"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he does not exist"- Kizer Sosa
A dystopia is a nightmare society. It is the opposite of a utopia, which is similar to paradise. Such societies appear in many works of fiction, particularly in stories set in a speculative future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. There are several methods for creating a dystopia or nightmare society.
The Matrix, Brave New World,The Terminator and 1984 are a few dystopian stories. In 1984 fear, poverty and oppression are used by the government to manipulate the masses beliefs, the pain route. In Brave New world on the other hand entertainment and fun are used to distract the masses from caring about anything relevant, the pleasure route.
In the past few Parshot the Jews have faced both forms of manipulation. At the end of Parshat Balak carrying over in to this week's Parsha Pinchas we see Billam advise Balak to attack the Jews using the pleasure route, not thru resistance but acceptance can the Jews be destroyed. Balak uses non-Jewish women to lure the Jews in to sining, causing them to die in a plague essentially destroying themselves.
When the nations of the world welcome the Jews and want to marry us, that is a danger to Jewish survival. Thank God America today is a great country to be Jewish in, however Jewish survival faces its greatest challenge, assimilation and acceptance threaten the Jews very existence.
Pinchas saw the route Balak was trying to take and that is why he acted so quickly when he publicly executed a leader. When it is clear you are in a struggle you will not give in an inch, when Amalak attacked the Jews or the Spanish tried to forcibly convert the Jews during the inquisition, the enemy was clear and the Jewish people fought against it.
However when the enemy uses the pleasure route, (not intentionally in America ) this is the greatest challenge to Jewish survival. America today contains a different type of challenge to Jewish survival then was faced only 75 years ago. Its no longer about fighting for your life, it is about who you choose for a wife. Awareness of the struggle is half the battle.
