Alas, Babylon is a 1959 novel by American writer Pat Frank. It was one of the first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age The novel deals with the effects of a nuclear war on the fictional small town of Fort Repose, Florida.The novel's title is derived from the Book of Revelation "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come." There is a character in the book who has contemplated building a nuclear bomb shelter, something very realistic during the Cold War, but hesitates, because even though he understands the consequences of being unprepared should the Atomic Bomb drop, he refuses to believe it might be inevitable. Once the first Atomic Bomb is dropped over Miami, and this character sees the mushroom cloud, he runs into the space in his basement, the place he was going to build the Shelter, and begins to get delirious from the the true fact that NOW it is too late to save himself.
At first he was a joke, but a joke that helped the news networks make lots of money by covering his every nonsensical action and reaction. He was a ratings giant, he could say the worst things about groups of people, be laughed at, but never confronted for his bigotry. Then one by one he insulted, insinuated and infuriated the Clown Car of Republicans running for President (The group who shared the same Racism, Misogynistic, Homophobia and Xenophobia as him, but pretended their bigotry was more Christ like), and one by one appealing to the Republican base, he demolished the Clowns and the Clown Car. The media still delighted in his antics, they permitted him to hardly be challenged and presented a bunch of Republican talking heads who were drowning in their affection for him. If anything, he understood, that fear, loathing, and victimization of others was his trump card. He continued to be courted and cared for, until the pundents, politicians, and of course the media realized it was too late to stop him. He of course is Donald Trump.
The character in Alas Babylon, saw the writing on the wall, the world back in the day was dangerous, smart people were not in charge, angry, men took the reign of power promising a better world once the world was torn to shreds with an Atomic Bomb, but the character in Alas Babylon hesitated, denied and finally succumbed to his own ignorance. On Sunday, June 26, a White Supremacist Group held a rally in California, feeling buoyed by Donald Trumps’ rhetoric and the lack of rhetoric to stop hate from the majority of Republican elected officials, the American Nazi’s, the Neo-Nazi’s the KKK have begun to claim this nation as only THEIR country. The jets carrying the nuclear missiles have been set free, they are looming large over America, you have to wonder if there still is time to build that shelter?
