Letter to the editor: Totalitarianism frightening — and coming

Coming soon to a theater near you: the frightening blockbuster with the unforgettable catchphrase, “Show me your papers, please.” It’s the request for your internal passport: the vaccine documentation necessary for any travel, social gatherings, purchases and so much more. We’ve seen this movie before, and it never ends well.

At the same time, we see a push toward a cashless society, government dependence on a universal basic income, eliminating all carbon-based energy — even suggesting a tax on every mile that you drive, removing meat from our diets and monitoring every single thing that you do (and say). And none of these efforts is being hidden.

If America doesn’t take heed against this fast-encroaching totalitarianism, there will be no stopping it. But that may be difficult in a nation ignorant of history, requiring constant amusement and with a very short attention span. As Aldous Huxley wrote in “Brave New World,” “Reality, however utopian, is something from which people feel the need of taking pretty frequent holidays.”

Society is intentionally being fattened, medicated and distracted, constantly entranced by the somatic glow of digital devices and kept in a state of fear by a controlling media, all to minimize any possible resistance. What is a muzzled and isolated citizen to do?

Speaking out against this tyranny will become prohibited, with Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, universities and the news media used as government enforcers to censor and violate free speech. The temperature is approaching “Fahrenheit 451” and I hear jackboots stomping down the hallway. But wait, this can’t happen here … better think again.

Steven Crichley

South Side