I'm seeing some "Octavia knew" stuff re: the fires, and tbh, that makes me uncomfortable. The fires in The Parable of the Sower were set by hordes of drug-addled pyromaniacs. Octavia Butler had a lot of important insights, but in this era of scapegoating, let's be careful about our comparisons. - ThreadSky

mskellymhayes.bsky.social • 85 days ago

I'm seeing some "Octavia knew" stuff re: the fires, and tbh, that makes me uncomfortable. The fires in The Parable of the Sower were set by hordes of drug-addled pyromaniacs. Octavia Butler had a lot of important insights, but in this era of scapegoating, let's be careful about our comparisons.

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votecnp.bsky.social•85 days ago

She knew how it would feel. She knew how the collapse would go.

Agreed as to the details... Even the "Make America Great Again" slogan from Parable of Talents is pretty chilling given what has occured. She thought it would be religious fascists instead of the greed heads, but still pretty close🤷‍♀️

adizajg.bsky.social•85 days ago

She wasn’t wrong. Religious fascists are the working behind the scenes on a lot of the elements of the collapse we see. Have been for years.

reggiejay.bsky.social•85 days ago

It is EXACTLY Christofascists. Using religion to mask their greed. They are agents of the devil and EVIL.

dr-fran-phd.bsky.social•85 days ago

I’m also recalling from Parable of the Talents (sorry, I don’t have the book in front of me) some musings from Lauren’s daughter on how her mother was being raised on a pedestal, and made into a prophet, and how Lauren maybe liked that a little too much. I don’t think Octavia would like it.

fluxandflow.bsky.social•85 days ago

PGE's infrastructure is a known cause of wildfires in northern California. It seems likely that that local analogue's power lines ( https://www.ladwp.com/ ) might not have been ready for that kind of wind

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/12/1092259419/california-wildfires-pacific-gas-electric-55-million

possiblykim123.bsky.social•85 days ago

For someone with Zero context of what this post means, should I be concerned?

slightreturn.bsky.social•85 days ago

No, we should all more properly be concerned about the FACT that fires are burning out of control in a major US city and many other places around the globe. Not so much whether Ms Butler or the Simpsons accurately predicted them.

evanssd.bsky.social•85 days ago

Oil companies = hordes of drug-addled pyromaniacs

evanssd.bsky.social•85 days ago

($$ is the drug)

mskellymhayes.bsky.social•85 days ago

The characterization of the arsonists in that book is not something we should project across our society. It does not align with the vilification of the rich. It could, however, be warped into a vilification of unhoused people and people who use substances, which is what the fascists want.

larougeabeille.bsky.social•85 days ago

Something missing from this conversation is that the « paints » were all rich kids who turned their backs on their lives, and focused their pyromania on the slightly less poor. Those who still had homes.

I often ponder what Butler was saying there.

larougeabeille.bsky.social•85 days ago

Because it could be interpreted as a metaphor for privileged young tankies.

This is not my judgement of the above mentioned, but the parallels are there, especially in Lauren’s musings about them.

perditainexile.bsky.social•85 days ago

I mean, really, if you want to get things wrong about the fires, go over and do it on Facebook since there's no fact checking. Make sure you say they were started by Zuckerberg using a flame thrower attached to several dead kittens that he personally harmed. It's your free speech right, after all.

jenicalake.bsky.social•84 days ago

Money addled Wonderful Company made the #LAfires possible. It's the wealthiest among us, not the poorest that have cause these man-made disasters Octavia foresaw.

mskellymhayes.bsky.social•85 days ago

If you want to make one-to-one comparisons between her work and real-world phenomena, it's really easy to do so accurately.

mskellymhayes.bsky.social•85 days ago

Some folks are pointing out that there arson investigations happening. We SHOULD NOT rush to assume anything on that front, but even if there were incidents of arson, I promise you that they are nothing like the arsons in Parable of the Sower. If you think otherwise, you haven't read it.

mskellymhayes.bsky.social•85 days ago

Some folks are saying that "drug-addled pyromaniacs" sounds like a fair description of rich people. First, let's not demonize people who use substances. There's enough of that. Secondly, the "pyro" addicts in Parable of the Sower are not a metaphor for rich people. Period. Read the book, please.

jacquelyngill.bsky.social•85 days ago

I keep alternating between being glad so many people are finally reading her and grossed out by the magical tropes and weird takes.

jacquelyngill.bsky.social•85 days ago

There's also so much clout-chasing going on right now! I've really appreciated you, @blackgirlinmaine.bsky.social, and @prisonculture.bsky.social reminding us that how we respond is who we are, and sometimes not posting is an okay thing to do, too.

cyneheard.bsky.social•85 days ago

*Checks the slogan of Parable of the Talents’ President*

Huh. Never heard “Make America Great Again” before.

