The Handmaid's Tale

Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5093832.stm

If you've ever read Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' then you'll be aware of the bit in the book where they meet the tourists on the street.

Essentially the story is of an awful regime running the country doing awful things to the people (I'll not spoil the entire story). One of the most disturbing bits for me was the way that tourists came to visit and even speak to the people living in such awful conditions as abit of a novelty. All the while the people living in constant fear are wondering why no foreign power is coming to help them; the tourists act as a symbol that the outside world is not getting ready to help – far from it in fact.

Now if you read that article from the BBC you may be chilled just as much as I was. I'm not having a go at the pros and cons of tourism; it saddens me that the world is not right.

The BBC describes it as an Orwellian state, with teashops…that really freaks me out.

: 20 Jun 2006 11:34 |  Comments (2) |  Report a problem