{"id":6623,"date":"2017-02-19T19:39:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T00:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6623"},"modified":"2018-08-24T13:52:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T17:52:34","slug":"revolt-in-2100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6623","title":{"rendered":"Revolt in 2100"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cover<\/a>

Cov\u00ader art for Revolt in 2100<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

In a hur\u00adry to get out the door, I grabbed a paper\u00adback at ran\u00addom for sub\u00adway read\u00ading. It was a bat\u00adtered copy of Robert Heinlein\u2019s Revolt in 2100<\/em> which I had last read in 1985. It\u2019s three sto\u00adries are ear\u00adly Hein\u00adlein, mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal that had first appeared in the pulp mag\u00ada\u00adzines in the 1930s and 1940s. The sto\u00adries that he wrote at that time were framed with\u00adin a puta\u00adtive \u201cfuture his\u00adto\u00adry.\u201d That is to say, that the sto\u00adries were not direct\u00adly con\u00adnect\u00aded, but all exist\u00aded in the same pro\u00adject\u00aded imag\u00adi\u00adnary future, cov\u00ader\u00ading sev\u00ader\u00adal thou\u00adsand years. Much was made of this \u201cfuture his\u00adto\u00adry\u201d at the time, but Hein\u00adlein aban\u00addoned the project to pur\u00adsue oth\u00ader writ\u00ading paths from the 1950s until his death in 1988. The books that col\u00adlect\u00aded the \u201cfuture his\u00adto\u00adry\u201d sto\u00adries each repro\u00adduced a chart plac\u00ading the sto\u00adries in time, with notes on tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal, social and polit\u00adi\u00adcal events. It was, Hein\u00adlein always main\u00adtained, a work of spec\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtive imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion, not of attempt\u00aded prophe\u00adcy. But some of its spec\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions weren\u2019t too far of the mark. In sto\u00adries writ\u00adten in 1940 an 1949, he had the first land\u00ading on the moon take place in 1978. In sub\u00adse\u00adquent real\u00adi\u00adty, it occurred in 1969. But what is espe\u00adcial\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00ading is that the \u201cfuture his\u00adto\u00adry\u201d has the Unit\u00aded States suc\u00adcumb to a fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adist reli\u00adgious dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship some\u00adwhere close to the year 2017. One of the sto\u00adries is about the rebel\u00adlion against this dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship. At the end of the vol\u00adume, first pub\u00adlished in 1953, Hein\u00adlein pro\u00advid\u00aded a postscipt, Con\u00adcern\u00ading Sto\u00adries Nev\u00ader Writ\u00adten<\/em>, in which he explained that some of the sto\u00adries list\u00aded in the chart, those tak\u00ading place dur\u00ading the ear\u00adly part of the dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship, he chose not to write because the sub\u00adject mat\u00adter was too depress\u00ading. Con\u00adcern\u00ading their main premise, he wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the sec\u00adond notion, the idea that we could lose our free\u00addom by suc\u00adcumb\u00ading to a wave of reli\u00adgious hys\u00adte\u00adria, I am sor\u00adry to say that I con\u00adsid\u00ader it pos\u00adsi\u00adble. I hope that it is not prob\u00ada\u00adble. But there is a latent deep strain of reli\u00adgious fanati\u00adcism in this cul\u00adture; it is root\u00aded in our his\u00adto\u00adry and it has bro\u00adken out many times in the past. It is with us now; there has been a sharp rise in strong\u00adly evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal sects in this coun\u00adtry in recent years, some of which hold beliefs theo\u00adcrat\u00adic in the extreme, anti-intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal, anti-sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic, and anti-lib\u00ader\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan <\/em>[1]. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fur\u00adther on, he added:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026a com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of a dynam\u00adic evan\u00adge\u00adlist, tele\u00advi\u00adsion, enough mon\u00adey, and mod\u00adern tech\u00adniques of adver\u00adtis\u00ading and pro\u00adpa\u00adgan\u00adda might make Bil\u00adly Sun\u00adday <\/em>[2]\u2019s efforts look like a cor\u00adner store com\u00adpared to Sears Roe\u00adbuck. Throw in a depres\u00adsion for good mea\u00adsure, promise a mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal heav\u00aden here on earth, add a dash of anti-Semi\u00adtism, anti-Catholi\u00adcism, anti-Negro\u00adism <\/em>[3], and a good dose of anti-\u201cfurriners\u201d in gen\u00ader\u00adal and anti-intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals here at home and the result might be some\u00adthing quite fright\u00aden\u00ading \u2014 par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly when one recalls that our vot\u00ading sys\u00adtem is such that a minor\u00adi\u00adty dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted as plu\u00adral\u00adi\u00adties in enough states can con\u00adsti\u00adtute a work\u00ading major\u00adi\u00adty in Washington.