Abstract
Harrison Bergeron spoke of a world that we perceive as fictional but in all reality may actually be upon us already. The American government has controlled our media, brainwashed us via cellphones, is poisoning our food, causing inflation when the country is already in debt, forcing women to give birth to unwanted children that could be caused from traumatic events, and killing anyone who tries to stand up against them. This Dystopian text may not be so farfetched as it sounds.
Are we living in a fictional reality? A reality that is secretly controlled and manipulated in ways that make those in power stronger while those suffering become accustomed to it and start to see it all as normal? I think so. Harrison Bergeron is a brilliantly told story of how equality can also be our demise. This dystopian short story briefly describes how the masses were controlled while being told that it was for equality, which eased the minds (scrambled them, too) but had everyone in a false sense of security. From the time that this story was presented to me in my English 101 class, I saw a lot of resemblances to the world that we currently live in, especially in the American government. Other people may read this story and just see it as fiction however, I feel like I was able to read between the lines and see what the author was trying to warn us about. I feel that there are many warnings in this story; you just have to be open-minded to recognize them and humble enough to see another person’s POV. For example, America is taking a turn, the media is being controlled, cell phones are the biggest source of entertainment and media, our food is being pumped with many different types of chemicals, we were being forced to get vaccines or lose our jobs, and now they’re trying to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body. Does this sound like the land of the free and the home of the brave still? You tell me.
Let’s examine the story of Harrison Bergeron and the similarities of our government today in America. In the dystopian text Harrison Bergeron, they tried to say that everyone was equal by putting a handicapper on those more intelligent or beautiful (Vonnegut, 1961). Can you imagine only having the freedom of free thought or speech every 20 seconds before being interrupted by a noise? Well just like the handicapper we are being controlled by the media based off them choosing what information they want to inform us about. The media only shows us
what they want us to see and they control us by fear. The news promotes fear and keeps us from knowing what’s going on in the rest of the world and with this it allows us to make the same mistakes causing history to repeat itself. In a Harvard University study they state “We are living in an age where the fourth estate, long a pillar in our democracy, struggles to find sustainable revenue models that enable it to tend to our civic garden of information and we are left to ask how do we rebuild trust in our information ecosystem?” (Harvard, 2021). Harvard is one of the most prestigious schools in the country with people from all over the world trying to apply and very few to get accepted.
How are we supposed to regain our trust in the media when they do not provide the information that we need to avoid repeating history? The American media provides us with fillers to take our minds off of the things that are happening around us. Have you ever noticed that when something major is going on in the world, the news will tell us about things like monkeypox, swine flu, bird flu, and the defamation cases of celebrities. While at the same time things as Russia creating alliances with other countries trying to turn the world currency back into natural minerals and how that would affect the American economy. See things like that should be broadcasted because it will allow the American people time to prepare for how the economy will shift when that happens. We will have another Great Depression on our hands because the American currency currently is based on the Federal Reserve notes rather than gold per ounce how it used to be. With cell phones becoming the number one source of media these days, social media and websites like tik tok, Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat, Wikipedia and YouTube are starting to be the number one trending sources for current events. There’s a saying that if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything, and it seems like the American people are falling for anything. Now many would argue that if you wanted to know what was going on in the world you would research it and seek the info for yourself. Although that may be true, not everyone has the resources or even the time to research what is happening in the world, especially if they don’t know where to start.
At one point in the dystopian text, it stated that “he was required by law to wear it at all times” (Vonnegut, 1961) that sounds like a form of enslavement if you ask me. What type of equality would limit you to make you feel like you are equivalent to others; would demean you in any shape way or form to make you feel equal to others? At one point in 2021, we were being forced to get vaccinated or lose our jobs for a virus that we were quarantined for, for about a year, and during the time of the quarantine a vaccine came out that was not properly tested or backed by the CDC or FDA. There were many side effects of the vaccine which then regulated that you needed boosters and as time went on the virus kept mutating which meant that you had to get more boosters. Now granted COVID-19 or coronavirus has been out for a long time and I first heard about it in 2019. I was living out here in Washington state and a lot of people were having flu-like symptoms but we’re testing negative for the flu. Then at the beginning of 2020 when it came out with the title of this virus was at how hard it was hitting China when America decided to diagnose these people with flu-like symptoms with COVID-19. The virus was created in a lab many years ago by a scientist who was working on bat SARS however the mainstream media didn’t want to cover that part. We are so brainwashed and accustomed to doing what others say that we don’t question their motives.
The children that were conceived and born during COVID and the quarantine all seem to be highly intelligent children beyond those of previous years. They seem to pick up on things a lot faster for example walking, talking, and their cognitive thoughts are arriving so much earlier than in previous generations. Now you may say this is a possible conspiracy theory, but they did announce that the vaccines alter our DNA because COVID alters our DNA. Are you questioning anything yet? There are people who would argue that the reason that kids are progressing so fast is because they have parents to teach them and watch over them now. That the mandated quarantine forced parents to be with their children. As much as parents complained about their children being home so often, they had no choice but to spend time with them, learn them, educate them, and grow with the children. Therefore teaching them more about feelings, first hand showing them these daily life and survival skills that they can’t get in a classroom, and providing all that a parent is supposed to provide for a child.
