Time Warp! (Or “A Warped Time.”)

By Kersasp D. Shekhdar

Below is a set of properties identifying a particular country at a particular point in time. What is the country and what is the time?

1. This country is still feeling both humiliation and resentment over an outright defeat suffered thirty years ago in a vicious and hard-fought war which it itself initiated without cause. (Prior to actual onset of hostilities, this country had already infiltrated considerable numbers of military men and spies in the attacked nation; it was meant to be a quasi-Imperial outpost; these agents were preventing the people of that nation from gaining their freedom.)

2. This country is purposefully carrying out the largest militarization in world history, and has been doing so for the past several years. Its military expenditures dwarf those of other countries.

3. This country has been, and is, stockpiling huge quantities of poison gas, chemical weapons, and biological weapons.

4. After a very closely contested election, the leader of this country does not win the leadership post outright. Instead, after haggling and dickering, the final word is had by an extra-electoral governmental entity. It awards the would-be leader the highest governmental post of the country.

5. The media of this country are no longer independent news organs but are shills and “whores” for the government and the powerful, and yellow journalism is becoming more and more frequent.

6. The media and the government have inculcated into the unsophisticated masses a stupid type of disdain for free-thinkers, intellectuals, and those highly educated in the liberal arts; these groups increasingly are reviled by the masses.

7. Peculiar and warped chemical and biological experiments are conducted by State agencies in secret on prison inmates, POWs, and mental patients.

8. An officially supported, apparent campaign of thought-control is underway as the government and its media channels barrage the public with slogans, doublespeak, misinformation and propaganda terms. It goes undetected by the vast majority of the people; for the most part the campaign succeeds.

9. The same year that this country’s ruler comes to power, an atrocity is committed upon a national symbol that causes it to burn. This act inflames the populace. Blame is quickly and undoubtedly placed on a specific group of people. However, a well-informed and intelligent minority find the official explanations hopelessly inadequate and unsound.

10. Cynically using the terrible act on the national symbol as a pretext, the ruling elite have rammed certain laws through the legislative body under cover of whipped-up hysteria. Those who had asked pointed questions when the laws were introduced are intimidated by being branded “unpatriotic” or “enemies of the state.” These laws “enable” the government to assume extreme authoritarian powers, eliminate civil liberties and contravene the (written) constitution, inter alia; thus the illegal and unconstitutional is provided a facade of legality.

11. A loose corps of jingo thugs, encouraged by agents of the government, harass and tattle upon free-thinkers and dissidents who express disagreement with those in power. The government also encourages informants to report any supposed suspicious activity on the part of their fellow-citizens to the government.

12. Initially, there is a silencing of dissenting voices; they are branded with a few different undesirable labels and are ostracized; this lets loose a slow-burning vague fear across the land; thus, those who lacked courage to begin with have become too frightened to express any political disaffection whatsoever.

13. Later, detention and internment (on trumped-up charges) simply for demonstrating opposition to the agenda and actions of the regime in power and even presumed guilt-by-association gradually become more common. Even after several hundred citizens and residents have secretly been detained, this anti-democratic phenomenon is ignored by the controlled mass-media.

14. A monopoly on State power is a hidden agenda which is gradually becoming not-so-hidden, and this is being carried out by a particular, well-organized group (in one or more government, financial, and/or industrial sectors).

15. The demonization of an ethnic group is underway in this country. It is subtly encouraged by the government and its media cohorts. A considerable number of members of this group emigrate from the country.

..............

28. Cunning psychological manipulation (by the government and its media agents) cause the people of this country a vague sense of feeling “put upon”; there appears to be a reactive borderline paranoia and an unhealthy, virulent breed of nationalism simmering across this country. These feed upon each other in a vicious cycle.

29. In an election that stuns interested watchers world-wide, the people of this country re-elect the ruler. This time, a greater number and a greater percentage of voters ostensibly vote for him, and this time he is directly elected to the top governmental post without the intercession of any third party.

30. A few of the above properties give one the impression of creeping Fascism.

31. A few of the above properties give one the impression of creeping Totalitarianism.

32. Most governments and nations, though discomfited, go about their usual business and pursue the policy of appeasement. However a few prescient and courageous governments are loudly protesting the whole thing.

What is the country and what is the time? No extra points for coming up with more than one correct answer. . . .