by Mike Gray

Eric Rush, in a WorldNetDaily article, proposes the idea that what passes for government of the people is in reality “Government, Inc.,” as prefigured in the 1975 sci-fi film Rollerball:

Most dystopian yarns have their basis in sage insight, so it should be no surprise that 35 years later, aspects of this particular one are coming to fruition in a sobering manner.
To refresh (or elucidate, if you’ve never seen the film), in Rollerball, the world is governed by the Energy Corporation, a megalithic corporate government that employs and provides for the needs of everyone on the planet. The implication is that no one wants for anything, but there is a discrete hierarchy among its people.
Toward maintaining control of a bored and restless society, the Energy Corporation keeps its citizens occupied with a culture of egocentrism, sex, drugs and hero worship, the latter being via the brutal sport of rollerball.
The intriguing parallel I find here isn’t necessarily the ominous and oppressive corporate or collectivist nature of the society, something which most of us address when analogizing these near-future nightmare cult films.
Instead, the nature of the sinister ruling class itself gives pause …. their worldview is steeped in Marxism. They would rather live in a society in which ruthlessness prevails, rather than a merit-based one, because they possess no merit.

Read more of Eric Rush’s column here. Rollerball is available at Amazon.com.