So I recently read two books that kind of scared me. They were very good, but it made me want to move into the mountains somewhere and never come back. They are Traveler and Dark River. Dark River is the sequel and what the author doesn't get into about the big brother type things that are happening RIGHT NOW in Traveler he goes into in this book in so much more detail. After the first book I was a little freaked and wanted to move to a hippie commune and change my name to Snowflake but after the second book I think that might not be enough.
So what scared me? How about the fact that this technology that he talks about in the book to track people like they're hunting animals already exists. And if this technology is known, what do they have that is still in the testing stages? Did any of you see that short piece (that no tv news media reported on by the way) about these little strange flying devices in DC that look like dragonflies but are possibly cameras? Seriously???!!!! Where could they go with that if no one knows they're cameras? And if surveillance cameras don't scare you, you have no idea what they can do. Go check this out: http://www.notbored.org/nannycams.html
and more generally: http://www.notbored.org/scp-faq.html
The cameras are the just the smallest entity of what is going on though. So until the day that I become Snowflake WaterSuite, I will be much more careful about how I present my information to the world.
Back to the books though. I was very impressed with the not only the storyline but also John Twelve Hawks writing style. I've read so many fantasy/sci-fi stories that when I come across someone who writes different it's like drinking fresh water for the first time. Unless you've read a thousand fantasy or science fiction novels, you may not be aware that about 9 out of 10 of them are the same story with different character names. It makes trying to find something to read a little frustrating if you go into the book store thinking, "I wonder what new in THAT section..."
(I later added this and feel that it is very relevant to current issues)
I forgot to mention that these books also made me feel that my political and social awareness are useless. Everything has been manipulated to such a degree that the single person almost CAN'T make a difference anymore on the large scale. Voting in national elections is practically pointless because we have a system that doesn't allow for independents to make a dent. By the time the two major parties pick their candidates, we have two people who are very similar in their views because the parties want someone who is going to appeal to the masses not the individual.
What's worse is that all media (even the independent outfits) are about fear. Either fear of what will happen to you or fear that you're not good enough in someway. It's not a good story unless you can scare the piss out of someone. And it won't sell your product unless people fear they're not good enough. Stop living in fear people. Turn off the television and the radio for awhile. Just a couple hours a day can make a HUGE difference.
Now, I'm not saying don't be politically and social aware, what I'm saying is do it at the local level. Vote on local elections because these are the major players of tomorrow. All your congress people and presidents started at the local level.
Instead of protesting national issues, protest local issues. Like city dress codes. If you think I'm kidding about cities passing dress codes, pay more attention to the local news. Dallas is trying it and I'm sure they weren't the first to come up with the idea.
Get involved in local environmental issues. Buy one of those sections of highway and go out and clean it up. Stop running your air conditioner 24/7. Houses cause more polution than cars! And for goddess' sake, RECYCLE PEOPLE! It's so very easy now in most places. They don't even ask you to sort it out anymore and they pick it up for you. All you have to do it clean it and put it in ONE separate trash can. And if your city doesn't do this, start a campaign for them to do it. Until then, RECYCLE ANYWAY. Even if we're not killing planet, isn't it good to be nice to it anyway? We live here. Why do you want to live in a dirty, nasty, poluted planet? Because it's easier? If everyone did things simply because it was easier, we'd never have gotten electricity. Grow up. And there are so many others environmental issues you can campaign for locally. It'll make a bigger difference than nationally or globally. Go against local business that aren't green. Start a boycott. That'll get someone's attention.
3 comments:
Hello from South London! I also read The Traveller and The Dark River and am trying to find out more information about the author. I liked the fact that you ended your post with positive suggestions.
From what I can tell, getting information on this author is difficult. There's some speculation that he may be a well known author using an alias to publish this series but I've also read that he's actually living in the middle of Nowhere USA cut off from society as much as possible. One article I read says he communicates with his editor through Sat Phone and even the editor has never seen him. Who knows the truth? But I think the mysterious-ness of it has not hurt the books in anyway! I'm looking forward to being even more disturbed with the next book.
Are these the books that you told me about that you wanted me to read? I remember us talking about moving to a hippie commune and both of us ranting about the state of the world after you read something like this.
Post a Comment