Posted on 07/21/2013 5:41:57 PM PDT by HokieMom
Look at this description of Detroit from today’s Observer:
What isn’t dumped is stolen. Factories and homes have largely been stripped of anything of value, so thieves now target cars’ catalytic converters. Illiteracy runs at around 47%; half the adults in some areas are unemployed. In many neighbourhoods, the only sign of activity is a slow trudge to the liquor store.
Now have a look at the uncannily prophetic description of Starnesville, a Mid-Western town in Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Atlas Shrugged. Starnesville had been home to the great Twentieth Century Motor Company, but declined as a result of socialism:
A few houses still stood within the skeleton of what had once been an industrial town. Everything that could move, had moved away; but some human beings had remained. The empty structures were vertical rubble; they had been eaten, not by time, but by men: boards torn out at random, missing patches of roofs, holes left in gutted cellars. It looked as if blind hands had seized whatever fitted the need of the moment, with no concept of remaining in existence the next morning. The inhabited houses were scattered at random among the ruins; the smoke of their chimneys was the only movement visible in town. A shell of concrete, which had been a schoolhouse, stood on the outskirts; it looked like a skull, with the empty sockets of glassless windows, with a few strands of hair still clinging to it, in the shape of broken wires.
Beyond the town, on a distant hill, stood the factory of the Twentieth Century Motor Company. Its walls, roof lines and smokestacks looked trim, impregnable like a fortress. It would have seemed intact but for a silver water tank: the water tank was tipped sidewise.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
Atlas ping. An article from the always perspicacious Daniel Hannan.
I cannot tell you how much this both depresses and frightens me to see things like “1984” and “Atlas Shrugged” becoming reality in front of my eyes in my lifetime.
The only thing she missed was the copper wire thieves.
In the book, thieves actually steal parts of the road into Starnesville.
excellent post
The only reason for me to return to Detroit, the vibrant city where I grew up during the 1940s-50s is for funerals of friends and relatives. Here are some before/after images of my high school which is now only an empty field of weeds...
Mackenzie is where I took drivers training.
Agree. And enough people still don’t seem to be waking up. They just want more of the same.
Heartbreaking.
Haven’t been to Detroit in 5 years or so - even then when I flew in at night to visit a supplier the next morning it struck me that there were few if any lights in the downtown area, all the lights were in the suburbs.
Detroit is still on the cutting edge. Soon all the great American industrial cities controlled by corrupt “looter” politicians will follow Detroit into ruin and bankruptcy. It’s been said right here many times: “long ago Orwell and Rand warned us about 0bama’s America”.
A couple of weeks ago I took a drive down Grand River Avenue (in Detroit). Ayn Rand’s description fits exactly.
All the great nations have been destroyed by their leaders, kings and politicians. The people never have risen to destroy their own country(?) - can’t think of one.
Then too, the Bronx in NYC where Carter visited during his presidential bid and said something to the effect that we’ll clean this up or something.http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=destroyed+bronx&qpvt=destroyed+bronx&FORM=IGRE
This picture should go viral on the web!
Obama’s America! would be a great title.
Anyway, isn't the term "dystopia" getting a little overused? Never heard Atlas Shrugged referred to as a "dystopia" til now.
Will all the idiots who voted for this put the blame where it belongs?
Socialisms muscle has flexed in Detroit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.