I notice a newsstand located on the other side of the avenue from the large movie theater. I didn’t see any of these stands in either Alpha or Beta. Prominently displayed on the racks of the stand are tabloids that shout out about scandals, illicit affairs, the presence of aliens from other planets (and from other Earthly nations) and the fascinating (and offensively portrayed) lives of people who are declared “freaks of nature”. Nothing on these back streets and avenues provides relief from the shouting that occurred in the Gamma park. This land is truly a dystopia. I don’t think there was ever much in the way of collective utopian thought in Gamma (since no one could possibly agree about what an ideal society might actually look like).
Learning about Gamma
I find myself wanting to be alone and suspect that most of the other folks in this land would similarly declare: “leave me alone!” The glue is definitely absent in this land and I’m not sure there is any glue to be found or manufactured. I feel unsafe – yet I don’t think anyone will actually do me harm. There is too much chaos for anyone to notice me and decide that I either have something to offer them or that they have sufficient reason to attack me. All that any of the Gamma residents can do is scream at one another and ensure that no one is truly in charge of anything.
When no authority can be trusted and all institutions are corrupt, then nothing is trustworthy—and everything is corrupt. It is all a matter of expedience and who can shoat the loudest or purchase the biggest bull horn (or media empire). As in the late 1960s of America (after the demoralization and disillusionment of the hippy era and the emergence of post-Viet Nam trauma) there was nothing much to form a foundation of shared belief. And there was very little hope.
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