CULTIVATING COMPASSION
and human trafficking. Crake, the evil genius who, via a bioengineered virus, brings out the near end of humanity, tells his best friend Jimmy, “Break the link in time between one generation and the next, and it’s game over forever.” And that’s what he does. Crake breaks the link, destroys a generation, and rewrites the rules for human civilization. He commits genocide. As is always the case, Atwood’s novels give us a warning; and, if we fail to heed it, her words seem to become prophe- cies fulfilled. This coming semester, I will teach the literature of resistance to a new tribe of students. We will read Octavia E. Butler’s 1998 novel The Parable of the Talents , a tale of an apocalypse that begins in 2015 – the Pox – a calamity brought about by “our own refusal to deal with the obvious problems” in “coinciding climactic, economic, and socio- logical crises.” In this novel, Butler’s narrator writes of a Christian na - tionalist presidential contender with marauding bands of murderers. He’s a narcissist who tells his increasingly violent and disenfranchised followers to join him: “Leave your past behind and become one of us! Help us to make America great again.” Science shows us the facts; literature shows us the possible futures when we disregard them. As educators and as global citizens, we should pay attention to both, particularly now. Laura Wright is the founder of the field of Vegan Studies. She is Professor of English at Western Carolina University, where she spe - cializes in postcolonial literature and theory, ecocriticism, and ani- mal studies. A compilation of her published works and talks is avail - able at https://wcu.academia.edu/lwrightemailwcueduWright. Laura can be reached at lwright@email.wcu.edu. Cam MacQueen is the creator and manager of the “Cultivating Compassion” column. She can be reached at ncm.advocacy@gmail. com.
Laura Wright (center, cat-eared hat) with friends at the 2017 Women’s March in NYC.
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