When Donald Trump was in office, he stated that they want to make a one-world government however due to his unpolitical approach a lot of people laughed at him (I’m not saying I am a Donald Trump supporter however looking back on things that he said would happen, have happened. Now tying back into the vaccines and COVID and the children being so much more advanced than previous generations before. Now we all are familiar with Roe VS. WADE and does it seem like the timing of all of this is a coincidence?
Congress tried to create a law where mothers are not able to have abortions and were forced to keep that baby and losing the baby would be punishable by the death sentence. That means that even if a woman was raped and was to give birth to a child due to that trauma, she would have to keep it as a constant reminder of what has happened to her and raise that child with love and care or face a death sentence for wanting that memory to be removed from her. Mothers could face jail time or even death for getting an abortion in some states for example Texas has passed the law that women can go to jail for getting an abortion. Congress recently overturned some laws where they were trying to remove the word mother and replace it with “birthing people.” Luckily there are still some rational empathetic people in Congress who chose to overthrow that, I could not see myself calling my mother my birthing person. Now Texas is not an all-bad place I actually had the privilege of going down to visit and I must say everything tasted different down there it was like it was all so much fresher.
Having food that was freshly slaughtered and cleaned within that day or the previous day tastes so much different than the things that we buy in grocery stores now. That made me wonder why. If all of the food is the same, why do they taste different? Many of our foods contain process contaminants and are also pumped with chemicals. Examples of process contaminants include “acrylamide, ethyl carbamate, furan, 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE), glycidyl esters (GE), nitrosamines, heterocyclic amines, 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)” (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Process contaminants in food 2022). They often say that the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer with our food being regulated as well we don’t get the necessary nutrients that we supposedly need to survive. Other countries have banned some of the chemicals we have in our food due to how unhealthy and what it does to our body however, our food and drug association don’t seem to mind. As long as they give us a cure for the diseases that they cause funny how it is the Food and Drug Association (FDA) and how they manage anything that goes into our bodies. Healthy foods are more expensive than unhealthy foods it is almost as if they want us to continue eating badly rather than allowing us to eat what we need to eat to be in optimal health. Water costs more than things that are made with water for example a bottle of water can range from $1.00 to $6 depending on the brand however, a bottle of soda that is highly acidic for the body can range from $1 to $3 see it doesn’t cost very much to kill us slowly. Many states have banned the collection of rainwater because they claim that the water from the sky is no longer pure and clean therefore forcing us to have to purchase water. The water in our pipes are pumped with other chemicals like fluorine and don’t forget the rest particles from the pipes because we all know that brass and copper rust. I believe that is called a chemical reaction and chemical reactions only occur when certain “CHEMICALS REACT” to one another.
Just like with chemical reactions it seems like we the people are a chemical and so is the government because just like in Harrison Bergeron if they feel that you are too smart or you’re not handicapped enough you are a threat. Is it a coincidence that anyone who tries to make a change ends up dying? I’m going to list a few people who tried to make a change but then you tell me what they all have in common. Are you ready?
Alfredo Bowman ( Doctor in natural herbal medicine who discovered a herbal cure for many diseases based on foods to eat)
Nipsey Hussle (A Los Angeles gang member who brought and taught knowledge, wealth, and mainstreamed Dr. Sebi’s work)
Martin Luther King JR (A freedom marcher and revolutionist who sought for peace and equality for all individuals alike)
John F. Kennedy (President who wanted an open and honest government and to be totally transparent with the American people)
Harrison Bergeron (An outlaw whose handicaps were too great, could not be controlled and, who was feared for wanting to overthrow the government)
Yes, all of these men were killed, and all were assassinated except for Alfredo Bowman. They claim that he died of natural causes (Pneumonia). The world has always been a power struggle and there is always someone wanting that control. Which is the reason we have wars, to gain that power and control, for example, Hitler. However, history repeats itself and it seems like we are in the dark ages again. Living in a reality that is fiction but we are so accustomed to it that we perceive it all as reality, but is it all normal? “it was then that the Bergeson’s television burned out”
References
vonnegut, K. (1961). Harrison Bergeron. Retrieved August 4, 2022, from http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
Supreme court, us. (2017, April 16). Roe v. Wade – case summary and case brief. Legal Dictionary. Retrieved August 9, 2022, from https://legaldictionary.net/roe-v-wade/
University, H. (2021, May 11). The Future of Media Project. Harvard University. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/futureofmedia
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U. S. (2022, February 25). Process contaminants in food. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://www.fda.gov/food/chemical-contaminants-food/process-contaminants-food
Divine time 