By J. Todd Ring Preface: I wrote this essay in January of 2020, then the covid crisis hit, and it was shelved for over a year. The macro-scale patterns have not changed fundamentally since then, although the slow-motion collapse of the US, and the West more broadly, has accelerated. I
Continue readingTag: dystopia
mark a rayner: Dystopic stories – why are we obsessed?
And let’s face it, we are obsessed. Our media are laden with the dystopic. Some of our most popular stories are based on horrific cultures,… Continue ReadingDystopic stories – why are we obsessed? The post Dystopic stories – why are we obsessed? appeared first on mark a rayner.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Never Surrender
I pray the more pessimistic among us, who have warned us, such as Orwell and Huxley and many others, are wrong. We must, in any event, do everything in our power to avert the darkly dystopian future that is now rapidly being created for us, and change course. Freedom and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Seeding Utopias & Resisting Dystopias with The Multiversity Collective
The Multiversity Collective wants you to think of a better world by exploring alternatives.The collective was created to explore the full potential of Toronto by imaging future worlds (or alternatives to today) that are fully aware of -and engage in – multiple ways of knowing. It’s a call to envision
Continue readingScripturient: The dystopian present
If there is one good thing to come out of the election of Donald Trump, it has been the renewed interest in a certain genre of literature. Sales of dystopian novels have skyrocketed on Amazon, in particular what might be called “The Big Three” of dystopian tales: George Orwell’s 1984,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How the Fearsome Become the Fearful
A Weapon of Weakness? How did we become indentured to a culture of fear? Fear-mongering has become a modus operandi in today’s morally corrupt, visionless politics. It is the stock in trade of authoritarians like our own Stephen Harper and it’s effective. The thing is democracy cannot thrive in the presence
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Trailer for Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Movie
Here’s the trailer for MaddAddam, the much-anticipated film based on the final novel in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian trilogy. The post Trailer for Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Movie appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies follows a group of boys as they go to the worst summer camp ever. There are no tents or cabins for them to sleep in, the food is terrible, and the staff seem to have left … Continue reading →
Continue reading