Francis Berger
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Recalling The Tripods Trilogy and "Capping"

4/23/2019

8 Comments

 
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​On the train ride home from work today, my thoughts drifted over John Christopher’s The Tripods Trilogy, a young-adult science fiction series I had read when I was ten years old. It was perhaps the first science fiction series I ever read as a child, and I remember the story captivated me. Though it has been nearly forty years since I read it, I recall the novels were engrossing and well-written, with great characters and a plot my high school librarian would have referred to as a “real crackerjack of a story.”

The three books compromising the trilogy – The White Mountains (1967), The City of Gold and Lead (1967), The Pool of Fire (1968) - tell a post-apocalyptic tale in which humans have been enslaved by enormous three-legged walking machines referred to as Tripods piloted by aliens known only as the Masters. In the books, human civilization has reverted back to pre-industrial levels with most people living pastoral lifestyles in small villages. What little industry does exist is meticulously controlled by the ubiquitous presence of the Tripods, which stride over the landscape keeping close watch over everything humans do. Though some artefacts and remnants from the twentieth century still exist, such as watches, humans have essentially lost all memory of their former technologies and are often befuddled when they encounter ruins of high voltage electrical transformers and the like.

Despite being omnipresent in the landscape, the Tripods are not the primary means of control the Masters exert. The real population control happens with the metallic mesh-like skullcaps the Masters affix to each and every fourteen-year-old human in a ritualistic ceremony known as capping. The implants kill all curiosity and creativity, and the Masters render the human populace docile through what essentially amounts to mind control. Once a person is capped, he or she never questions anything or raises any doubts against the status quo.

The essential plot of the story revolves around three young teenagers who escape their homes before their respective capping ceremonies and eventually encounter fake-capped individuals and a secretive world beyond the Masters' control. These uncapped kids eventually join the resistance and fight to defeat the Masters and free humanity.
 
I don’t know what started me thinking about this sci-fi series I had read as a child, but my recollection of the capping ceremony and the thought control the alien masters implement in the novels struck me as an eerie analogy of our modern world. Modern people wear no cranial implants today, but they largely act exactly like the hypnotized majority in John Christopher’s Tripod novels. When I look out at the world I encounter the same utter lack of curiosity and creativity; the same moribund and apathetic acceptance of anything and everything our contemporary masters force upon us. Unlike the hapless individuals in the Tripod novels, modern people are not physically forced into surrendering their individuality and thinking – they give it away.

Freely. Gladly. Gratefully.

If he had not written them in the 1960s, I wonder if John Christopher would write the novels today. If he did, I wonder what, if anything, he would change. One thing that springs to mind is the capping ceremony itself. In the original novels, the newer version of the cap is fused onto the scalp, presumably because the device’s proximity to the brain is crucial for effective mind control.

I surmise John Christopher would have to reimagine this concept if he wrote the novels today. To begin with, capping modern peoples’ skulls would not put the device anywhere near their brains. As everyone knows, the brains of most contemporary people are located firmly in the gluteus maximus.

Thus, any mind control device in that region would probably function best if it were some cylindrical gadget, one that could be lubricated and rectally inserted.

Instead of capping, the contemporary initiation ritual would be referred to as corking, probing, or plugging. In certain American inner-city environments, the phrase “pop a cap in your ass” would take on a deeper and far more significant meaning.

Mind control aside, the procedure would have other visible side effects, the most obvious being a rather rigid, forced, and chronic penguin-like walk. But on the plus side, watching people waddle around Times Square at rush hour would be frightfully amusing. Furthermore, flatulence would be practically eliminated the world over.

And since everyone would be docile and happy, no human being in the world would ever accuse his fellow of having a “bug up his ass.” It would be a silly question to ask in the first place. The only possible answer would be, “Of course I do! And so do you!”
 
And I better stop there. I believe I have made my point. No need to wade farther into the Vulgar Swamp.

To return to the Tripods Trilogy for a moment – I no longer have my original copies, but I will certainly order the series for my son when he is old enough to read it and enjoy it. If you have never read this wonderful sci-fi trilogy, I highly recommend it. In fact, I am going to make a point of rereading it myself. I might just order the books sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, if this post has any other take-home message, it’s this – don’t allow yourself to get capped, on the skull or anywhere else. And if you feel you may have already been capped, don’t be afraid to remove the cap yourself.

