Unmarked vans, kidnappings, media control, hit lists written by the government— sound familiar?

It should. It’s essentially the setting of the required IB English and dystopian literature reading, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel taking place in a warped American society.

However, this novel is looking less dystopian and more prophetic as the Trump administration sinks its teeth deeper into the America we know and love.

Take, for example, both governments’ crackdown on dissent. In Gilead, the fictional land in which The Handmaid’s Tale takes place, speaking against the regime is illegal. In today’s America, criticism of the government or its allies—particularly regarding U.S. foreign policy—can lead to serious consequences, from professional blacklisting to threats of deportation.

A Columbia professor recently shared an Instagram story by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, which depicted Elon Musk’s X platform morphing into a swastika. Bear in mind, this story was posted on a personal account, from their personal residence, on their personal time.

However, within those brief 24 hours that the Instagram story was live, someone reported this occurrence to the university, and within three months, the professor’s name and picture popped onto one of the lists of supposedly antisemitic faculty members, a case of government-driven blacklisting.

There was nothing even remotely antisemitic about the professor’s behavior or the Instagram story. Additionally, the professor, like so many accused of antisemitic behavior, is Jewish.

Consequences are far more dire than just being placed on a ‘list’, however. According to Reuters, Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk (as of May 15, Ozturk is no longer in detainment) now face the threat of forced deportation.

The accusation is of antisemitic behaviors, but investigation suggests this consequence is for expressing discontent at the governments’ funding of Israel. Muhammed Khalil for protesting such beliefs, and Rumeysa Ozturk for co-authoring an opinion piece in her school’s newspaper.

And the crackdown isn’t limited to individuals. The Trump administration has revoked funding to elite American universities (NYT) unless they produce “progress reports” proving they are protecting Jewish students. In reality, these efforts target institutions perceived as “too woke” for allowing visible criticism of U.S. policy.

This media control and filtration affects everyone, adults and Mid-Pacific students alike.
Because the Trump administration is defunding higher education that they consider to be “too woke”, faculty’s research opportunities to pursue new knowledge and understanding are cut off (AP News). It’s not just woke students Trump is going after however; science research has also taken a drastic hit to funding.

This means that the education of half of Mid-Pacific’s population heading off to college this or next year will decline in quality. A hindrance in the pursuit of higher knowledge, like shutting off a faculty member’s ability to continue research, will obstruct a betterment of education.

“We know institutions as the places where students can freely protest and express their opinions. With the new restrictions on education, I’m worried students won’t be able to have the experience of what college is supposed to be. Formulating opinions, having important dialogue with classes who may not have the same viewpoints as me,” senior Gigi Kiyabu said.

The monitoring of education, the filtration of information received by the general public; it’s not just concerning, it’s downright terrifying.

“The road to tyranny is a very slippery one, and it goes very gradually. We need to be conscious of what’s going on, because we can see small changes and just say ‘it’s fine, it’s just one change’, until it’s too late. Until there’s a secret police, until neighbors turn on neighbors,” senior Shay McElroy said.

This is scarily similar to the ‘Eyes’ Margret Atwood warns us of in The Handmaid’s Tale, referring to the secret police who keep tabs on the general public. Residents found dangerous to society for speaking too freely are pulled off the street and kidnapped in unmarked vans. After all, Trump has threatened to deport citizens if they’re considered “bad enough”, according to Time.

Even if immigrants, students, and others are not getting snatched off the street and thrown into vans like Ozturk (CNN) on a regular basis, the possibility of it happening is enough to keep many of us from expressing the free speech we as Americans pride ourselves on.

What’s supposed to set America apart from fictional dystopias is our unwavering belief in democracy. This country was fought for by our founding fathers to create a country for the people, by the people.

And for quite a while, we did our best to uphold this belief. We entered World War II to protect democracy from the evil Nazis and started the Korean war to defend South Korea from the perceived threat of communism.

But democracy is a state ruled by the people, not by a leader who punishes those for using their voice to speak out for what they believe is right, or who smothers education and critical thinking.

So what about you? Are you pro-America, or pro-Gilead?