28 Days, and the extremely successful The Walking Dead. It held some of the same dystopian tropes, including the exhausted society that was a shadow of its former glory. There is no sense of community. There is just survival.
I bring this up because when I think of those dark, grimy settings with anti-heroes, a broken, whitewashed populace, and an authoritative government, I think of the distant future, not of America 2022. Yet here we are, mirroring some of those same characteristics. Corona only propelled us faster into that future.
Most, not all, are quickly realizing that COVID-19 will become part of the pantheon of viruses—man-made or natural—that we have suffered since the dawn of civilization. We are following the rest of the world, finally opening the door to reality, and accepting real science. The science that told us the lockdown instituted during the Spanish Flu of 1918 had a statistically insignificant effect on overall deaths. The real impact of these archaic measures won’t be known to the general population for years. Those of us who have been railing against the overbearing governments already understand.
The bloated chapter of the pandemic, as manufactured as it was, is approaching its final page. Unfortunately, that chapter forever changed the trajectory of our story. It has left many protagonists defeated, some even irredeemable. Recall the first months of diabolical lockdowns—yes, they were most certainly diabolical—when people would proclaim there would be a big party at the end of this. There was never going to be a big party. Face it, even those who were brave enough to question the lockdowns, vaccines, and insane masking measures, who were called every name in the book for standing up against the elected tyrants, are exhausted and bitter. I don’t blame them. Not to sound arrogant, but I was there from day one. And I got to be honest, I’m pretty fucking angry. I don’t like half of you anymore. I don’t like what you did to America’s soul, which I fear has changed for the worse, and I don’t like what you did to my kids. That is unforgivable.
But what happens from here? What does that grand party look like? What happens when we finally get rid of the last vestiges of this pandemic? What happens when the final mask is dropped? What happens when the 17th and final dose of your mRNA fix is injected? What happens when all kids can finally see each other smile in class?
We’ve heard a lot about the “new normal” during the past 24 months that vanilla talking heads and celebrity medical pundits spout about on television for advertising revenue. Predictions of endless masking and perpetual shots by those who choose to live in fear are parroted by a media hierarchy governed by the ultra-elite of society, those would stand to benefit from proper investments.
But I’m not talking about that new normal. I’m talking about the dystopian society we have created for ourselves by not being brave enough to question the “science.” Make no mistake about it, where the pandemic chapter ends the dystopian world begins.
One of the hallmarks of any dystopian novel is the villain—the individual or institution that has successfully oppressed the people. In Blade Runner, The Running Man, and the novel that I wrote Reignfall, it is a larger-than-life technocrat, one who would play a god and give the population what it thinks it needs. It governs the desire through fear and sin.
In Blade Runner, Eldon Tyrell was responsible for creating humanoid slaves called replicants. In Reignfall, Sullivan developed the serum (vaccine) and subsequent boosters that “cured” the Second Black Plague. Even in King’s The Running Man, Killian, runs a brutal gameshow on a government-run television station that administers ultimate punishment to contestants. All three men made fortunes on the backs of others’ suffering. All three men played God, discounting the value of religion in the process. Fearful people knelt in front of the Altar of Science and surrendered the faith they once knew. In the process, they took some of that hope. It is that hope that fuels charity and faith. You take hope away, you’re left with a husk looking for its next fix of joy.
There’s a strong parallel to faith’s role in society today after the pandemic. We were already a people that no longer views religion as important. Most of us pay lip service to it, maybe going to church occasionally, saying a prayer at night, or wearing a cross on a necklace. Now we have a new god. Notice how quickly we were to abandon one of the central tenants of our faith—freedom—to a technocrat named Fauci, a man who pushed locking a society down with junk reasoning and junk science. A man who is responsible for recklessly telling us that our Savior, the vaccine, would provide immunity. A man who ignored early studies that linked Vitamin D deficiency to coronavirus symptoms. A man who locked down society for two years with 14 days to flatten a curve while suicide skyrocketed for teenage girls, alcoholism rose, and people overdosing on drugs increased. A man who destroyed the livelihood of small business owners. A man who denied the original sin of funding projects in Wuhan while excommunicating those who would question him. He is a god to many now, a false idol you dare not question.
