Illusion vs. Reality

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-dancer-tom-olbert/1137460943

 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037624#longDescription

Fluidic existence...The solid state of reality shifting into the fluid realm of thought, desire, dream...

And, nightmare.  Shaped by fear.  And, hate.

The foundations of democracy...once thought as solid as bedrock...were recently shaken by an explosion of those who trust more in the unseen.  The claims of unseen conspiracy.  Of election fraud, deep state manipulation and fake news.  Nightmares usually confined to the pages of science fiction.  As was the sight of angry mobs storming the nation's capital in this day and age.  Fiction and fantasy seem to have broken down the walls of reality.

And, it goes on...

Not just in the perception of physical reality, but something else that may be even more basic...The basic definitions of right and wrong. Of the cornerstones of moral norms which define civilized life.

In a dystopian future science fiction like "Star Dancer" social norms are horribly distorted, basic human rights and values giving way to futuristic versions of the dark ages.

In contemporary reality, such basic norms seem no more solid than wax reshaped by the fire of politics.  In a nightmare vision, our nation's capitol is besieged by rioters, many openly brandishing banners antithetical to the ideology of this nation.  Openly calling for the mob rule executions of public officials.  Many of those officials had to barricade themselves in their offices, their lives in apparent danger.  Now, half those officials (the half of the ousted party) are downplaying the incident as a minor occurrence, no more rowdy than an ordinary tourist visit.  (I wasn't aware tourists made a regular habit of breaking windows and building gallows with the Vice President's name on them.  Someone really should look into hiring better tour guides.)

One made the comment that (as he was cowering in his office with the door blocked, presumably) he took comfort in the fact that the people attacking capitol police officers, smashing in doors and storming offices were people who "loved this country" - seriously?  And, he went on to make the blatantly racist comment that if it had been Black Lives Matter protestors doing the same thing, "I'd worry."  (Yeah, you have to be particular about who's lynching you.  I mean, one has to have standards.)

More recently, people who've downplayed the storming of the capitol and flatly refused to investigate it have also taken great moral outrage at an elected official denouncing human rights abuses at the hands of America's friends and foes alike, claiming the statement blurred the moral lines between American allies and enemies.  Huh.

So, let's get this straight...It's okay to lay siege to America's capitol and threaten to kill its elected officials, so long as you do it waving an American flag (albeit alongside a Confederate flag) but it's not okay to criticize American friends and foes in the same breath for committing the same illegal acts.

The reason for this moral ambiguity is clear.  The ousted party lives in fear of the same element that launched the siege and which still controls the party by sheer numbers.  An element which embraces the blatant lie that the election was rigged.  They control the vote, so they define the truth.  And, the shape of the party.  Of reality itself, as far as the party "leaders" are concerned.  The party has ousted one of its own leaders simply for not following this obvious lie, in the name of "unity."  Their unity...their "truth"...flies in the face of actual reality.  And, of conventional morality.

A party which has always called itself the standard bearer of "traditional morality" has proven by its own actions that truth is meaningless to them and that reality is whatever their voters choose to believe it is.  Morality is not bedrock.  Truth is fluid.  Numbers are what count, not facts.  Fear is what defines the party platform, not integrity.  And, justice is extremely selective.

This today is the opposition.  Tomorrow, it may again be the dominant party.  In the long run, though... The question is... can the country survive without a common sense of basic values?  Or, even a basic understanding of what those values are?

No democracy can survive if its words are divorced from its values, and if its direction is determined not by moral codes and standards of civilization, but by armed mobs at the gate.

https://www.amazon.com/Dissent-Book-Nexus-Thomas-Olbert-ebook/dp/B01CRCEMQG  ***

 

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A Dream Remembered...

 

Today, we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King.  And, of what he represented.  A dream that one day, this nation would celebrate the true meaning of its creed.  That all human beings are created equal, regardless of race, color or creed.

There was a time when that dream...noble and profound as it is...would be considered as something akin to science fiction.  Many might still see it as such.

But then, that is the true creed of America, is it not?  Not equality at the end of life, perhaps, but certainly at the beginning of it.  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

Do we still believe in the truth of those words, the meaning of which resonate through the words of Dr. King?

On the day we remember Dr. King's dream, how does the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave stand in the world?

Our democracy, once a shining beacon to the world, seems now to hang in the balance, fighting for its life.  Not against foreign despots, but against our fellow Americans.  Predominantly white Americans who waved Confederate and neo-Nazi flags as they stormed our nation's capitol and cried for the murder of elected officials.

That is how far we've come since Dr. King voiced his dream to cheering crowds so long ago?

That dream lives, in the hearts of many.  But, hate lives in the hearts of many, too.  Hate, despair, anger...and a desire to build walls, not bridges.  To look only to ourselves, not to help those less fortunate.  And, to see only the worst in those different from ourselves.

The dream of a better America, an idealized America seems more under siege at this juncture of history than ever before.  With the presidency of Barak Obama, that dream seemed to advance a step further towards realization.