Wait, we memory-holed the fascist Presidency after we defeated him? No. Never….

dspizza.bsky.social•85 days ago

Good point. I think what they may be referring to is the collapse of norms that led to the enclaves. From what I remember the book begins after the climate takes a turn for the worse. I wish she wrote a prequel to the parable before she passed.

janellematz.bsky.social•85 days ago

While Parable of the Sower was prescient in many ways, I feel Ministry for the Future depicts the LA fires more accurately. Interestingly both books were recent selections for NPR’s SciFriday book club.

terrychristiani.bsky.social•85 days ago

Dry, hot conditions with the added problem of sustained, dry winds is a perfect recipe for static spark ignition. I grew up there. It's more likely failed PG&E infrastructure or some combination of natural and manmade elements with a tragic outcome.

bookiewookie1.bsky.social•85 days ago

http://blog-on-books.blogspot.com/2025/01/unraveling-genius-my-love-and-one-gripe.html

kaurifish.bsky.social•85 days ago

I, too, try to head off the uncomfortable feeling that the rape camps are probably already extant somewhere.

minal.bsky.social•85 days ago

https://www.fd.org/news/bureau-prisons-close-california-federal-rape-club-womens-prison

sparrow70.bsky.social•85 days ago

They're called man camps. It's what happens when oil companies work on or near native lands. That's where Native American women disappear.

docshrew.bsky.social•85 days ago

Fantastic novel. One of my all time favorites. ... and is been a banner year for acorns

lynnrunningdeer.bsky.social•84 days ago

I still say that we find out later that it was several drumpfanzees. I don't remember where I read it a while back that several of their malitia were gonna target electric substations. Seems like a few of them were caught before hand.

todbrilliant.bsky.social•85 days ago

Thank you for a rare slice of sanity. I’m also told by my neighborhood group that Palisades was set by Chilean criminals to create a distraction for organized looting. WTF.

nicholasbirns.bsky.social•85 days ago

Thank you for making this point, and I agree those posts were too facile. I briefly met Octavia Butler once by the way.

commiedharma.bsky.social•84 days ago

if people want to understand the fires in Los Angeles, read Mike Davis instead of fiction. https://longreads.com/2018/12/04/the-case-for-letting-malibu-burn/a

steve-shrewsbury.bsky.social•85 days ago

Agreed. Just finished reading Parable of the Sower. It does in some ways seem prescient - but we’ve known since 1959 that global warming would lead to these sorts of issues. The fossil fuel industry tried to hide the data and these potential scenarios from us, but many could see this would happen.

lemon-curd.bsky.social•85 days ago

Especially as Tom Clancy proved remarkably prescient with many of his Jack Ryan books!

tlhariette.bsky.social•85 days ago

Excellent point! At the same time, MAGA-esque beliefs could be compared to a psychotropic-drug-induced psychotic behavior, given the way they conduct themselves. They've consumed the Kool-Aid, and are staring at the pretty flames of our nation burning like it's better than sex.

tlhariette.bsky.social•85 days ago

And I write this because, as I watched the Sentencing that occurred this morning, I looked at the comments, and there were countless about "giving California to Canada" and how "On the 20th, Trump should help New York last!"

hollyphantpants.bsky.social•85 days ago

I think people were referring to her predictions of climate change fueling religious fascism.

reggiejay.bsky.social•85 days ago

You’re right. The OP is fixated and refuses to shut up and allow other interpretations.

mskellymhayes.bsky.social•85 days ago

Nope, I’ve seen very specific references to her predicting the fires.

pitbullallie.bsky.social•85 days ago

Yeah, who could predict fires in California?

mayhemmayhap.bsky.social•84 days ago

It's good not to turn
science fiction into
prophecy. Kind of defeats
the point of NOT being
superstitious, right?

pushkin11.bsky.social•85 days ago

TBH, seeing as people are suspecting arson, the leap to drug-addicted pyros isn't too far.

bluntzkrieg420.bsky.social•85 days ago

For wildfires I always think of a scene in Nature's End. It's a little long to post on bsky (10 pages or so) but uh, really makes me want to never be in a wildfire

jordanwritessmut.bsky.social•85 days ago

I'm more worried about Christian Nationalists than hordes of drug-addled pyromaniacs.

tintinosint.bsky.social•85 days ago

I mean there IS an investigation into arson and many fires in Canada were set by a Quebecois (probably drug addled) pyromaniac. So no the comparisons are actually getting better ? Anyone who is blaming "the homeless" is incapable of reading Clifford the Big Red Dog so no need to worry

teannetulip.bsky.social•85 days ago

Im happy y’all are reading her work🙌🏾

minnow1.bsky.social•85 days ago

Just started parable of the sower. I’m hooked.

