We interrupt our usual missives from Denmark for this urgent bulletin rant:
Inevitably when you relocate to a foreign country you think about what it would be like to stay here and you're constantly comparing everything between your new home and where you came from. For example, we're always comparing lifestyle/food/culture etc. to Seattle and the U.S. at large.
But then I read something like this:
IMAX theaters Reject Science Shows under Religious Pressure
and I think to myself, "What the fuck...?"... no wait, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE THERE?"
please excuse my language, but this is exactly why the U.S. is in trouble. Right-wing religious zealots have too much influence in the U.S. It is a frightening time for science (and hence, for truth) in the United States: If we can just pick and choose which scientific theories or facts to accept (and disseminate throughout society), according to dogma, then:
- The Enlightenment and The Renaissance were a waste of time
- We in the 'West' are no better than any other religious zealots such as those that dominate politics in the Middle East, as we pick and choose facts when they are convenient and ignore them when they are not.
This is a disturbing trend. I've had a few discussions with friends about a possible long-term trend towards fundamentalism/extreme conservatism in the U.S. Based on the election outcomes, it is possible that we're actually in the middle of a conservative trend that has lasted over 40 years (a few elections notwithstanding). Where will this end? With a society like that in The Handmaid's Tale?
A revolution has taken place in the United States. The Constitution has been abrogated and a new order - the Republic of Gilead - has been established. The Republic of Gilead is ruled through biblical propaganda and rigid enforcement of social roles. Most citizens have been stripped of their freedoms. All religions, except the official state religion, have been suppressed. Those who do not conform to the new societal norms are pressed into service as maids and personal servants or deported to regions where pollution has reached toxic levels - if they are lucky. Politicial dissidents, priests, abortionists, and homosexuals are exectuted at "The Wall" and left on public display.
News such as this (and the privatization of Social Security, and the collapse of a viable public sector, and the national debt, and, well you get the picture) gives me serious pause about returning to the United States. More to the point: It gives me serious pause about bringing Malcolm back to the United States. What kind of society will he inherit?
There are many wonderful things about Seattle and the U.S. and people that I dearly miss and think about all the time, but you read things like this, and you have to wonder...
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