With the election of Donald Trump, the country took a horrifying step backward.  Now, like a wanderer slowly regaining his direction, the country takes a step back towards hope, back towards idealism.

But, the road ahead is rocky and unsure.  The journey along it may or may not succeed.  But, the dream is the beacon that leads us in the right direction.  That's what matters.

Dr. King promised a path to the Promised Land.  The quest is long.  But, the direction at the heart of the quest is what defines us.  

 

Science Fiction Short Stories

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By Justin Sewall

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Alien Puzzle Boxes: Twenty short science fiction stories 

By Jeremy Lichtman

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13 days to history's next chapter...

In fiction, the story unfolds, chapter by chapter, building towards a conclusion. Life can be like that, too. History unfolds, chapter by chapter, the outcome shaping the future of nations and cultures. We look for patterns in history which shape our beliefs and cultures. The nature of good and evil. Of truth and lies. What we value in life.

 The American dream is a young one. One that changed the world, and ushered in a new age of hope. Hope that the people can choose their own path, in effect their own future through democratic rule of law. Is that dream now, once again, in danger of dissolving into carnage? Last night, we saw a sight that will forever remain burned into our collective consciousness. The sight of an angry mob storming the Congressional building. The seat and symbol of our democracy. Who were the insurgents? People who have lost all faith in the institutuions of American law and government. Who believe the words of a pseudo-populist demagogue who condemns and slanders the system itself rather than admit political defeat. The sheer madness of the moment lay in the hypocrisy of a movement that claims to treasure law and order, which condemns and even brutally suppresses protests by African American citizens challenging racism and destroying monuments to white patriarchy while itself brutally vandalizing the nation's capital and disrupting the system of government they claim to revere. One can only imagine the extent of police brutality that might have occurred had this riot been led by Black Lives Matter instead of the Proud Boys.

 What flags do these pro-Trump insurgents carry? Some carry the American flag (whatever that still means to them). Some carry the Confederate flag. The symbol of rebellion, racism, and slavery. Most, of course, carry the Trump banner. The cult of one man who, it seems, must rule this country or destroy it. White supremacists, misogynists, neo-nazis and Klansmen invariably rally to the Trump banner. That is no coincidence. These insurgents refuse to believe in the system because it will not give them what they want. What they want is what Trump has promised them. Isolation. Walls to hide behind. A system of white rule in which racist brutality is practiced but never acknowledged. Where the past is romanticized and never questioned. Where science is suppressed, truth malleable and all things unwelcome...global climate change, pandemics...are simply denied. The path to disaster and desolation.

 At its heart, the age of Trump is based on racism, homophobia and above all...anger and ignorance. Will this insurgency continue and grow beyond the end of the Trump presidency? More urgently, what will Trump do next in the 13 days remaining until the end of his presidency? 13 days with one man's finger on the nuclear trigger. A man with no respect for the system, the republic, freedom or truth. History holds its breath through each of those 13 days to come. Like a prelude to the conclusion of some fictional melodrama. This time reminds us how fragile our democracy truly is. How our arrogant comfort in all our wealth and military might comes to nothing if we turn on eachother. And,our national unity seems now undeniably marred by fissures, racial, economic and ideological which seem to strain at the fragile veneer of our supposedly indivisible nation. One nation under God? Whose God?

 Could America be at the brink of a second civil war? Who would win? What would follow? Could our nation even survive in any unified form? 

 13 days and counting...

Fiction vs. Fact

https://www.amazon.com/Dissent-Book-Nexus-Thomas-Olbert-ebook/dp/B01CRCEMQG The demarcation between fact and fiction is expected to be clear. Only in science fiction stories of time travel and parallel universes do different people live in wildly divergent realities, one person's reality diverging from his neighbor's. But, life today is not so simple. What kind of reality is it in which the populace of the most powerful nation on Earth can't agree on who won the last presidential election? In which divergent versions of reality conflict on a daily basis? We have a president who refuses to acknowledge that he lost the election. He cries "fraud" without proof. He refuses to hand the reins of power to his successor, impeding the operations of government while scores of people die of an ongoing pandemic. Our president can do nothing but praise himself for a vaccine in development which he claims wouldn't exist had he not "forced" the FDA to advance it. Also, not true, but of course his supporters believe it, as they believe every baseless claim he makes. He tells us the election was rigged in a vast international conspiracy, and his followers - at least a third of the country - believe him. He could probably say the election was rigged by hostile Martians, and they'd load their guns and point them at the sky. (Why not? Orson Welles accomplished that in 1938 and he wasn't even trying.) It's as if, in a science fiction story, an alternate parallel universe has appeared in the middle of our reality. An alternate universe in which real news is fake news and fake news posts that claim child pornography rings are operating out of pizza restaraunts actually bring people out of their homes with shotguns. In which global climate change...the evidence of which is a daily occurence...doesn't exist. In which thousands who have died of an ongoing pandemic never really died at all. Like some twisted quantum double take: reality and anti-reality existing side by side. Which will triumph in the end? The election is over...at least according to the majority view of reality. But, the clash of realities goes on. When the current mad king finally departs, he becomes the rabble rouser leading his followers in the streets. They vote, and the political opposition party now held captive by this newly spawned anti-reality is forced to capitulate. Truth fades, or at least bends, like warping space and time...in some places, but not in others. Can two realities...Two worlds...coexist in a powerful nuclear nation? When a sizeable segment of the population simply refuses to trust authority, whether governmental or scientific...What then? The capacity of the human mind to delude itself seems unlimited, reality merely a matter of opinion. Can civilization survive without a common vision of reality? We'll see.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-dancer-tom-olbert/1137460943 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037624#longDescription

