The Two Gates

[montieg]

For those of us who can remember the 50’s and early 60’s, there are certain icons of arts and literature. The recent remaking of the 1962 classic, The Manchurian Candidate is but one example. There are others: Catch-22 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest come to mind. Two of those icons by an exquisitely brilliant mind inside the head of a guy named Eugene Burdick added terms to our common lexicon—Fail-Safe (book and Peter Sellers movie) and The Ugly American. But the one I want to speak about is another of Burdick’s lesser known works. I read this one as a freshman in college and was awed by its political analysis. I never forgot it and it changed the way I looked at politics in a profound way. I thought of it repeatedly in the intervening years, but after many relocations and long-distance moves I lost the book—but I carried it inside. Then along came the neo-cons and the Bush Administration and their ‘orange alerts’. The theories of Burdick’s protagonist, Mike Freesmith, came roaring back and I had to go on the net and get the book again—and was lucky enough to find a first edition in excellent condition.

Reading the title, one expects something about the sea, maybe even surfing—The Ninth Wave. You don’t expect political analysis—much less at a level near the inspired. It’s not a weighty tome. It doesn’t appear pretentious. In fact, if you read the first couple of chapters you might think it a love story involving surfing. Major underestimation!
Burdick wrote this when totalitarian states were topmost in everyone’s minds. Hitler’s Reich had just been defeated and the Soviets ruled the Eastern Bloc. It was generally accepted at the time that Burdick was writing about dictatorship. It fit. His concept was simple: dictators sit “on top of the situation; opening the spill-gates of fear one day and hate the next.” (page 90) They let fear—in the form of the secret police or the army-- run out into the people till things near the boiling point, then they close the fear gate and open the hate gate by giving the people some object on which to vent the built-up pressure of fear. “And they stand together and shiver and think he’s the greatest guy in the world and love him.”

Frightening, is it not? Go on the net and get it and be afraid—be very afraid.

[villager]

1. Wow! No one knows about "The Ninth Wave" anymore...

I read my parents' copy when I was a kid, back in the 60's. At my dad's recommendation, I think (I also read their copy of "Manchurian Candidate" around the same time).

Definitely shaped how I saw the world -- or at least, those passing themselves off as "leaders..."

[montieg]

4. Go get it and read it again with the BFEE in mind

Like the man says, "If you ain't paranoid, you ain't payin attention."

[Beam Me Up]

2. Your topic title didn't catch the attention it deserves.

So I'm going to give this a kick. I haven't read the book you are recommending, THE NINTH WAVE, but it sounds interesting.

One of the things I've learned from hanging out here at DU is that the subject line of a thread DOES make a difference in terms of how many people look at it. Although "The Two Gates" teases, one doesn't know toward what. It isn't till I get to the second paragraph that I begin to find out what "The Two Gates" are.

I hope you understand I'm not trying to be critical -- its just my observation that if you want people to pay attention to your thread, you have to 'market' it a bit. Cheesy, I know, but it does work. Replying to someone's post on your thread so it gets kicked back up a few times also helps. :hi:

WELCOME TO DU!

BMU

[montieg]

3. I'm VERY new to this

(as you can see by my number of posts) and I really appreciate your comments. I write mostly for myself but I am scared sh**less of this bunch of bastards and I thought I'd see what some others think of Burdick--one of the most underrated of America's political authors. Thanks again

[newsguyatl]

5. good post

i'd heard about this before, and had forgotten about it...

any ideas where we might get it?

[montieg]

7. You can probably get it at amazon

but I like Alibris better. Got a first edition in excellent condition for $3 = shipping. www.alibris.com

[Beam Me Up]

9. You're welcome and again, welcome to DU

Join the fray!! :) It's a wild and woolly place sometimes but I like it here.

[left is right]

6. OK, I'm confused

Your posting is title the "Two Gates" but you are talking about the "Ninth Wave". How can I find this important bood if I don't know what to look for? I have read most of the others and would like to read the book you are describing.

[montieg]

8. "Two gates"

is the theory of the protagonist, Mike Freesmith. The book is "The Ninth Wave" by Eugene Burdick. Get it at alibiris