Fight the System: A Revolution in Pop Culture

With the recent publicity of the Occupy Movement, and the notion of the 99% ;the movement or ideals of fighting the system have been renewed. Now people are opening their eyes to the possibility that they are being controlled by a much grander scheme than they ever thought possible. Is society controlled like a puppet?

I read most of these books when I was a teen, and present teens seem to have a renewed interest in this topic. The purpose of this lens is to share with you the reader a list of resources to compare our current society with certain science fictional ones from novels. Welcome to the dystopian World.

Learn to See the Warning Signs

1. 1984 - Written by George Orwell, and originally published in 1949 is about a future society that uses government surveillance, and mind control. This is the book that coined the term "Big Brother".

2. Brave New World - Written by Aldous Huxley, and published in 1932 portrays a future world that is controlled through pharmaceuticals and products. Those who do not follow the strict and "normal" society are considered savages. Other ideas such as population control and subliminal suggestion through advertisements are mentioned.

3. Dune - Not traditionally thought of as a government control type of novel, but if you have ever read this novel by Frank Herbert you will quickly see why I have included this in my list. Written in 1965 this novel portrays a universe ruled by an Emperor who uses schemes to manipulate and control the people. There are a whole series of these books.

4. The Hunger Games - A young adult novel written by Suzanne Collins portrays a post apocalyptic world ruled by "The Capital"(the 1%) where a young girl named Katniss decides to go against the system in their hunger games. This is the most recent of this type of book, and is a trilogy.

5. The Anarchist Cookbook- This book is a collection of different items such as ways to bring down businesses and ways to survive riots, etc. I figured I would add this just for the fun of it. I do not advise or support terrorism, and warn that some of the "recipes" included in this book are not suitable for children.

Set in a future where all the men (and all the creatures with a Y chromosome )are wiped out except a man and his monkey. This 10 volume collection follws Yorick on his misadventures to find the woman he loves while finding out the truth, and some things he would rather not know.

Did you know....

that a flag flown upside down is a sign of a nation in distress.

Made into a feature film, this set includes the graphic novel and a mask.