Friday, January 11, 2008

What So Proudly We Hailed (Part 2) - Synopsis

This is the second in a series of posts regarding the book “What So Proudly We Hailed”.

Synopsis:
What So Proudly We Hailed is a futuristic novel that takes place between the years 2023 and 2027. The story centers around an average, ordinary American named Justin Pierce, a man who is simply trying to do the same thing as everybody else; make a living, raise a family, and maybe find a little happiness along the way. But the United States that Justin lives in is very different from the one of today, and is nothing at all like the one our Founding Fathers originally penned down on paper over 200 years ago.

By manipulating & leveraging the American people’s greed, fear, and lust for convenience, the government – through a series of seemingly innocent and sensible laws & policies – has transformed the United States into a tightly controlled police state where freedom exists only as an illusion, and by the time the American people finally realize what has happened, there is nothing that they can do about it.

Living in this “new world”, a traumatic event occurs which pushes Justin out of the law abiding, mainstream society to become instead known as “Gideon”, a freedom fighter belonging to a band of loose-knit 21st century revolutionaries – labeled domestic terrorists by the government – who are fighting to break the grip of power and restore liberty back to the people.

Through a series of innocuous actions and a simple twist of fate, Gideon suddenly finds himself once again pushed against his will into becoming something that he does not want to be; this time, the unofficial leader of the nationwide resistance. In this new role Gideon will find that the key to victory has been placed into his hands, but in order to use it, he will be forced to make a series of decisions which will ultimately lead him down a road of darkness from which there is no return.

* * *

If the description sounds a little Orwellian, well, that’s because it is. But it’s amazing to me how often I continue to see & hear Orwell’s name these days, both on the web and on TV. Although he’s been dead for almost 60 years, the concepts he wrote in his book 1984 are all very much alive and well, probably more so now than at the time of its writing.

In addition to 1984, there are other books that have been written about the future that paint a less than perfect picture. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World immediately come to mind – and there are many more – and yet, it is Orwell that everyone keeps coming back to. The reason for that, I think, is that Orwell got more right than wrong, and compared to some of the more “fantastic” depictions of the future that are out there, his seems to be the most believable of the bunch.

So if Orwell has already done the dirty work of writing about an oppressive, bleak future – and an admirable job of it at that – why take the time to write another such depiction? What do we need it for? I mean, come on; what a buzzkill.

Well, I just think that it’s time to present an updated story, because for all of Orwell’s brilliance and imagination, there are things affecting us today that he simply could never have accounted for.

Orwell would have no idea what a cell phone or a PDA or an ATM machine is. He didn’t see the Twin Towers destroyed, had never heard of the Department of Homeland Security, never paid $200,000 for an “entry level” home. Illegal immigrants were not a “problem” in his day, there was no “War on Terror”, people said “Merry Christmas” to each other every December, and the American dollar was (at least partially) still on the Gold Standard. And how would you even try to explain to Orwell the concept of the internet?

If What So Proudly We Hailed shares similarities with 1984, it also has some significant differences, the biggest being that, however eerie Orwell’s depictions were, no one today would believe for a minute that they could happen anymore as he described them. Not so with What So Proudly We Hailed.

I can promise you this: regardless of how improbable you may think it is that the events depicted in WSPWH would ever come to pass, you will not be able to escape the fact that they are absolutely possible. In addition, I also think it will blow your mind to discover just how easily it could happen and how close we actually are to being there already.

The scariest thing to me is that, even knowing that WSPWH is a fictional story that I made up in my mind, I am continually seeing what almost amount to “excerpts” from it on the news today. A few weeks ago I heard someone on the news use a phrase that I used multiple times in the book: “law abiding American citizens will not be affected”.

Just this morning I saw this article regarding Real ID, a very important part of WSPWH, and yet, also something that very few people have even heard of:
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/new-security-rules-for-drivers-licenses/n20080110201009990038?ncid=NWS00010000000001

And one of the most interesting things was an incident I read about just 2 days ago. It’s unsettling to me on two counts. One reason is that it is almost exactly like an incident that occurs in WSPWH. The other reason is how it is being reported by the mainstream media. Here’s a detailed account of the story:
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59566

Now read the watered-down Associated Press version that is running on almost every major media outlet (please search around to verify). Not quite the whole story, is it?http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ir7_SQyuZ7HaWjeK3E61X0nVqpSQD8U1M9580

And as a distinct and separate thought not really connected with anything, isn’t it interesting that coins made of real gold and real silver cannot be used as legal tender? It’s illegal. I find that absolutely fascinating.

I invite you to come back for more information on What So Proudly We Hailed. There is so much more that I want to share. I hope that you’ll be interested.

In the meantime, I would also invite you to Google some of the below topics and take the time to investigate them in depth. You may be surprised at what you find. I’ll leave it for you to decide who’s telling the truth and who isn’t. But as you’re sifting through the smoke & mirrors, just keep asking yourself this question: Who benefits?

National Animal Identification System
Real ID
Percy Schmeiser
RFID
GMO seed
Patented seed

Please also visit http://www.hslda.org/ (Home School Legal Defense Association) and type "international law" in the search box to see some very interesting articles. I would also strongly recommend the documentaries “The Future of Food” and “The Corporation”. Your local video store probably won’t have them, but Netflix does.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Blaine,

Your novel sounds fascinating. My husband & I are watching these same trends. May I also suggest the documentary "America: Freedom to Fascism" (directed by Aaron Russo in perhaps 2003 or so)? We watched it from Google videos in its entirety.

Blaine Staat said...

You may absolutely suggest it; I actually watched it a little over a year ago, but for anyone who hasn't, it's worth your time. Sadly, I recently found out that Aaron Russo died last fall.
-Blaine