I first read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand a
long, long time ago. I can remember being absolutely entranced by the narrative
and her under lying, not so subtle critique of society. I can remember being
slowly seduced into her desired world of lassie-faire capitalism where people
earn their rewards; of a society where neither the state or any individual has
any responsibility for people within the society; where there are no handouts
to those who are struggling. In spite of the fact that I was actively involved
in both my early career of working with young teenage males, many of whom came
from economically, socially and emotionally deprived backgrounds, and all of
the anti-war protest etc. of the late 1960s and early 1970s, I found myself
almost agreeing with her vision of what life could be/should be like. I
remember the almost sick feeling I got when I realized that her vision had
almost captured me. Her logic was so clear, it was hard to argue with it.
I can also remember even earlier
reading A Modest Proposal by Jonathan
Swift. That short essay, written in the early 1700s, is equally as seductive in
its suggestion as to how the economy of British run Ireland could become more
self sustaining. Of course Swift was being satirical, but to the casual reader his
proposal rings true. It is a good plan - just inhumane. For a number of years I made the assumption
that Ayn Rand must have been, had to have been using satire to critique
society's inability to support to those who needed support and more importantly
to mock those who denied their obligations to do so. Then a few years ago I
tried to read Atlas Shrugged again. I
could not finish it - it made me just too angry.
By the time of my second reading
I was far less naive, far better read and much more aware of the neo-liberal
agenda. Atlas Shrugged now sounded
like a prescription, a game plan written by a collective of corporations to
justify their activities in the world market place. In my darkest days, it
sounded like a plan that was in fact being implemented in parts of the world
including Canada.
I am pleased to be able to say
that I have just finished "reading" another book that is as
intriguing as Atlas Shrugged in its
ability to make or at least almost make the reader believe in the logic of a
new utopia. I spend a large part of my day playing with wool. For at least part
of that time I have an audio book, borrowed from the local library, playing on
my tablet. Sometime the books are pretty bad and I don't finish them but The Circle by Dave Eggers kept me working longer than
normal as I wanted to see what would happen next. I don't want to suggest that
it is as in-depth as Atlas Shrugged (it is also a lot shorter) or even as well
written as A Modest Proposal , but it
is well worth reading.
The book portrays a utopian
vision of what could evolve if we continue to see social media as the ultimate
way of being in touch with each other, if we continue with the belief that how
many "likes" we get on Facebook validates our existence, and if we
continue with the trend of accepting the accumulation of "followers"
as proof that we are completely connected to our world. The ease in which the
young, twenty something female protagonist becomes not just immersed into the this
world as created by an internet company but in fact fully embraces it, is frightening.
It is frightening because it feels
possible.
I suspect some people will read this
novel and want to yell out "YES" in the sheer joy and excitement that
a world where everyone is connected, where all information on everything and
everyone is available to all, where the blending of state and of private companies
is so seamless that there is no need for governments to exists is a glorious
thought. For the rest of us, it should give us nightmares. There were times as
I was listening that I felt myself agreeing that we should all be connected
through things like Facebook or Twitter. I would then have that same sinking
feeling that I got when I long ago read Atlas
Shrugged.
It is entirely possible that I liked
this book because it makes comment upon the assumption made by so many people
that the internet and all of its related applications makes our life so much
easier. So many people are already convinced that everything can be can be and
should stored somewhere in the "cloud", and that when it is all
connected, many of the world's problems will disappear. Dave Eggers like all of
the good Utopian writers of the past starting with Thomas More in the mid 1400s
has a few people screaming from the sidelines (and usually seen as being
somewhat mentally disturbed) questioning if the new way of doing things is
good.
A book worth looking at.