A website commissioned an essay from me on the occasion of the release of my anthology A PEOPLE'S FUTURE OF THE UNITED STATES (co-edited w/ @victorlavalle). They rejected it for being "too political." So I'm going to tweet it here instead.
johnjosephadams.com/projects/peopl…
Many thanks for allowing me to consider your dystopian vision of America, “Make America Great Again,” but I’m afraid it’s just not for me.
Sincerely,
John Joseph Adams
Editor/Anthologist
Anger: "How could we elect this motherf—!"
Bargaining: "Surely he'll be impeached before he does too much damage…"
Depression: "How are we going to survive four years of this?"
Here's one larger point that I never hear anyone talking about that I refuse to Accept:
You'd think that.
If the vice president was not ensnared in these crimes (which is by no means guaranteed in this case), then the president is removed from office and the VP becomes President.
And does it seem so hard to imagine that this might encourage a party to try to duplicate such a scenario in the future?
All I can say to that is:
Fuck.
All.
That.
And so: Acceptance? No, sir. Fuck you very much, sir. I most vehemently do not accept any fucking bit of this, sir.
So, then, what do we DO about it?
I don't kid myself; a book like this one probably isn't going to change the world.
But maybe it'll change a mind.
And if that's all it does, I'll take it.
But maybe, just maybe it can help us find a new future to believe in.
END THREAD