Dune

[heyjt]

I'm not sure if this really fits in with the Hancock/drug forum, so here goes;<br> Frank Herberts "Dune" was a masterpiece. And I know that the movie didn't do the book justice, but what about tying all these themes up in one post:<br> Please forgive me for not spelling his characters correctly, but there were witches, the "Benegeseret"- and there was "spice". As I understand it, spice is way beyound DMT. And it was the most desireable commodity in the known universe.<br> I don't mean to turn this into a movie (book) review page, but these are re-occuring themes in our lives -or fantasies.<br> Here we have:<br>a. A mystical empire where female witches have high status<br>b. Gothic empirial infighting<br>c. Mind altering and empowering drugs<br>d. Cryptozoological Worm worship<br> --and some kind of manifest destiny.<br> It's got it all: witches, power drugs, monsters...<br> Really, it's not so different now, is it? <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

Lots of synchronicities in Herbert's "Dune." <br><br>Arrakis = Iraq<br>Spice = Oil<br>Colonialists vs. Insurgents<br>Desert warfare<br><br>There are many, many more, but it's late. <p></p><i></i>

[dragon feathers Jack]

yeah, so many similarities -<br><br>The Fat Baron with his plugs in our hearts<br><br>how only the good ones are telepathicly capable........oh no, wait, that one doesn't fit at all does it <p></p><i></i>

[chillin]

He was an amazing writer. The Whipping Star <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.sffworld.com/book/1144.html">www.sffworld.com/book/1144.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> is probably my favorite story of his that features multi-dimensional beings interacting with humans. It also features a partly-depraved aristocrasy somewhat like Dune.<br><br>In it, humans that wish to directly communicate face-to-face with these entities usually need to take 'Angeret' (which reminds me alot of coffee) or they risk becoming mentally unravelled as a side-effect of the communication. Again, just like real life!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :p --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":p"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Et in Arcadia ego]

Absolute genius writer, and was definately not blind to How Things Work..<br><br>While we're making associations here, one that has stood out for some years is Beast Rabban's Hegelian-style orders From Vladamir Harkonnen to 'squeeze' the Arakkis people, and then when they were at near bursting from the oppression, send in pretty boy Feyd-Rautha, the actual worse of the two brothers, to assume the <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>REAL</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Dictatorship..<br><br>Herbert understood the huge potential for abuse a charismatic leader possesses over a mass in 'bullhorn' moments.<br><br>I liken this to a certain man in office today..It may or may not not be his literal brother, but if Bizzaro World follows it's current flow without some form of intervention, the next President's gonna seem to be Sweet as Pie..And deadly in a way that makes today's issues a comedy, cause this one now is just the Demolition Man setting us up for Captain SweetCheeks..That's how I see it, at least. Maybe even UN 'intervention' will come in this term, and we'll see him in <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>that</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> role..<br><br>Itchy tasty..<br><br>Regarding the Bene Gesserit, over a period of generations they seeded religious idealogies and abstract prophecy into social fabrics that were later exploited by covert Gesserit members posing as natives.<br><br>Brilliant stuff. Nothing equals the first book in the series, but the rest are excellent as well, and his other writings are equally great. <p></p><i></i>

[jingofever]

They aren't actually syncronicities. From what I understand, CHOAM (the spice guild in Dune) was directly inspired by OPEC. The Fremen are arabs as can be seen with their quasi-islamic religion. <p></p><i></i>

[anotherdrew]

<!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:large;"><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear... And when it is gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear is gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br>In book 3 or 4 we find that 3 or 4 thousand years from now (when dune takes place) there are still jews wandering the cosmos, probably, and presented as such, being the only group of humans left who remember their beginnings on a lonely, long lost blue planet, Earth.<br><br>I would say though, stop at book 3 or 4, it's basicly done there.<br><br>quotes from frank:<br>“Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”<br><br>“When politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them”<br><br>“We accept too damned many things on the explanations of people who could have good reasons for lying”<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>“Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us?”</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>“Understanding requires words. Some things cannot be reduced to words. There are things that can only be experienced wordlessly... The act of saying that things exist that cannot be described in words shakes a universe where words are supreme.”<br><br>“Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know”<br><br>“A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation”<br><br>“The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria”<br><br>“When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.”<br><br>“Justice belongs to those who claim it, but let the claimant beware lest he create new injustice by his claim and thus set the bloody pendulum of revenge into its inexorable motion” <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=anotherdrew>anotherdrew</A> at: 12/22/05 12:18 am<br></i>