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Singlestack
08-14-2020, 07:09
I have been entertained over the years by tales of dystopian fiction by authors like Brad Thor and David Baldacci. They have imagined every type of catastrophe imaginable - terrorism, political intrigue, assassinations, war, nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. But as far as I can tell, they have not come close to what we are experiencing today, which seems to have as its primary characteristics:

- a pandemic originating in a foreign adversary's lab (written before)
- the foreign adversary knowingly allows it to be spread worldwide while providing misinformation (written before)
- a global health organization who works in concert with the foreign adversary to spread misinformation (I think new)
- state and federal governments unprepared for the pandemic and needed supplies (written before)
- health leaders in the US who change their recommendations several times (I think new)
- a shutdown of the US economy based on health leader recommendations and fear (I think new - they have written about the pandemic itself like Ebola closing down economy)
- political weaponization of the pandemic by the opposition party and their controlled institutions - media, academia, unions, hollywood (I think new)
- the opposition party organizing and fomenting civil unrest, violence, arson, and looting in advance of a major upcoming election (written before, but not combined with pandemic occurring)
- the opposition party pushing for more lockdowns, closed churches, limited freedoms, etc (written before, but not combined with pandemic)
- Opposition party and media in total lockstep in immediate widespread messaging - same words, phrases, etc within hours of an event (I think new)
- The opposition party demanding socialist and in many cases marxist policy and actions like defund police, eliminate the nuclear family (BLM), gun confiscation (I think new)
- All of the above happening in basically 6 months time (I think new)

I guess the point is that reality is stranger then fiction. I think the big thing the authors have not written about is a pandemic happening and a political opposition party "not letting an emergency go to waste" by implementing city-wide or state-wide draconian measures, starting violent riots in most major cities, and providing widespread misinformation about the pandemic and riots - with a goal to unseating the current administration when previous efforts (impeachment etc) have failed. The BIG thing I think the various authors have missed is how coordinated and widespread the opposition is, how fast they are able to act, the extent of the deep state, and how far left the opposition party has moved toward marxism. BTW, I'm not really trying to criticize the authors, but rather reflect on how nobody I'm aware of predicted anything like the events of the past 6 months. And it isn't over - more craziness to come, perhaps tons more.

hollohas
08-14-2020, 13:19
Enemies Foreign and Domestic by Matt Bracken isn't a pandemic novel but I definitely see many similarities in what he wrote regarding the government using an emergency (made up emergency) to start molding political opinion, policy, mob mentality and attack freedoms to what we're experiencing today.

Gun sales are through the roof and violence is increasing in all major cities. I believe the government will use that increasing violence (that they've encouraged BTW) as an excuse to push the most extreme gun control we've ever seen after the election.

I've read dozens of these sorts of books and I agree with you. You'd have to take little bits from all of them to get to what we're seeing in reality.

JohnnyDrama
08-14-2020, 17:42
This is a great topic and one I have reflected on frequently in the past few months.

I feel like I have also read many books set in a dystopian future. It seems like most of them chronicle events well after whatever event occurred to create the situation. Only two books come to mind that record the collapse of out present society. One is "The Stand," by Stephen King, the other is "World War Z," by Max Brooks. Both of those involve the spread of a pathogen. In one story, the survivors band in opposing groups. In the other they unite to defeat the disease. In "World War Z" politics is addressed only as a periphery topic. The thing is, this is reality and to see how things turn out we should look at history. Hollohas doesn't paint a pretty picture there. Either way, those who were more prepared fared better than those who weren't.

Thanks SingleStack for a great topic. If you find yourself in a lockdown situation, reading, be it fiction, history, or how-to manuals, and reloading are great ways to pass the time.

hollohas
08-14-2020, 18:28
The Stand is one of my favorite books. We're certainly seeing people get split into two distinct groups right now, similar to the survivors in that story. Although that is much more of a Revelations level apocalyptic event in that one. Good v evil.

hollohas
08-14-2020, 18:35
I read one pandemic book that was fairly realistic. I think it was called The Jakarta Pandemic. It was years ago and all these books start getting mixed up after a while. It had viral spread, whole cities on lockdown. But generally people did ok just holed up at home as long as they had supplies. It also had a bunch of big pharma conspiracy in it if I recall correctly. The author clearly did some detailed research on pandemics, etc.

Jayhawk
08-14-2020, 18:47
I saw an interview with Brad Thor and he said that the hard part of writing fiction is that it has to make sense.
A interesting Amazon TV series is Homeland. I have watched seasons 1-6 and am half way through season 7 and I find myself asking when was this made.

XJ
08-14-2020, 19:50
While not highbrow literature, John Ringo wrote The Last Centurion in 2008 and it features a virus and some other interesting plot elements.

I suppose we could include a movie like Resident Evil (mmm, Mila). Which makes for a fun meme comparing the fictional evil corporation’s logo to the Wuhan lab logo, plus “corona” is an anagram for “racoon” [zombie1][zombie1][zombie1]

And since that movie came from a video game - try the game Dying Light from a few years ago to let off some stress on diseased zombies.

Great-Kazoo
08-14-2020, 21:48
I saw an interview with Brad Thor and he said that the hard part of writing fiction is that it has to make sense.
A interesting Amazon TV series is Homeland. I have watched seasons 1-6 and am half way through season 7 and I find myself asking when was this made.

2011 for Season 1

If you like Homeland, another show came out, before that in 05, called Sleeper Cell. Terrorist cell in the states, undercover agent infiltrates cell, etc.

Without giving it away. SEMI SPOILER ALERT.
There's one scene towards the end, that hits the nail on the head.



While not highbrow literature, John Ringo wrote The Last Centurion in 2008 and it features a virus and some other interesting plot elements.

I suppose we could include a movie like Resident Evil (mmm, Mila). Which makes for a fun meme comparing the fictional evil corporation?s logo to the Wuhan lab logo, plus ?corona? is an anagram for ?racoon? [zombie1][zombie1][zombie1]

And since that movie came from a video game - try the game Dying Light from a few years ago to let off some stress on diseased zombies.


The Last Centurion was very good. AS are most Ringo, or Weber books.

The interesting thing about some books is, they're written a few years back and seem to have called it on fairly current events. regarding civil unrest etc.

Aloha_Shooter
08-15-2020, 17:57
While not highbrow literature, John Ringo wrote The Last Centurion in 2008 and it features a virus and some other interesting plot elements.


The Last Centurion was very good. AS are most Ringo, or Weber books.

The interesting thing about some books is, they're written a few years back and seem to have called it on fairly current events. regarding civil unrest etc.

Ringo nailed it pretty well in his non-"zombie apocalypse" zombie apocalypse series, "Black Tide Rising". Civilization hasn't fallen as far as he projected but give it time ...

ColoradoMinuteMan
08-19-2020, 15:15
?State of Fear? by Michael Crichton, while not really a di stop Ian or pandemic story ha s any of these same elements, only in this case the exploitation was related to the environment rather than pandemic.


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BushMasterBoy
08-19-2020, 23:10
Here is a clue from DOD...

https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2314065/establishment-of-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-task-force/

Gman
08-19-2020, 23:31
?State of Fear? by Michael Crichton, while not really a di stop Ian or pandemic story ha s any of these same elements, only in this case the exploitation was related to the environment rather than pandemic.


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They have similar game plans, so I can see how you made the connection.

Gman
08-20-2020, 23:21
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