Dire times have led to a few dire-ish posts on my part. It’s not intentional. The world feels like it’s going to hell in a handbasket but it’s so obvious as to not need further discussion. For that matter, when was the last time things weren’t going to shit?
It’s probably more a reflection of bad weather for camping than any particular variety of Bidenverse inanity. Isn’t that silly? I didn’t have time to ignore the dumpster fire and write about all that’s wonderful; but that’s the goal. Sit by a campfire watching the moon rise and you won’t give a shit about the “news”.
Everything Elon releasing is something we already knew years ago. All the inflation is basic math. Mitch McConnell acting like a toad is… well when doesn’t he fuck his own party? Who is the last remaining fool that didn’t think COVID came from the lab in Wuhan? Discussing how often Fauchi was incorrect is like suddenly discovering the sun rises in the East. Why discuss what everyone sane already knew and the Kool-Aid drinkers will never accept?
Speaking of people I ignore, what’s up with Kayne West? Have I heard any of his songs? (If he’s some sort of amazing virtuoso I’m willing to be corrected.) As far as I can tell he’s a washed up rapper acting like a loon. What’s news about that? Aren’t they a dime a dozen?
Anyway, it’s time for something 70 years old which seems (in my pointy head) to mirror what happened (and didn’t) during the shitstorm of 2022. (It was only a year ago that president “won more votes than any other candidate in history” was going full Nuremberg.)
It’s an optimistic story called “And Then There Were None“. It was written by Eric Frank Russell in 1951. You can find it by this link or by clicking to in Astounding Science Fiction magazine (Vol. XLVII, No. 4). (Or you can get if by *.pdf.)
It’s free, under 40 pages, and you’ll enjoy reading it. Lets be serious here, it’s better use of your time than most of what’s on the internet. It’s a mellow happy science fiction story from back when science fiction was fun.
Give yourself a treat. Despite publishers who’ve made the last few decades of sci-fi mostly about woke lesbians bitching about recycling during a dystopic global-warming hellscape… I prefer sci-fi that’s fun.
Here are a few quotes to get the blood flowing:
“For one solitary guy it would be martyrdom, but for a whole world—” His voice drifted off, came back. “I’ve been taking this about as far as I can make it go and the results give me the leaping fantods.”
And…
“I was thinking,” Harrison explained.
“I approve of that,” put in His Excellency. He lugged a couple of huge tomes out of the wall-shelves, began to thumb rapidly through them. “Do plenty of thinking whenever you’ve the chance and it will become a habit. It will get easier and easier as time rolls on. In fact, a day may come when it can be done without pain.”
Yeah, that’s the stuff.
Hat tip to Dio’s Workshop and Liberty’s Torch.