Life is Like a Dystopian Novel

you basically know exactly what you're going to get - like, every single time

Hey there, Secular Fam. I trust you all survived the Thanksgiving holiday (“survived” being a relative term here). 

Every day since the election, some new, outrageous appointment is announced, or the people who totally knew nothing about Project 2025 before the election announce a new policy idea that totally comes right out of the 922 pages of Project 2025. 

Basically, we’re all about to reach the “FO” stage of the “FAFO” process.

Some people seem to be reveling in the knowledge that MAGAts will learn the definition of the word “tariff” or that they voted to get rid of their social security benefits. 

I’m not. 

The same shitty policies that will make it more expensive for them to drink their morning coffee or purchase, like, pretty much, anything will also affect me and the people I care about. So I won’t be doing any happy dances when the least informed among us get educated real quick. 

I also have no patience for liberals who are already moving further right and blaming marginalized communities like trans people, Latinos who voted for him, or undocumented immigrants.

I’ve also seen liberals refer to Elon Musk as “Elonia” or creating memes of him in drag. Don’t do that. It’s homo/transphobic.

I saw another trend on Bluesky (Xitter is a neo-Nazi cesspool) where liberals were posting a meme that said “My pronouns are ‘try/me.’” For the same reason, don’t do that either. 

I really struggled to pull myself out of the doldrums after the election, and part of it had to do with some health issues I’ve been dealing with. For the last few months, I’ve been undergoing some diagnostic testing, and was riddled with anxiety waiting for the results. Finally, this past Tuesday, I got some promising results that require minor lifestyle changes, and some annual testing going forward. It was the first time in a long time where I felt in control of something. 

I broke down with some of my board and staff the day before getting the good news, and told them that I could deal with the end-of-the-world or the possible end-of-my-life, but not both at the same time. So for now, I’ll be dealing with the former, not the latter. 

Not two hours after I received my positive diagnosis, my family called to let me know that my dad had fallen in the shower and suffered multiple injuries. I’m now back in the Midwest, and will likely be having some tough discussions about what’s next for him.

For now though, I feel a sense of calm I haven’t felt in months. As the American philosopher, Forrest Gump, once said, “life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.”

Or in my case, “life is like a shit sandwich; and if you’re lucky, you’ve got a lot of bread.”

Or for all of us right now, “life is like a dystopian novel; you basically know exactly what you’re going to get - like, every single time.”

If we’re going to be prepared for Project 2025 and all the things that are meticulously detailed in it, we need to pull our heads out of the sand. The president-elect is surrounding himself with billionaires, white supremacists, rapists, and grifters. In most cases, they’re all four of those things. So if you think that those closest to him will be reining him in, think again. 

He is coming in hot, promising that there will be mass deportations “on day one,” and he will use the military to conduct a “mass deportation program.” Meal Team Six militias across the nation are promising to conduct their own raids, so I’m sure that will go totally great 🙄. 

He has promised to eliminate the Department of Education, social security, and Medicaid as well. Despite those very damaging possibilities, 36% of Americans simply didn’t vote on Election Day this year. 

If you’re like me, you’re probably surrounded by people who not only voted this year, but they also did some other things like phone banking, texting, canvassing, or donating to candidates or ballot initiatives. 

For the blissfully ignorant non-voters, they’re fully entrenched in the Brave New World stage of our dystopian reality. In this novel by Aldous Huxley, Americans are more interested in what’s happening on their screens, in pop culture, and what mood-altering substances they can get into their bloodstreams (deemed “Soma” in this novel). 

Babies are created in test tubes, and if you’re lucky, you’re designated an “Alpha” or “Beta” instead of a dreaded “Delta” or “Gamma.” The latter two groups are essentially enslaved people who do the bidding of the higher castes. Indigenous people are relegated to reservations (see how dystopia has existed in the US for a looooooong time for some folks?), and the upper crust can spend big money to marvel at how they live. 

