I've just been reading Dhalgren (not finished yet) and thinking how very 70s it is. The fact that society is going to the dogs is shown by
1) black men having sex with white teenage girls
2) people having wild unsafe threesomes
3) not washing
4) lots of dope smoking
4) worst of all, people peeing in the sink

(Of course, there are other things like corpses not being removed, property and jobs not existing etc, but those are universal, I would think, not only in this book).

I don' know, I think it says more about society then than it says about an apocalyptic world drifting into a rule-less void.

So I was wondering what things would in a story today symbolise this sense of society collapsing towards rule- and pointlessness in the face of some apocalyptic end.

Any takers?

Right ow I'm imagining dehydrated corpses of people jacked into their WoW game, but that doesn't sound quite right.

Random Acts of Senseless Violence, by Jack Womack pretty much covers it.

New president every week, always due to assassination.
Constant, sustained rioting.
11 year olds with automatic weapons.
Fire and smoke, always.
Public utilities aren't public.
Etc.

I was thinking maybe also the immigration gone bad. Immigrant ghettos going up in flames.

How d'you mean public utilities not being public?

And I feel fine.

quote:

Originally posted by Babylon the Bride:
How d'you mean public utilities not being public?

Privatised.

Oh! I was thinking of port-a-potties...

Well, I don't know if the world would end if there wheren't any more wild unsafe interracial threesomes. But as far as I am concerned, it may just as well.

Where do I sign up for the wild unsafe interracial threesomes? Is there a sheet or do I just show up with lube?

Lube's provided.

Bring a half dozen Lebanese cucumbers, a catering-size tub of cranberry sauce and a coupla German shepherds - one dog, and one Deutschlander who raises sheep.

Because you'll need him. To, you know, look after the sheep.

What's wrong with peeing in the sink???

In our current apocalypse, the poor people are grossly obese and the rich people are anorexic. Which brings to mind Wall-e which has some good indicators. I think plastic will also figure greatly. Plastic, made of petrol, impossible to repair, drifts of it everywhere, plastic carrier bags like tumbleweed in urban deserts. Oh yeah, Wall-e again. I give up.

No TV. No internets. No cell coverage. No phones. No radio.

I'd start there.

No sanitation\garbage pick up.

The lights go out. The AC goes off. No gas at the pumps.

Collapse\absence of any kind of central authority.

Zombies.

DeLillo like vague threats of vague things.
Maybe there was a dirty nuke set off. You don't have a rad counter. How do you know?
Maybe there is a recombinant designer virus out there. How do you know?

Also, Zombies.


For "the world of today" I think the thing that's different is our constant ability to, even if we don't want it, access information all the time about anything, sometimes it's even shoved down our throats.

So, when that information is cut off...that's the end of (this) world.

And Zombies. (because our collective freaktastic fears come to life, when life becomes a movie, that's also the end of the world, plus Zombies are freakin' awesome!)

quote:

Originally posted by symmetry:
In our current apocalypse, the poor people are grossly obese and the rich people are anorexic. Which brings to mind Wall-e which has some good indicators. I think plastic will also figure greatly. Plastic, made of petrol, impossible to repair, drifts of it everywhere, plastic carrier bags like tumbleweed in urban deserts. Oh yeah, Wall-e again. I give up.

I find the idea of rich people starving themselves to death positively ironic. But, yeah Wall-e had a pretty damn good message. For a Disney movie.
Ever heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

quote:

Originally posted by symmetry:
What's wrong with peeing in the sink???

They kick you out of the hardware store.

quote:

In our current apocalypse, the poor people are grossly obese and the rich people are anorexic.

What's that joke? A homeless man is standing next to a trophy wife in New York.

The homeless man turns to the woman and asks, "Please ma'am, could you spare some change? I haven't eaten in three days."

The woman says, "God, I wish I had your self-control."

quote:

Originally posted by jbx:


And Zombies. (because our collective freaktastic fears come to life, when life becomes a movie, that's also the end of the world, plus Zombies are freakin' awesome!)

You just wanna see zombies.

And I like what you said about the unavailability of information ending society as it is now. I think it would feel a bit like losing one of my senses, not having all that at my fingertips.

quote:

Originally posted by Babylon the Bride:

quote:

Originally posted by jbx:


And Zombies. (because our collective freaktastic fears come to life, when life becomes a movie, that's also the end of the world, plus Zombies are freakin' awesome!)

You just wanna see zombies.

And I like what you said about the unavailability of information ending society as it is now. I think it would feel a bit like losing one of my senses, not having all that at my fingertips.

Yes, well, uh...yes, yes I would.
They are about the only guilt free post-apocalyptic create you can shoot these days! Even radioactive mutants from the atomic waste lands have feelings.

A gal I mentor wrote this on her Myspace page:

quote:

I wish I had the ability to turn zombie attacks on and off. I'd wake up in the morning to screaming, climb out my apartment window and run around in a hectic hell until I decided I was ready to go to school. Everything would return to normal, the fresh dead alive and the old dead returned to the ground with no one remembering a thing but me.

I love her.

quote:

Originally posted by Babylon the Bride:
Right now I'm imagining dehydrated corpses of people jacking off to their WoW game

the death of social interaction.

quote:

Originally posted by symewtry:
What's wrong with peeing in the sink???

has picture of symmetry peeing in sink pop into head. hmm. thats novel.

i predict insect apocalypse.
food and water shortage.
and knife fights.

Yeah, communication cutoff would be key. The basic lack of electricity would wreak havoc on everything from water and food distribution and storage, and let alone the net, the lack of phone systems would bring us back to dark ages. And what's terrifying is the likely possibility of such events.
On a less pedestrian scale, an engineered mass epidemic or cataclysmic computer attack (EMPs killing every system, viruses wiping out every record and database) would stir up nasty upheavals. Frenzied mobs can cause high losses very quickly. No zombies needed : )

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Push:

quote:

Originally posted by symewtry:
What's wrong with peeing in the sink???

has picture of symmetry peeing in sink pop into head. hmm. thats novel.

I believe to have seen a least a couple films where this is shown as common practice on those cheap, no-ensuite european hotel rooms...

quote:

Originally posted by fuldog:

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Push:

quote:

Originally posted by symewtry:
What's wrong with peeing in the sink???

has picture of symmetry peeing in sink pop into head. hmm. thats novel.

I believe to have seen a least a couple films where this is shown as common practice on those cheap, no-ensuite european hotel rooms...

*I* wasn't going to go down the hall to pee in the middle of the night...