Star Dancer

 

 

 

In a dark future, the orbiting Mars Platforms are an independent space nation and open trading port where every vice known to man is legally practiced. 

Sabine DeGuerra is a professional concubine with a long list of wealthy clients.  A master of dance, mathematics and martial arts as well as sex, Sabine makes a comfortable living, though haunted by the dark nightmares of her secret past and the dangers of her present.

Sabine’s life changes dramatically when Mirabelle, a young orphan girl fleeing torture and death in a tyrannical Mars colony, seeks her help.  Sabine risks her own life to get Mirabelle and herself off the platforms and out of Mars space.  Surrounded by the cold, black vacuum of space, Death lurks around every corner of the platforms at the hands of the Guard, the merciless security guild.  Sabine has only her courage and cunning against overwhelming and deadly odds…

 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037624#longDescription

 

 

 

"Star Dancer" is a tale set in a dark and violent future.  A world in which greed has taken its toll.  Pollution and global climate change have devastated the world, the nations waging global war over dwindling resources as whole populations are reduced to near barbarism, slavery again becoming the norm.

Fiction today.  Fact tomorrow?

Who can say, in a time when the strongest nation on Earth is led by a president who denies the reality of climate change and global pandemic?  Who thrives in a political atmosphere of enmity and race hatred?  Could the dystopian science fiction of today become the inescapable reality of tomorrow?

The answer to that question depends on the human capacity to hope.  And, to find the will to change.  The protagonist of “Star Dancer” is a woman shaped by a horrific past and an even more horrific present.  Yet, she dares to hope.  To fight, even at the risk of her own life, to protect hope for a better tomorrow for the next generation.

The cruelties and failures of the past are not easily forgotten.  But, hope lies in the capacity of the human spirit to overcome all obstacles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Reality...

Science Fiction creates imagined realities.  Whole new worlds, based on the author's visions, fears and aspirations.  But, what reality do we perceive in the real world?

As our nation celebrates another birthday, one cannot help but feel a strange new reality dawn.  A reality of pandemic and race conflict.  Of a nation fighting to find its elusive and evolving soul on this, the anniversary of its birth.

Multitudes march through the streets demanding justice, in the wake of still more police killings.  The best and the worst of us emerge in tides of anger.  In fire and looting.  In peaceful protest.  In embrace.  In hope.  In the toppling of monuments.  In the changing of names and symbols.  We confront our past.  We confront our past romanticizing of it.  We seek to find ourselves.  To heal wounds.  To find the path that brought us here, and a new path forward.

With Liberty and Justice for All.
 For All. 

Those are the words we seek to earn the right to call our national creed.  Some of us do.

Not the man who currently calls himself our leader.

He's not about healing or unification or truth.  His power grows from the antithesis of these.  Anger.  Fear.  Hate.  Self aggrandizement.  Truth twisted into any form that suits the deification of self.  Of nation. And, above all, of him.

 

As reality shifts into places we've seldom been.  As life seems more a science fictional dream of masks and distancing.  As scientists issue grave warnings amid mounting death tolls...

 

Our rabble-rousing megalomaniacal leader dismisses it all as mere fantasy and exaggeration. Life is wonderful, he tells us.  It is everything we wish it to be, because he presides over it.  He takes credit for victories which have not happened.  He ignores deaths which occur daily.  He utters not a word of injustice or police brutality or killing, because these things do not exist in his flawless kingdom.

 

He acknowledges those who cry out for justice only as evildoers who would dare deface our mighty monuments.  Who would dare see our nation as anything short of the kingdom of heaven.  His is the imagined reality.  Some follow it, while others seek a higher reality of justice.  One not yet born, except perhaps in the minds of science fiction writers who envision utopia.

 

 

A reality that never was...a childish melodrama of heroism and blazing glory...contends with an aspiration for a better world; a world in which we are all equal in justice, and in which ideals of freedom and truth are living things that grow into a brighter future; not relics of a half-imagined past  to be blindly worshiped, but never understood.

Happy Birthday, America.  On this birthday, you are offered challenges of hardship to test your mettle.  And, you are offered a choice of realities.  Truth, it has been said, is clothed in thorns and hardness.  Lies in soft, comforting offerings.

Choose, America.  The future is watching.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175537-science-fiction-microstory-contest

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dissent-Book-Nexus-Thomas-Olbert-ebook/dp/B01CRCEMQG

 

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