We are a storytelling species. Sometimes the stories we tell take place in the future. Those stories are really about the present. Our actual ability to accurately predict the future (no one predicts the past!) isn’t very good. Remember 2001 A Space Odyssey? Now that year is known for 9/11 and there is no Pan Am yet alone flights to the moon. We are approaching the time when Arnold will return back to the past to terminate us. So it goes.
But as it turns out, science fiction can be very good at telling stories about us without the science. I am always amazed about how well the stories of Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry work in our present decades after they were written, told, and filmed. Consider the current presidential election.
THE STOLEN ELECTION
Stargate (1994) and Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007) were a movie and TV series about intergalactic travel through a device called a Stargate. It was discovered about a century ago in Egypt and then transferred to Colorado (I don’t recall seeing how that happened.). By dialing this device, we created connections to destinations throughout the galaxy and could be whisked there in an instance.
Many adventures followed. There were aliens, war, and technology running the gamut from superbeings to the primitive. Fortunately everyone in the galaxy spoke American English without the need for a universal translation device and all computers were compatible.
But by far the most incredible thing of all was that the Stargate was kept secret. Here we have the most incredible device ever used by human beings and no one new about it. That is no one except for the hundreds of people who worked at the very secret military installation and the politicians who voted on the appropriations to fund the operations. It wasn’t the multiple saving-the-earth-from-doom scenarios that were the most fantastic part of the show; it was the idea that so many people could keep such a massive secret for so long.
How about stealing an election? What would it take in the real world to actually steal an election? How many people would be needed? How would you determine in advance exactly from where the votes should be stolen and how many you would need to steal? How would you fund the effort? For that matter, how exactly would you organize the theft?
The truth of the mater is, people are not good at keeping secrets. True we still don’t know why a President of the United States made an emergency visit to the hospital last year. One day we will. But a Deep State conspiracy to steal an election requires a great deal of planning to say nothing of secrecy.
That is why I think Joe Biden should issue the Steal the Election Challenge. He should challenge Trumpicans to show how they would steal the election. He should ask Trumpicans to present their ideas on how they would secretly steal votes in their own polling place, in their own municipality, in their own county, and in their own state. The winners in each category for devising the best way to steal the maximum number of votes in secrecy would be awarded a prize and be given vacation time in the soon to-be-empty Trump hotel in Washington, DC. Fox talk show hosts are not eligible to participate but, of course, they could advise their minions how to succeed.
Remember secrecy is the key. No one must know that you stole the votes. You can’t just run out the back door of a polling place, circle back to the front, change your shirt and cap, re-enter the polling place, and then vote again. Some intelligence is needed to devise a secret method. Each contestant has the option of stealing the election by adding illegal votes or removing legal votes. OK, Trumpicans, this is your moment to put your money where your mouth is and show America what you’ve got.
PARALLEL UNIVERSES
Parallel universes are a tried a true technique much beloved of science fiction writers. Both Stargate SG-1 and Star Trek partook of this device. Perhaps the most famous of the alternate universe shows is the beloved episode of “Pirate Spock” with a beard. Sometimes a show has only one alternate universe, sometimes there are an infinite number although not all can be shown at one time. Part of the fun of these episodes is in the writing. These alternate realities provide abundant opportunities to show slight differences that are of great fun for the viewers who are well-versed in the way the world is supposed to be. Sometimes even the world you think is the real world turns out to be the alternate one enabling a character to die in the real world and then be replaced by a counterpart from the alternate reality before that world is destroyed. As I said, parallel universes stories can be great fun when done well.
Unfortunately, in our world, alternate realities don’t work so well. Consider our present situation.
In the real world, our immature child president in the body of man and with the emotional maturity of a three-year old conned people into thinking he was a successful businessman who would fight for them even though they were disgusting to him and he didn’t care about them. After living his life as pond-scum slime and becoming the biggest individual financial loser in the history of the United States, he assumed an adult job and completely failed in his management of a viral epidemic that is now raging stronger than ever. Then We the People told this narcissist that playtime was over and it was time for an adult to take the position of President: MAKE AMERICAN ADULT AGAIN. Now the toddler would have to face the music in court case after court case, investigation after investigation, and have to answer the questions of Adam Schiff. It’s no wonder the immature child being told he can no longer play adult would have a hissy fit and threaten everyone around him.
Meanwhile, in the alternate reality, the Deep State stole the election from our Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. The Joe Biden family crime syndicate led by a senile demented person with one foot at death’s door and the rest of his body in a nursing home, masterminded the greatest fraud in American history. I think this makes the fourth or fifth greatest fraud and corruption in American history all of which have just occurred and have been exposed by Hannity. He is fighting for us and for America to keep us safe from anarchists and terrorists and the only way he could lose the election if it was rigged..
This two realities can not coexist. There is no come-let-us-reason-together possibility. Instead we are watching the birth a new “Lost Cause” myth that will reverberate in American history for years to come. Certainly until the 2024 election when THE LOSER runs from prison to regain what is rightfully his: recognition as the greatest president in American history. There still is no Howard Baker and watching all these wannabees who sold their soul so they would become the chosen one in 2024 is sad (Which Trump Will Run in 2024? [August 26, 2019]). They should think about 2028 instead.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
A Star Trek episode, The Squire of Gothos, predicted January 20, 2021 back in 1967. In that episode the adult alien squire figure really is an immature child in the body of an adult. Here are some lines from an earlier blog (May 24, 2019) that still resonate today.
1. Spock slaps the face of the immature child who has enormous power
Mr. Spock: I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline; I object to power without constructive purpose.
Trelane: Oh, Mr. Spock, you do have one saving grace after all: you’re ill-mannered [nasty cutie-pie]! The human half of you, no doubt?
2. The parents of the immature child who has enormous power return to restore order and take the child home.
Trelane’s Father: Trelane! Stop that nonsense at once!
3. Kirk classifies the immature child for the Starfleet record.
Mr. Spock: Captain.
Captain James T. Kirk: Mr. Spock. Still thinking about Trelane, is that it?
Mr. Spock: For the record, Captain, how do we describe him? Pure mentality? A force of intellect? Embodied energy? Super-being? He must be classified, sir.
Captain James T. Kirk: [thinks a moment] God of War, Mr. Spock.
Mr. Spock: Well, I hardly find that fitting.
Captain James T. Kirk: Then a small boy. And a very naughty one at that.
Mr. Spock: It WILL make a strange entry in the library banks.
Captain James T. Kirk: But then he was a very strange small boy.
Keep in mind that the description below from a Star Trek fan site was not written about our immature child president.
Exactly our present situation. Now the adults have shown up. It’s bedtime at Rikers for THE LOSER.