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hein\u00adlein imag\u00adined his fic\u00adtion\u00adal dic\u00adta\u00adtor, Nehemi\u00adah Scud\u00adder, as a back\u00adwoods hick bankrolled by big-mon\u00adey tycoons and helped along by the Repub\u00adli\u00adcan estab\u00adlish\u00adment, with murky ties to the Ku Klux Klan. The key to his pow\u00ader is his use of tele\u00advi\u00adsion. This is remark\u00adable con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading that broad\u00adcast tele\u00advi\u00adsion in the Unit\u00aded States had exist\u00aded for only three years when Hein\u00adlein wrote this. Few peo\u00adple thought tele\u00advi\u00adsion was polit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant until a decade lat\u00ader. Equal\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00ading is his ref\u00ader\u00adence to the pecu\u00adliar\u00adi\u00adties of the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan elec\u00adtoral sys\u00adtem that went large\u00adly unno\u00adticed until they made Nehemi\u00adah Scu\u2026\u2014 I\u2019m sor\u00adry, I meant Don\u00adald Trump \u2014 the Pres\u00adi\u00addent of the Unit\u00aded States of Amer\u00adi\u00adca. Reli\u00adgious fanati\u00adcism is not the only com\u00adpo\u00adnent of Trump\u00adism, which is a total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan ide\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy sim\u00adi\u00adlar to Nazism, Com\u00admu\u00adnism and Fas\u00adcism. Like all such total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan move\u00adments, it brings togeth\u00ader many dis\u00adparate groups and motives. But reli\u00adgious fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adists form a con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable block of Trump\u2019s cred\u00adu\u00adlous \u201ccore\u201d fol\u00adlow\u00ading \u2014 and among them many are \u201cDomin\u00adion\u00adists\u201d, i.e. believ\u00aders and pro\u00admot\u00aders of a lit\u00ader\u00adal reli\u00adgious dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship abol\u00adish\u00ading the sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion of Church and State. There is even a bizarre move\u00adment that explains Trump\u2019s obvi\u00adous irre\u00adli\u00adgion, sex\u00adu\u00adal per\u00adver\u00adsion and per\u00adson\u00adal cor\u00adrup\u00adtion as \u201cproof\u201d that he is a vehi\u00adcle of divine inter\u00adven\u00adtion \u2014 a typ\u00adi\u00adcal sort of men\u00adtal gym\u00adnas\u00adtic that one expects from the reli\u00adgious fanatic.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Hein\u00adlein is a writer who has been bizarrely co-opt\u00aded by some of the most evil and trea\u00adso\u00adnous move\u00adments in today\u2019s Amer\u00adi\u00adca. He is often quot\u00aded by peo\u00adple who are essen\u00adtial\u00adly dis\u00adci\u00adples of Nehemi\u00adah Scud\u00adder. A sim\u00adi\u00adlar process has tak\u00aden place with George Orwell. Orwell, an anti-total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan who utter\u00adly despised Con\u00adser\u00advatism, is reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly quot\u00aded by Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives to sup\u00adport the very things that Orwell opposed. Every\u00adbody who thinks and writes seri\u00adous\u00adly has to take into account that their work might be exploit\u00aded and dis\u00adtort\u00aded in this fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] the term \u201clib\u00ader\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u201d, in 1953, did not sig\u00adni\u00adfy the \u201cLib\u00ader\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u201d polit\u00adi\u00adcal move\u00adment of today, but instead meant rough\u00adly what the term \u201clib\u00ader\u00adal\u201d is now used to signify.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Bil\u00adly Sun\u00adday (1862\u20131935) was an evan\u00adge\u00adlist with fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adist views whose pop\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty peaked some\u00adwhat before World War I. He pio\u00adneered many of the tech\u00adniques used by lat\u00ader evan\u00adge\u00adlists in mass ral\u00adlies, which were then mod\u00adi\u00adfied for radio and tele\u00advi\u00adsion. He attached him\u00adself to the Repub\u00adli\u00adcan par\u00adty, and cam\u00adpaigned against immi\u00adgra\u00adtion from Europe, the teach\u00ading of evo\u00adlu\u00adtion, danc\u00ading, card-play\u00ading, attend\u00ading the the\u00adatre, read\u00ading nov\u00adels, and the usu\u00adal sex\u00adu\u00adal \u201csins\u201d. He was one of the key moti\u00adva\u00adtors in the move\u00adment toward alco\u00adhol pro\u00adhi\u00adbi\u00adtion that cul\u00admi\u00adnat\u00aded in the 18th Amend\u00adment in 1919. <\/span><\/p>\n

[3] The use of the terms \u201cBlack\u201d and \u201cAfrican-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan\u201d were unknown in 1953. Lib\u00ader\u00adals and non-racists at that time referred to African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcans as \u201cNegro\u201d, as did most African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcans themselves.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a hur\u00adry to get out the door, I grabbed a paper\u00adback at ran\u00addom for sub\u00adway read\u00ading. It was a bat\u00adtered copy of Robert Heinlein\u2019s Revolt in 2100 which I had last read in 1985. It\u2019s three sto\u00adries are ear\u00adly Hein\u00adlein, material \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,957],"tags":[1096,1097],"class_list":["post-6623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bj-reading-2017","tag-heinlein","tag-revolt-in-2100"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6623"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9476,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623\/revisions\/9476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}