Glenn Beck says warnings from dystopian novels such as “Brave New World” and George Orwell’s work have become easier to recognize in everyday life — though, he argues, many people have missed the shift.
Speaking with author and former Navy SEAL Jack Carr, Beck suggested that society has taken on elements of both works without fully noticing. Carr replied that readers may be more likely to spot those patterns, since reading fiction and nonfiction can help people recognize manipulation and connect lessons from the past to current events.
Carr added that people in the United States are not always good at making those connections, particularly when they are surrounded by devices designed to capture their attention. The discussion then turned to his series “The Terminal List,” a thriller with themes that echo real events.
The story follows James Reece, a Navy SEAL commander whose team is led into an ambush arranged by government officials. The attack is intended to conceal alleged experiments that left members of the team with brain cancer. Reece survives and seeks retribution against those he believes are responsible.
Beck said the plot may resonate with Americans who have grown distrustful of major institutions. That level of suspicion, he warned, is dangerous: a country cannot function well when people have no confidence in its institutions.
He asked Carr whether the story’s premise was simply designed to connect with readers, or whether it drew on things the U.S. government had done to service members in the past. Carr said it did.
Carr pointed to the Church Committee hearings in the 1970s, which revealed cases in which the government had conducted drug experiments involving soldiers, people in mental institutions, university students and prisoners.
He said those revelations helped shape the idea behind the series. Carr also recalled receiving various injections during his military service, including anthrax shots, and wondered whether any might have been part of a test. Government agencies had conducted experiments before, he said, so the possibility informed his thinking.