A reason why some dystopian novels work is the truth—the knowledge—that would lead to society’s salvation is readily available but ignored, which leads to a more oppressed and obedient people. Ignoring that truth—the tested hypothesis and sound conclusions—costs society. You’ve already beaten hope out of them, why would they care about the truth? We’ve known the entire time that lockdowns and masks don’t work. We already had the data, yet we ignored it, sacrificing the weakest among us. A society lived in manufactured fear while abandoning its children. Who knows what the long-term effects of what we did to them will be? It doesn’t matter, not when a certain few are making millions off a “free” (taxpayer-funded) vaccine. We will continue to suffer psychologically for a very long time because of what we allowed to happen. That’s not to say all bowed before the great technocrat.
After the first few weeks of the initial 14 days, a handful of people questioned Fauci and the government. They were pariahs, denounced on cable news networks, labeled as murderers and conspiracy theorists, and accused of spreading disinformation by Fauci’s disciples. They were told not to question the “science” behind the man named the Fauci. “We’re all in this together” was their mantra, while “Obey” was their meaning. If you didn’t comply, well, look at what they’re trying to do with Joe Rogan now 2 years after this nonsense started. Hell, look what they did to one of their own, Bill Maher. It's not a mistake. It’s all by design. You either obey or you are condemned. It’s not misinformation, it’s the information they don’t want you to convey. Only the royalty of elected officials and corporate heads get to dictate what the defeated populace hears. It only gets more dangerous from here.
They primed the rest of society to obey. We’re more conditioned than ever to fall in line with whatever information they deem appropriate for our consumption. They enlisted the weakest among us, spoon-feeding them new words to insert into their vocabulary like “super spreader” and “conspiracy theorist.” Your intellectually lobotomized neighbor ends up screaming at you for not wearing your mask over your nose. Meanwhile, these same politicians, entertainers, and lobbyists gathered in large events, maskless, enjoying each other’s company. What do you get? You get dancing nurses on TikTok, arguing over meaningless Facebook posts, Joe Exotic, small children falling behind in school, and your older daughter (if she hasn’t questioned her gender quite yet) showing off her goods on OnlyFans. Always Obey and you’ll get those three-second jolts of electronic joy.
Fucking awesome.
Just like in The Running Man, we sit on our asses, watching our drug of choice, searching for that hint of meaning. We’re societal creatures. We need to get out and experience life with one another. But you need to wonder what society is going to look like over the next couple of years, especially those who live close to large urban areas where most have spent the past two twenty-four months saving the world by watching Netflix and drinking copious amounts of wine. Human contact was kept at a minimum. Families were forced to have Thanksgiving over Skype. Smiles were buried behind masks. Grandparents died in nursing homes behind plexiglass windows. Weight was gained. Health deteriorated. Offices were left abandoned to the point that white-collar work will never be the same again. Most importantly, honest discourse and togetherness were abandoned. What happens when there’s a distance between people? Think about it. The marketplace of ideas is abandoned for Zoom calls.
Society is broken, and along with it so is honest human interaction. We don’t know how to be civil anymore, which is the foundation of any successful civilization. The Cult of Covid has branded the unvaccinated as the unwashed, the Morlocks of society. Now they’re eating their own, slowly. Other members of the cult enjoyed watching riot after riot while our history was being destroyed. Other fallen civilizations have destroyed history as well. It never worked for them.
A large contingency will never return to the workforce, having found solace in government handouts, mail-order furniture, and the constant electronic injection of streaming services and free porn. Why work when you can get shit for free? Creativity, ingenuity, and culture will suffer. Without those aspects of society, the gray veil of stagnation will follow. Why build without hope? Don’t worry, the honest government will continue to steer monetary policy. Maybe they’ll just freeze your funds if you don’t obey. Don’t think it will happen? You’re not a student of history.
Crime will continue to skyrocket. Nobody dares question crime policy anymore. Hell, we just watched what happened when people questioned coronavirus lockdowns. Those same people who took the oath of the Cult of Covid will brand those who damn those who question social justice crime measures. And as crime runs rampant, the last vestiges of law and order will follow in the inner city. The Cartels control Mexico for a reason.
There will be no big party. No celebration. Those who continue to live in the jaded walls of blue state rule will walk around with bleary eyes, a dry tongue, squeezing into their yoga pants with the stink eye ready for those who would question getting on with life. Many are childless shadows that will pass on with a barren funeral. Their legacy will be the fear they instilled in others, not a legacy of family. It’s downright pathetic.
Those of us who have survived will do what we can to both emotionally and logically rebuild the country we once knew. Stay out of our way. Retreat to your basements and Yellowtail. I only hope there’s enough of that independent spirit that made this county great left to rebuild it again. But we’re already primed to Obey. Let’s hope we can find ourselves out of this movie.
Well said Sir!