Removing your cap in John Christopher’s novels meant either depression or instant death; removing your cap in the real world might just be your only chance at possible happiness and everlasting life.  
8 Comments
Bruce Charlton
4/24/2019 08:39:16

Sounds interesting. But nobody predicted both sides of our actual condition. To some extent the population is being mind controlled to be docile - but the other side is that our current Masters are often stirring up the population; dividing and promoting hatred between men and women, and races; encouraging protests, riots and other forms of disobedience; promoting terrorism etc.

To have a docile slave population was indeed the aim of many historical invaders (plausibly including invaders from outer space); but our modern (Global Establishment) leaders have much more sinister objectives of a spiritual nature - they want us to reject salvation and embrace damnation.

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Francis Berger
4/24/2019 09:46:55

@Bruce Charlton - Yes, that's true. Promoting hatred and encouraging protests within populations certainly are part of the contemporary agenda.

It isn't all about keeping people pacified and complacent. Stirring up hatred distracts people, shifts their focus, and helps fulfill the sinister spiritual objectives you mention.

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Neil Welton
7/26/2019 18:30:24

I first came across this series of books when I was aged twelve in the mid-1980s and, as you can imagine, I can only remember being fascinated by this idea that when you reach the age of fourteen you too must be capped. That this must happen to all boys when they reach their fourteenth birthdays before they begin to think and reason for themselves. Indeed the Masters consider capping boys at the age of thirteen and even at twelve to be sure of it, but decide against this as a child's skull is not yet fully developed. Capping Day therefore becomes this mandatory annual coming-of-age "rite of passage" which each and every fourteen-year-old child must take part in. The head of every son and daughter is shaved and they are all then assembled together to be capped, with each child being proudly presented by their parents as a new future slave for the Tripods. As I child I could not understand why parents would do this. Until I realised each and every parent had also been enslaved when they had reached the age of fourteen. After being presented before the Tripod, the teenager is then lifted up inside the capsule so that a cap of metal wiring can be successfully enmeshed and deeply embedded into the brain. Interestingly before the child is capped he will question it. "Why? I do not see why it has to happen. I would sooner stay as I am." Indeed what teenager has not said to himself: "I will not believe in what adults believe in. I will rip up the rules of society. I will never conform like them." Therefore as the child is taken to be capped he must also be gently reassured and encouraged by the adults. "You can’t understand now, but you will understand after it happens. I can’t describe it. You won't be hurt. As a person I'm happy now." Indeed when the children return to their parents, it becomes clear they are no longer children but are like adults. Another generation of slaves programmed and educated to serve, obey and even worship the current social, economic and political order. Their Masters. Sound familiar. I certainly recommend that parents today encourage their children to read these subversive books. Particularly boys around the age of twelve or thirteen.

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Francis Berger
7/27/2019 06:14:39

I appreciate the insightful and detailed comment, Neil. I agree. The Tripods Trilogy is a must read for boys around twelve or thirteen. I am going to do everything I can to encourage my own son to read it when he reaches that age.

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Neil Welton link
7/28/2019 14:18:43

Thank you for your reply Francis. I'm pleased to see that you are going to encourage your son to learn about the Tripods when he is old enough. I can only speak from my experience but it is just very special and magical to read the books when you're aged about twelve or thirteen. Especially if you are a boy. Just think you could even have the honour of presenting your son to the Tripods on his twelfth birthday. If you click on my name on this post, he could even see a video which will show him he has nothing to be afraid of at all. Nothing to fear.

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Francis Berger
7/28/2019 19:10:15

Yes, the books certainly engrossed me when I was that age, and I am sure my son will find them engrossing as well. I clicked on the link you provided, but I am afraid nothing came up. Perhaps you could try linking it again? Thanks.

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Neil Welton link
7/29/2019 00:42:44

Try clicking on my name in this post. It's amazing to think that forty years after you were engrossed in these books your son will do the same. At about the same age as you once did.

Reply
Richard P
12/11/2021 03:38:12

I remember these books quite vividly too, after all these decades. They were powerful and troubling. There is a scene where, as I recall, a boy has to decide whether to kill his alien master.

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