Future Shock, Present Apathy
Sam Aurelius Milam III
I
began to read Science Fiction sometime during the late 1950s. For
all of the subsequent years, I've continued to read it. My collection
of Science Fiction is old and I'm not up-to-date with the latest authors
and stories. However, many of those old stories are worthy of reading
again.
Many
of those stories were set in terrifying future societies, future at the
time of course, in which draconian governments ruthlessly enforced various
forms of brutal repression. Most of the people who lived in those
terrifying societies were apathetic and complacent. They meekly accepted
their brutal terrorist governments as the normal way of things. Of
course, in order for there to be a story, there had to be some small group
of stalwarts to whom things were not acceptable. Often, especially
in the early stories of Robert A. Heinlein, the plot revolved around some
brainwashed young member of the mindless majority who, through some personal
misfortune or unexpected discovery in combination with his natural budding
heroism, became a helpless rebel. If he fled aimlessly, which was
likely, then he was rescued by members of the stalwarts who, it turned
out, had been watching him covertly for years. He was just exactly
the missing ingredient that they needed to spark them into long-overdue
action and successfully topple the brutal regime. Sometimes, the
plot elements and personal characteristics in the stories were somewhat
contrived, even unlikely. That isn't true for all such stories.
For example, the stories of Joe Haldeman are horribly plausible.
However, the point of this is that the stories contributed to my understanding
of the consequences of government policies. Some of the early stories
of Robert A. Heinlein were particularly useful in that regard.
Here’s
a problem. I expect that Science Fiction authors must necessarily
write about different things nowadays because those old stories just aren't
very terrifying any more. The terrifying future societies aren't
future anymore. Most of the political horrors predicted in those
old Science Fiction stories are now accepted as commonplace. The
old horrors of future shock constitute today's normal government policies.
The people today are apathetic and complacent. They've meekly accepted
as normal the things that previously filled me with the fear of the future.
Even the horribly realistic stories of Joe Haldeman are probably real today.
We're waiting only for the facts to be released.
Meanwhile,
where's the group of stalwarts? I started as a brainwashed member
of the mindless majority. I gradually worked my way into an understanding
of the tyranny and into an openly declared opposition of it. I've
been opposing it for decades now but the group of stalwarts hasn't rescued
me, not even when I was in jail in Santa Clara County. I'm just the
ingredient that they need but where are they? I'm beginning to be
afraid that there isn't any such group. Maybe there isn't anybody
but me. Maybe I'm completely alone in this fight. I suppose
that I can accept that if I must.
Here
are two other possibilities. I'm getting too old nowadays to be the
naturally budding young hero who's going to be rescued. Instead,
I'll probably have to be the crotchety old geezer who creates the group
of stalwarts. I'll have to start the group, plot tirelessly, and
then rescue the budding young hero. We'd better hurry, both of us.
It's uncertain which will happen first. The situation might deteriorate
beyond all possibility of remedy or I might die of old age.
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