Monday, April 11, 2011

Barry Rubin: A Science Fiction Story That Predicted The Manner of Western Suicide

Barry Rubin's posts now appear on Pajamas Media:

This article was published on Rubin Reports at Pajamas Media. If you reprint please link to the article here. The text is provided below for your convenience.

By Barry Rubin

For years I've been trying to find a science fiction story I read a long, long time ago which describes the contemporary situation in Western civilization. And now, thanks to a helpful reader, I can tell you about it.


The story was written by the great Philip K. Dick, who has managed to become famous posthumously for his books made into action films—“Blade Runner,” “Total Recall,” “Minority Report”--without people understanding his genius. "War Game" was published in Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine’s December 1959 issue.

Now, tell me if you think Dick predicted his future, our present.

Here's the plot: The aliens on Ganymede want to invade and conquer the Earth. They have a clever plan for softening up the target. The main character, an Earth Customs Service investigator, is called in for an important assignment.

Ganymede, his superior tells him, wants to export three toys to earth. According to Earth Intelligence, one of them—they don’t know which--is a deadly weapon. But Earth people are crazy for Ganymede novelties so the political pressure is on to import anything that isn't threatening. The investigator's assignment is to discover which toy is the dangerous one.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His latest book is Israel: An Introduction, to be published by Yale University Press later this year. You can read more of Barry Rubin's posts at Rubin Reportsand now on his new blog, Rubin Reports, on Pajamas Media

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