• reddig33@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This was festering long before the Internet. Where do you think Margaret Atwood got the idea of the Handmaids Tale from?

    • mynachmadarch@kbin.social
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      2 months ago

      It’s complicated, but some would argue the modern Internet started in 1986 (with the adoption of DNS and TCP/IP for the NFSNET), a full year after Handmaid’s Tale was published even.

      But yeah, Atwood stated she took inspiration from religious movements in the 1980s to oppress women, the Islamic revolution in Iran in the 1970s and it’s effect on women, and the pushback in late 1940s against women working after the war ended.

      All of this prexisted the Internet by a long shot.

      • almar_quigley@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        That is a technicality. Nothing was being shared at the breadth needed to influence large portions of the population back in the 80’s.

        • GiuseppeAndTheYeti@midwest.social
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          2 months ago

          I was born in the back half of the 90’s and can confidently say that you’re wrong. Sharing information existed long before the Internet and cell phones.

          • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 months ago

            That’s not what he said though, he said it wasn’t shared to the same quantity, which is easily demonstrated by looking at total internet traffic stats as well as % of households with a connection and the type and speed of that connection over the past 30 years.

    • jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      It started with Jerry Falwell standing to lose money from desegregation. Here is an article / short podcast from NPR that lays most of it on the table.There is more to the story, but I was unable to find a good source in the short time I was willing to search.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Phyllis Schlafly started all this back when Jerry Falwell was still fumbling around.

        • jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org
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          2 months ago

          Yeah, that’s part of it, but I’m not willing to post stuff in this kind of context without a ready source.