The Estate of Sinclair Lewis should SUE the BFEE....

[BiggJawn]

For Plagiarism.

I'm about 1/2 way through "It Can't happen HERE!" and the damn thing reads like Karl Rove's playbook. Even down to having the antagonist insisting that he's just a country bumpkin...

[JanMichael]

1. Yep. Lewis nailed it. You should try "Iron Heel" next.

That'll get you going.

[PsN2Wind]

2. Funny you bring up Sinclair Lewis

When I read here yesterday about the Preacher banging the ladies of the congregation to rid them of the devil, my first thought was "Elmer Gantry".

[mr_hat]

3. CS Lewis, too. Poppy stole "1000 points of light" from >

the Narnia Chronicles. Ugh. Soiled that phrase, he did.

[punpirate]

4. If it was against the law for presidents to have...

... speechwriters, there'd be a lot less of that sort of thing... not to mention that it would be a lot quieter on the airwaves.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. I thought you'd be talking about "Babbitt." nt

[BiggJawn]

7. I'm only at Chapter 14.

Don't know any "Babbitt". Except that lead-tin alloy that used to be made into bearings.

[frylock]

6. berzilius w. bush..

the parallels are somewhat unsettling.

[BiggJawn]

9. "The snakes disloyal to our Bush, we're riding on a rail...."

"...They'll wish to God they never was,
when we get them to jail.

Bush and Bush and keep it up
To World Domination he's floated.
You are a most un-Murkan pup
unless for Bush you voted.

Every Ditto-Head get a whip
to use upon some traitor.
And every AntiBush we skip
today, we'll come and tend to later...."

Fits, doesn't it?

[frylock]

14. it fits a little too well..

:scared:

[kayell]

8. As should Orwell's estate and Margeret Atwood

The BFEE apparently read all the distopias as guidelines rather than as cautionary tales.

[BiggJawn]

10. The one big diference though....

Is that those authors over-estimated the American Public and their response. Just a little. Hey, not even Orwell could have forseen FAUXNooz....

[kayell]

11. FAUXNooz = Ministry of Truth

[BiggJawn]

12. Only part of the MoT...

Once Karl "Sarason" Rove gets done bringing those upstarts at "60 Minutes" to heel and has CBS properly on board with the REST of the cheering section....

[LibDemAlways]

13. I'm only up to page 86, but

I'm thinking maybe Lewis had a crystal ball that worked. His description of Windrip:

He "was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his 'ideas' almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture."

"He believed in....the superiority of anyone who possessed a million dollars. He regarded...all foreigners, possibly excepting the British, as degenerate."

The book is long out of print but worth the hunt. My dad happened to pick up a copy for a quarter at a church used book sale. Someone didn't know what a treasure they had.

[JanMichael]

15. Kick. It's always good to promote books that helps us understand...

...the current insanity better.

Or at the very least those books that scare our lazy asses into some sort of action.

[kayell]

16. It Can't Happen Here available free for online reading or download

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/l/lewis/sinclair/happen/ - Read it

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/l/lewis/sinclair/happen/happen.zip - Download