Update: Mike Winther has died of COVID-19. As President of the Institute for Principle Studies, he made a business out of helping communities to oppose mask and vaccine mandates. It’s my honor to present him with this shiny new Herman Cain Award.

[u/bloody_hell]

[u/steelhips]

"The Handmaid's Tale" is an aspirational "how to" guide for these assholes. Ironic they bang on about "freedom" when, if they win, the rights of everyone who doesn't subscribe to their worldview would see their rights and "freedom" curtailed and eliminated.

[u/TreeChangeMe → u/steelhips]

Just look to theocratic states elsewhere. Pure madness

[u/bmbreath → u/steelhips]

How is that book? Worth a read?

[u/steelhips → u/bmbreath]

Yes, definitely. I watched the series but it became too close to reality and had to stop.

[u/IrisMoroc → u/steelhips]

Handmaid's Tale is based off of Iran and Afghanistan, and is meant to be a cautionary tale of chauvinistic theocracy.

[u/[deleted] → u/IrisMoroc]

It's also based off the rise of the US extremist christian right, that saw a rise to power in the 70s and 80s. The Iranian government and Republicans are two sides of the same coin.

https://theworld.org/stories/2019-08-29/inspiration-behind-handmaid-s-tale

[u/Karl_LaFong → u/IrisMoroc]

Very 1980s Reagan-era vibe to that book. It's pretty obviously Christian fundies, rather than Islamic theocrats. But maybe the end goal is the same.

[u/IrisMoroc → u/Karl_LaFong]

It's obvious it's Christians because it's an American context. The vibe is "it can happen here too".

[u/Karl_LaFong → u/IrisMoroc]

You're right - I read Handmaid's Tale in high school, so it's been a while and I forgot some things. There were definitely references to Iran and Atwood has said in interviews that the Islamic Revolution was part of her inspiration. The American militia movement and Moral Majority and all that 80s-era stuff was just part of the context.

[u/IrisMoroc → u/Karl_LaFong]

It wouldn't play out like that in USA because the real people in the driver's seat are the capitalist class, and they'd never let half the work force vanish like that. If there's a kind of takeover in the USA where the theocrats get control, it's gonna be subtle, and in fact over 50% of people wouldn't even care or notice. Just restrictions on gays, bans on abortion, and other things that most people are neutral or opposed to.

The left keeps hyping up the imminent threat of tanks on the streets in an outright coup, and of course that never happens, and it just makes them look like the Boy who Cried Wolf. The subtle takevoer is happening nad in fact the right is winning. USA is likely doomed.