I would argue that we are, and have been existing in a Brave New World hellscape for a while now. The average American now spends nearly seven hours a day on screens, and for teenagers, it’s nearly five hours. Since the pandemic, alcohol consumption has skyrocketed, and apparently, it’s not slowing down, five years out. 

We’ve also got one foot in and one foot out of the plot of Fahrenheit 451. In this novel by Ray Bradbury, firemen don’t put out fires, they start them by burning books. Citizens call firefighters when they discover the location of banned books, and they use blow torches to burn them all. In this dystopian world, reading is a big, fat, boring, chore. And if you’re reading the “wrong” items, well, it could also be dangerous and make you an enemy of the state (huh, I feel like I’ve heard that term spoken very recently…something about the “enemy from within” something, something…)

There are so many elements from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four up in this joint too. Basically, every Trump event, and every Sunday sermon in evangelical megachurches is like a Two Minutes Hate session (except they last waaaay longer than two minutes). Doublespeak (hypocrisy) is popular amongst his followers, and they fully embrace the party slogans of “war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”

Trust and believe that we are losing the misinformation game. Christofascists are GREAT at mis/disinformation. They are expert at coming up with easy-to-remember talking points with zero explanation of policy. Much like Big Brother’s dystopia, they also love three-word phrases that any simpleton can memorize and repeat: lock her up, build the wall, drain the swamp. 

See? You can just say whatever you want, give no plans, concepts of plans, or explain how anything will be funded. 

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, telescreens monitored citizens’ every move, and one can basically assume that any of your neighbors would turn you in to the Thought Police. Welcome to the United States of America, 2024! Our devices monitor our every move, and none of our data is safe. In this internet era, our data has never really been safe, but with this new regime, just assume that everything you share that isn’t encrypted is being monitored. And to my menstruating Secular Family members: do NOT use a period tracking app. Period. 

These apps will be used by the Commanders (Trump) and the Eyes (Kash Patel) to ensure that the women of Gilead, ermmm, I mean, AMERICA, have zero bodily autonomy. In the Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, women are put into categories based on their age and ability to procreate. Our dystopian present feels like the prequel to the 1985 novel. Did you read the news about Idaho? That’s some Handmaid’s Tale . 

I need to channel my inner Lauren Olamina to prepare for what’s in our country’s future. We probably all should. If you’re unfamiliar with Lauren, she is the protagonist in the predictive fiction novel, Parable of the Sower. I love all the books I’ve mentioned (read them now, while you still can!), but Parable of the Sower is probably my favorite. In Octavia Butler’s 1993 award-winning novel, set in the year 2024 (!!!), economic inequality and corporate greed have run rampant (sound familiar?) and the climate is collapsing (again, sound familiar?)

Additionally, the recently-elected president in the novel uses the campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again (!!!)”

I did not realize that when I was reading these books they were basically survival guides for our dystopian present, but here we are. 

I know that all of us were hoping joy and hope would defeat doom and gloom, but the universe had other plans. 

It’s time to buckle up, Buttercup. We’re in for a REALLY bumpy ride. I definitely recommend making any needed major purchases that could be affected by tariffs, and start stocking up on your favorite imported goods. 

Next, I highly recommend reading this great article from The Guardian. The author provides a 20-item list of both things to expect and how we might best prepare for what’s coming. 

At this point, it’s really important to find fellowship. We need to get out from behind our screens and truly find community. And I’m talking about a truly diverse community of like-minded people. Most of us know someone who is first in line to be targeted by this new regime, and we must stand by our most vulnerable friends and colleagues. 

Remember, during WWII, there were plenty of folks who either turned on their neighbors or stayed silent. Don’t be one of those assholes. 

Together we can do this. No way I’m going to sit back and be silent during one of the most pivotal moments in history. 

Brush up on all your dystopian guidebooks, Secular Fam, and join me in this fight against christofascism. And as always, be sure to support the important work Secular AZ does.