Here are the books you need to read if youre going to resist Donald Trump
Over the holidays, I spent a week binge-reading dystopian fiction. It’s something I wouldn’t recommend without an ample supply of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds. But I wanted to try to understand the rise of Donald Trump, his path to the US presidency, and what this might mean for our collective future—as well as if there was anything we could do to stop him. (Spoiler alert: There is!)
A review of the literature revealed amazing parallels. Books written in the 1930s and 1990s featured dictators using “just folks” populism to channel legitimate anger—as well as xenophobia and racism—for their own dictatorial purposes. Unsurprisingly, the boldest, smartest and most brutal visions of a Trump-like America came from women of color. In Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents, an evil Texas senator turned fascist dictator uses a folksy campaign slogan: “HELP US MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Reading that passage, I gasped out loud. We’re at a historical point in which dystopian literature isn’t just about imagining worst-case scenarios—it can apparently be used as a how-to book.
As I read, I became convinced that dystopian literature can help us all navigate the Trump era. As the old proverb goes, “Fish don’t see water.” Similarly, people often fail to notice the way that politicians are manipulating them. The insidiousness of an autocratic regime is the way it appeals to our lizard brains—most notably playing upon fear—and bypasses our rational centers. How else to explain the voters who claim they hate “big government” but need their Medicare? Or, say, people who hate “illegals”, but didn’t think to ask about my doctor-father’s immigration status when they were on the operating table? Dystopian fiction can help us recognize when—and how—we’re being played.
It’s no wonder Trump wants to get rid of the National Endowment for the Arts, an agency with a $146-million budget that represents roughly 0.01% of the federal budget. Artists are like deer: They sniff the winds of change long before the rest of us. So head to your library or bookstore and check out these reads. Forewarned is forearmed, as one of the novel’s folksy characters might say.
Read more: https://qz.com/899559/all-the-dystopian-fiction-you-need-to-read-to-resist-donald-trump-and-predict-what-hell-do-next/
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