…[Beck’s novel, The] Overton Window plot, as described in early press teasers sure sounds like a 2010 remake of the Rand classic [Altas Shrugged].
So has President Obama “fundamentally transformed” America into a nation of rebellious industrialists with shrines to John Galt on their bedsides? Sales of 1984 would beg to differ.
What the focus on a rebirth of Ayn Rand enthusiasts overlooks is that Orwell, a self-described socialist, is among the “trashy political thrillers” on the list for his anti-authoritarian masterpiece 1984, also a favorite among the left.
Sure, it isn’t selling quite as well as the top two, and many could argue that the anti-Obama crowd could reinterpret the book to get a right-wing message out of it, but it proves that ultimately the thread that holds these top three books together is not ideology– it’s a sense of siege. It’s a dire view of a future ruined by lies, no matter what breed of politician is telling them. It just so happens that our current leader supports the expansion of some aspects of government to help the underprivileged, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility that the same fears driving the anti-Bush movement on the left are partly responsible for the surge in popularity of dystopian novels (think of the neverending Eurasian wars in 1984, or the massive corporate bailouts in Atlas Shrugged).
It can’t just be the Tea Partiers buying up thousands of pages of anti-corruption nightmare fodder, as simple of an explanation as that would be for these sales.
***
Actually, Frances, 1984 is still “a favorite among the left” because they’re so stupid, they still read it thinking they’re the persecuted good guys.
Also?
It IS just the Tea Partiers “buying up” those “thousands” (and thousands and thousands) “of pages.”
That’s. How. Many. Of. Them. There. Actually. Are.
Heh.
