Hello America

J. G. Ballard's ability to conjure surrealistic imagery of abandoned landscapes juxtapositioned by pop culture icons is unsurpassed. 'Hello America' is a journey by dreamers and idealists into an abandoned America, where petroleum, coal and other forms of energy had ran out a hundred years ago. How very apt. Especially in these times wheb every society is held hostage through oil by rigid fundamentalist Islamic regimes in the form of Saudi Arabia and Iran. These theocratic states pander to modern society's addiction to oil and wield tremendous power. And at the same time, they have been havens for the current form of Islamic terror sweeping the world. Too bad, I see little evidence of a moderate Islamic counter movement towards Islamic extremism though I am aware of one.

In this imaginery abandoned America, American society had utterly collapsed through the lack of energy sources. Most of the population hads completed a form of reverse migration back to the Old World. And an environmental diaster had transformed the North American continent. The Eastern Seaboard and Mid-West had transformed into a desert wasteland while the West was threatened by constant storms.

And into this forbidden landscape saw an expedition consisting of a party of scientists with obsessions. These dreamers would be so intoxicated by their dreams that they had abandoned all pragmatism and good sense including fundamental ones such as survival and ventured into the heartlands of America. Embarking from a haunted New York landscape of skyscrapers half buried by the sands of an inhospitable landscape, the party journeyed through surrealistic scenes after another to Las Vegas, ultimately, confronting the self-declared President of the United States, Charles Manson. A meeting with destiny. And the imagery is simply precious. Androids of the past American presidents. Teenaged Mexican youths wielding automatic weapons. Animatons/Automatons of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and more. Titan ICBMs. Mysterious Earthquakes. Lost nomadic tribes of Americans each conforming to an ideal, The Gamblers, the Executives, the Bureaucrats. Tropical rainforests in Nevada. Robotic Helicopter gunships. Self-powered microlights. Environmental disasters.

Simply delightful.