(Conspiracy Nation, 5/31/04) -- 451 degrees fahrenheit is the temperature
at which paper burns. It is also the title of a novel by Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit
451.
Bradbury's novel was written fifty years ago. It is a science fiction
novel. Typically, science fiction prognosticates a possible future.
An intriguing aspect of what Bradbury predicted fifty years ago is covered
by local newspaper editor John Foreman. ("Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' a little
too familiar for comfort," Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, 5/30/04.)
Foreman had re-read Bradbury's book recently, as part of a local library
project, "C-U Reading," which encourages residents to read and discuss various
books. Foreman was startled to find a few paragraphs in the book which were
eerily prescient.
Most readers remember that Fahrenheit 451 deals with a government
that declares books illegal and burns them. However what has been largely
forgotten about Fahrenheit 451 is how the predicted ban on reading
came to be. Foreman notices that in Fahrenheit 451, the people have
no interest in reading. Instead, they are enthralled by "sports and entertainment."
Fifty years ago, Bradbury foresaw a society "populated by people who walk
about wearing earbuds that bombard them with nonstop electronic racket. They
watch television programs from screens that cover entire walls of their homes
and surround them with sound. The TV characters are reality..."
Foreman further notes how the government in Fahrenheit 451 is quite
happy to discover its citizens addicted to a-muse-ments ("to muse" is to
think; "to a-muse" is not to think.) "Bradbury's government finds this all
quite convenient; it can do as it pleases while the citizenry is otherwise
amused."
In "Ominous Signs" (5/26/04, www.shout.net/~bigred/Signs.htm), Conspiracy
Nation predicted that, come Memorial Day, half the people in your town
would suddenly disappear. This prediction of a Memorial Rapture seems indeed
to have occurred. At least here in Champaign, Illinois, headquarters of Conspiracy
Nation, the streets are empty and nothing is going on.
The idea of a "Rapture" is held by certain Christians. They believe that
God will suddenly "beam up" the righteous just before Armageddon, to save
them from suffering. "Beam me up," was the constant prayer of former congressman
Jim Trafficant. But an ongoing Rapture may already have begun, unnoticed
as such: to whit, the so-called "alien abduction" phenomena, where the "righteous"
are routinely "beamed up" for brief periods. Are these people being gradually
acclimatized for "The Big One," the biblical Day of Rapture?
"The Big One" is also the title of an under-noticed documentary by filmmaker
Michael Moore. In "The Big One," Moore proposed that the name "United States"
sounded too wimpy. Moore noticed the macho-sounding name, "Great Britain."
For America to be perceived as being more awesome, Moore suggested changing
the name from "United States" to "The Big One."
Under the subject of fahrenheits, besides Fahrenheit 451 there
is also Moore's latest film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." Coincident in time with Disney
Corporation's release of its hold on the film, George W. Bush fell off his
bicycle in Texas. Also coincident was Attorney General Ashcroft's astoundingly
sudden warning that America was soon going to be hit "hard" by "terrorists."
But rather than presume conspiracy in the usual sense, might not a conspiracy
of planets have been involved? Some astrology web sites have added a general
horoscope feature, giving a daily horoscope not for a particular sign, but
an overall forecast. What planetary configuration caused Disney to unleash
"Fahrenheit 9/11," Bush to fall off his bicycle, and Ashcroft to unload a
"hit hard" warning all roughly at the same time?
(Today's planetary conspiracy: "Red Alert. This Memorial Day in the USA
could turn into a real shocker around the horn. The Moon entering passionate
and willful Scorpio (12:09AM PDT) serves as a volatile emotional backdrop.
Four planetary alignments kick up a psychic dust storm throughout humanity
and you may be sent reeling into a tailspin." astrology.yahoo.com) Somebody
call the Hopi Elders.
One last tidbit: In Moore's "psychic dust storm" movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11,"
Attorney General Ashcroft reportedly performs a song he composed, "Let the
Eagle Soar." There is a possibility that Ashcroft will earn songwriting royalties.
("Bowling for Fahrenheit," by Roger Ebert) Who knows? "Let the Eagle Soar"
might even be a hit. Unless, that is, America is "hit hard" prior to release
of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and we don't get to see the movie.
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Conspiracy Nation. Think outside the box.
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html