When Repigs take the US into fundy extremism a la Handmaid's Tale...

[mondo joe]

When Repigs take the US into fundy extremism a la Handmaid's Tale will the rest of the world oppose it?

Will they be able to?

[wtmusic]

1. Sorry to be so friggin' ignorant but...

what is the 'Handmaid's Tale'? I've seen several posts.

[donhakman]

2. I've not seen that movie either

.

[ET Awful]

5. It's a book, the movie did it no justice and leaves out the mental

anguish.

[Atlant]

10. "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

The book tells the story of a "handmaid" residing in what used to be
called Cambridge, Massachusetts in the vicinity of Harvard.

In this book, the United States has fought some sort of cataclismic
war using chemical and/or biological weapons. In the aftermath of
that, most of the upper-class males have been left sterile or
relatively infertile. They, naturally, blame the women.

A convenient, murderous attack on the Congress causes the rise
of a theocratic military autocracy led by "the commanders" (the
high-privileged men). They establish the Republic of Gilead and
abolish the right of women to vote, to hold property, or even to
be taught to read. The secret police of this new society are
known as "Angels" and public executions (called "Public salvagings")
are instituted for many violations of the new religious laws.
Execution may be by "particicution" (where the convicted criminal
is beaten to death or drawn and quartered) or by being impaled on
a hook "on the wall" (presumably, the Harvard Yard wall.)

Naturally, the commanders allow themselves access to all of the
things that they've forbidden to society at large including
accurate information and prostitution.

Ofred is a handmaid. In this capacity, she is nothing but a
uterus, to be used by Fred , her commander ("Of-Fred", get it?),
to try to get a child on her (as he is unable to do with his
actual wife). She leads a desolate life, not unlike what you
might expect in the Red States in the very near future. If
she fails to produce a child, she may be demmed an unwoman
and sent off to work at hzardous waste site reclamation.

Her only hope is that through the Underground Femaleroad, she
may escape to Canada.

[mondo joe]

3. Basically a US taken over by radical christian fundamentalists

Imagine the US run by a Christian Taliban - women in their "proper" place, white men running the country according to biblical precepts...

[GreenArrow]

4. not so farfetched

The First Prince of the Theocratic States of America

...As Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court explained a few months later, the Bible teaches and Christians believe “… that government …derives its moral authority from God. Government is the ‘minister of God’ with powers to ‘revenge,’ to ‘execute wrath,’ including even wrath by the sword…”<3>

George W. Bush began to wield the sword of God’s revenge with relish from the beginning of his administration, but most of us missed the sword play. I have taken the liberty to paraphrase an illustration from Leo Strauss, the father of the neo-conservative movement, which gives us a clue of how the hiding is done:


“One ought not to say to those whom one wants to kill, ‘Give me your votes, because your votes will enable me to kill you and I want to kill you,’ but merely, ‘Give me your votes,’ for once you have the power of the votes in your hand, you can satisfy your desire.”<4>

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOf...

(article is LENGTHY)

These guys are entrenched. Start learnin' your Bible.

[donhakman]

9. SSounds like heaven

[Protagoras]

6. Read the book. The movie kinda sucks

The Handmaid's Tale is a story by Margaret Atwood. Takes place in the future in a fictional country that rises from the ashes of the US after some war.

In it religious fundamentalism and militarism have combined to enslave the population instituting an amazingly rigid old testament view of what women's places are. Due to low birth rates, some women are essentially enslaved to be surrogate mothers.

If you speak out you are punished, if you rebel you are hung. All in the name of God and Country.

I found the novel gripping and full of believable hypocracies (if that makes sense). I tend to read it when I get into a very black, 1984/It can't happen here/Brave New world/F 451 kinda mood.

But I rewatched the movie the other week and found it a typically hollow and disjointed effort. Missed most of the core points of the book and lacked any real drama. Book only takes a day to read anyway so...

[mondo joe]

7. Back on topic: Will the rest of the world oppose the US?

Will the EU or any nation oppose the US?

Or will Americans living under the US Taliban be on their own?

[RubyDuby in GA]

8. Let's hope so

I'm ready for them to invade now. A kind of pre-emptive strike, if you will.......

[Atlant]

11. Nuclear war is almost inevitable when...

Nuclear war is almost inevitable when you're dealing with people who
1) have nuclear weapons and are 2) certifiably religiously insane,
believing in an apocalyptic religion. I'd love to see someone describe
a scenario containing the Bushies that *DOESN'T* eventually lead to a
full-sale nuclear exchange.

I think there are very good odds that you'll get to see weapons going
off on our fatherland, err, I mean "homeland".

Atlant

[rman]

12. well, they'd need some opposition to wage endless war against,

in order to make money and to maintain chaos.
i'm not so sure europeans are indoctrinated well enough to go along with the new fascism. this would them a possible threat to the interests of the US. and all that the neocons need to start a war is a "possible" threat.

[Atlant]

13. Why would the war have to be real?

Given how gullible 'Murcans are, why not just *TELL* them there's a
war, publish a few pictures of glorious victories from time to time,
and blow up a few Blue-zone buildings to prove that we're still under
attack?

Atlant

[mcscajun]

14. It worked for Oceania...

...no reason it shouldn't work here.

/sarcasmlimitedoff