It was joever a long time ago but now even the blind can see it. 😔

curious question: why do people tend to use this meme or show as if it portrays some form of documented history? i mean to say that i understand all the things atwood wrote about have happened but this image is, clearly, a simulacrum.

it gets the point across, sure, so maybe that’s why. but there are real examples to use, too, that i think people should be aware of.

i dunno. just rambling.

Oh, now our begins? Sending the army into politically opposed cities to kidnap people off the street and send them to another country wasn't the start? Inciting an insurrection to overturn a legitimate election wasn't the start? I wonder where the new start will be next month...

Sorry for not being able to travel back in time to the election and tell my past self to make this meme then insted of now.

It began soooooooooo long ago tbh

It started with the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

It's because The Handmaid's Tale puts it all into an American context, which makes Americans more receptive to the potential future.

for sure. i just wonder how often it makes the jump from “drama on tv” to “oh wait this is based on a real event…” and then “lemme research that.”

a silly aside but thats how i found a lot of classic movies: the simpsons. bart of darkness being a take on “rear window” etc.

Margaret Atwood never really made anything up in The Handmaid's Tale. Just set it in a collapsed USA.

You don't know OP. Maybe he doesn't know history. Maybe he made a friend today who is a history buff and OP was curious why they're currently shitting a brick. Let's not assume the worst of OP, maybe they were born yesterday.

Well lift your game lad, you only need 1.21 jiggawatts, a lightning strike will do the trick.

because the map has become territory. we're culturally unbound from reality (or at least trying really, really hard to fake it that way) and we're paying ever higher prices to maintain these fictions.

everything she wrote did happen, but what's really, truly important, is that we recognize the aesthetic and use that as judgement, apparently.

as if it portrays some form of documented history

I don't think people are using it in this specific way.

The answer is, the handmaids tale is popular fiction of today. I know the books are decades old but the TV show is what people have "experienced". Additionally, most people's understanding of history is poor.

My education was reasonably good, but we only ever learned about Australian colonial history. I mean we did learn about First Australian's history prior to European arrival but only briefly because not much is known. We also learned quite a lot about the suffering of First Australian's during (and since) the settlement era.

My point is, we did not learn about fascist governments outside Australia.

That being the case this meme is immediately recognisable and carries meaning, while something historic might not.

Or some plutonium from the store.

I also dont know for sure. But most (american) state executions are not live streamed. Handmaidens tale was VERY popular here, and althought the story is old, most of us dont realize how many of those tactics have been a part of American culture for, iunno, about ever? Never minds rest of the world.

So using a pop show based on oppression, to meme about current oppresive practices... well it seems understandable to me at least. Dont get me wrong, id rather op was printing a 3d gun with dumps name on all 36 bullets...

Hot take: this is a good thing. The execution will happen no matter what. Let the modern world see how barbaric it is. Let people be shocked and demand change.

Right? Just look at what Mexico news shows, it's straight gore. If more people saw what really goes on out there it would wreck their minds.

You have too much faith in people. A lot will find the barbarousness underwhelming.

Or celebrate it.

It's one more pump on the ratchet jack towards dictatorship.

it began when Reagan was elected, it's been a bumpy ride and lots of shit stains on the side of the bowl on the way down but ... here it is.

https://aeon.co/essays/why-western-democracy-is-ailing-and-how-to-fix-it

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/quarter-century-of-aggressive-war-and-official-lying-since-911-attacks-by-timothy-snyder-2026-09

Apparently he's paralysed and in a wheelchair.

My actual feeling is that those who would celebrate a public execution would see someone getting shot to death and think the ordeal should have been much more spectacular.

Years ago I was an EMT student in the ER when someone came in with a nasty case of multiple gunshot wounds to the hands, arms, legs, chest and abdomen (shot in chest through hands in defensive posture, then shot repeatedly while on the ground including in the abdomen via thighs as they curled into a ball).
There's no explosion of gore or dramatic Hollywood effect. The people watching the execution will just see something similar to getting poked by a giant needle and then going limp.

They won't celebrate because they'll be disappointed there wasn't more.

He should demand a trial by combat

We're really going to publicly execute a fucking paraplegic

Unless they use hollow points and go for the head I guess. Would not be surprised.

The effectiveness of it really varies from one person to the next.

I'm the kind of person who finds it easier to understand a concept by relating it to fictional works

On the other hand, there are also people who simply refuse to understand that fiction can be reflective of reality. Not saying you're like that, I'm just saying some people are

And then there are people in between who understand that fiction reflects reality but still prefer real life examples to understand things

fair thoughts. thanks for the reply! i would rather learn from examples when it comes to actual stuff like this. history is great! fiction is too! i guess i’m just a documentary nerd. lol

GREAT SCOTT!

If people really saw executions as barbaric they would never have happened in the past.

People are not the same as they were hundreds of years ago. The human race is far less violent and far more full of empathy. Many people who support the death penalty are those who do not understand what it is and seeing it would shock them.