martinstone.bsky.social•85 days ago

Let's leave the goats out of it, please!

auntiejamie.bsky.social•85 days ago

If memory serves, the real insight Butler had about the drug-fueled pyromaniacs was that the entire drug crisis was manufactured. That some pharmaceutical companies had pushed the drug so hard that people began abusing it (similar to the opioid crisis in Appalachia).

waifudepot.bsky.social•85 days ago

But, it's more important to finger wag about "punching down" than to possibly hold the rich elite ultimately responsible, accountable

midnightvoss.bsky.social•84 days ago

Also the fires are a bigger problem than the should be because the fire departments are privatized and climate change has made water a scarcer resource.

drakenescio.bsky.social•85 days ago

One of things I've learned by writing is that scifi/fantasy people are scary about turning the present into the future.

You don't have to be 100% right, and you still live with the nightmares of being anywhere north of 0% right.

hikindude.bsky.social•85 days ago

Excellent point. Although Ms. Butler had disturbing insight into current times and our pending future, the origin of the fires in LA are nothing like those described in The Parable of the Sower.

theurv.com•85 days ago

Also I feel like while there is a lot of sexual violence today there was a very specific amount of violence associated with going out anytime, whereas modern society is more stochastic. The idea of walking up the coast and needing guns to do so isn’t where we’re at (yet?)

reggiejay.bsky.social•85 days ago

Trump has tried to appoint rapists and pedophiles to nearly every cabinet position and to SCOTUS. Are people really this dense?

theurv.com•85 days ago

Have you read the book?

stacey4595.bsky.social•84 days ago

Good luck with the drought issues affecting the Panama Canal when u take that over too. Unfortunately , u missed a big point, the earth does not belong you or the Cheeto posse , it was created by God for u, and u destroyed it, now he wants his deposit! Enjoy the hail, earthquakes , fires , plagues,

judeet44.bsky.social•85 days ago

Does it reflect people's desperation for a seer? A visionary? Someone who can foretell the future? I think there's a bit of that in there.

reggiejay.bsky.social•85 days ago

Her “abilities” didn’t help them - they were still victims of violence, rape, murder, forced labor…all in the name of “Christian” reeducation. It’s a mirror.

judeet44.bsky.social•85 days ago

I've not read any of the books yet and was merely commenting on the post above mine.

brenard9.bsky.social•85 days ago

Given the election outcome, Biden not being considered favorably is no surprise and can be interpreted to mean in the light of history he will be regarded as a great president.

reggiejay.bsky.social•85 days ago

He will be seen as the President who sat on his ass and did NOTHING for four years to stop the domestic terrorists and Putin agents from destroying our democracy. He is an abject FAILURE as a human being.

brenard9.bsky.social•85 days ago

I hold a different point of view.

reggiejay.bsky.social•82 days ago

Tell me you’re a white male without telling me. The people who Biden blithely threw under the bus by not acting and standing on his “principles” (which he quickly discarded when it came to protecting HIS SON) do not and will never see him as anything but a FAILURE and a FRAUD.

lexical-lushes.bsky.social•84 days ago

i think he's mostly going to be remembered for REALLY wanting israel to commit a genocide. happily ignoring his own "red lines" about American citizens being bombed to do it, even.

brenard9.bsky.social•84 days ago

Yes, these are worrisome.

amyathene.bsky.social•85 days ago

Parable of the Sower is feeling uncomfortably close to home at the moment, regardless.

mskellymhayes.bsky.social•85 days ago

Absolutely agree.

troubledtimes.bsky.social•85 days ago

I would not even repeat that crap with out a conviction or an announcement It’s not the time for judgment

monawys.bsky.social•83 days ago

i personally won’t object to having a black woman being paid some sort of tribute for once. the hyperbole cult often chooses less deserving objects

brazenhussy.bsky.social•85 days ago

Someone from BlueSky referred to the employees searching and banning bots as bladerunners and I was like "Maybe don't."

vicjim.bsky.social•85 days ago

It’s the hurricane winds people!

Humans couldn’t stop destruction from hurricanes in Florida anymore than they can stop hurricane winds moving fire so fast it destroys all in its path🥲😳

keithpatton.bsky.social•85 days ago

Had this thought earlier. If I remember correctly the book depicted climate change with soil erosion and drought conditions.

reggiejay.bsky.social•85 days ago

Yes it did.

squiref.bsky.social•85 days ago

Science fiction writers in general tend toward the prophetic.

snackney.bsky.social•84 days ago

Honestly I think they just write about the current day with vaguely futuristic details and then nothing changes and it feels like they were predicting the future while the truth is that the future just looks exactly like the past with more robots.

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