I have my college students read about, study and write about dystopias. In addition to requiring them to read the dystopia classics,  I supply them with. this information:

Dystopia Definition, Description, and Vocabulary

Dystopia: A frightening, nightmarish, dysfunctional, violent society set in the future, ruled by a ruthless, brutal, corrupt, totalitarian government of privileged rich elites,  who stress conformity and discourage and suppress accomplishment or competence by monitoring, technology, laws and other means of control.

• Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.
• Censorship of Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.
• A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.
• Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance.
• Citizens have a fear of the outside world and change.
• Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
• The natural world is banished and distrusted.
• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad.
• The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.
• HERE ARE SOME WAYS CITIZENS IN A DYSTOPIA ARE OPPRESSED:

1. Thought crime: This describes a person’s politically unorthodox thoughts, such as unspoken beliefs and doubts that contradict the official position or question the government’s laws.
2. Newspeak: a controlled language
2. Links to an external site. of simplified grammar and restricted vocabulary designed to limit the individual’s ability to think and articulate “subversive” concepts such as personal identity, self-expression, and free will. This type of society dictates what language is acceptable and politically correct. As has been the case in communist and socialist countries, any individuals who do not follow official or cultural guidelines are shamed, fined, or even arrested.
3. Face crime: Any facial expression that hints of one having an unacceptable, improper attitude that suggests the person has something to hide. Even a twitch, frown, sneer, smirk, rolling eyes, uttering to one’s self, laugh, or grin can give one away. “Your face gives you away.” CLICK HERE  to see an example of when Nick Sandmann with the Covington High School visiting Washington was so persecuted by the media: Fortunately, a lawsuit was filed, and media and individuals were taken to court and required to pay major damages.

4. Dystopian Elite: This rich privileged upper class, known as the Deep State, exempt themselves or fellow elitists from the same rules and controls they place on society.
5. Kleptocracy: Kleptocracy is a government whose corrupt leaders(kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.
6. globalism – Gobalism is the desire for a one-world market, a world without borders, and eventually will create a one-world government control that will lead to a loss of personal and national sovereignty, culture and identity and to homogenized culture.
7. NAZI – National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
8. Fascist – Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
9. HERE ARE TACTICS (AND FALLACIES) AND TERMS USED BY THE BUILDERS OF DYSTOPIAS: 
10. 1. Denial
    2. Dismissal – such as describing something as “misinformation.”
    3. Spin – give (a news story or other information) a particular interpretation, either a favorable or unfavorable one.
    4. Lies – Sometimes contradicting previous statements.
    5. Discrediting sources or making false claims about sources.
    6. Censorship – Example of Twitter and Facebook censorship of anything pro-Trump.
    7. Red herring – something, especially a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting:
    8. Poisoning the well – this is a smear tactic, with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing a person or idea. Usually, this is an attempt to avoid a direct or truthful answer
    9. Character assassination.
    10.  Fake news that uses digital manipulation of videos, texts, taking statements out of context, plagiarism, misuse or doctoring of photos, feeding misinformation and disinformation to the public.
    11. Political jargon – using lots of words to say nothing, using cliches, and the usual phrases and words.
    12. Trolling is defined as creating discord on the Internet [or in public] by starting quarrels or upsetting people by posting inflammatory or off-topic messages in an online community. Basically, a social media troll is someone who purposely says something controversial in order to get a rise out of other users (James Hanson). Trolls can be set off by [posts] hats, clothing, signs, or the presence of someone they resent. Trolls can shame or embarrass in a restaurant.
    13. DOXING searching for and publishing private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the internet, typically with malicious intent. Hackers and online vigilantes routinely dox both public and private figures.
    14. Voting fraud.
    15. Utopia – a perfect society.
    16. Definition of communism: A system where the government owns and controls everything. Private ownership of property is abolished or confiscated. The government seeks to build a classless society. Government, ruled by a communist committee and/or dictator can determine one’s work, where one lives, and where one can travel.

This is the outline I followed (more or less) for my presentation to the Sons of the American Revolution at the Picadilly Restaurant in Monroe, Louisiana on Friday, January 17, 2025.

Cajuns in the Revolutionary War

INTRO:

1. About me: I am a member of SCV. My ancestor: Samuel Pittman was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, serving in North Carolina, most notably participating in the Battle of Cowpens where he fought under General Daniel Morgan. My wife’s ancestor: Was a STEWART in the Revolutionary War. She is a member of the UDC.
2. Why Cajuns fought against the British in the Revolutionary War and with Andy Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans: When the French and Indian War (7 Years War) ended, the Acadians were expelled between 1755 and 1764 by the British. 14,100 Acadians, approximately 11,500 were deported, of whom 5,000 died of disease, starvation, or shipwrecks. Their confiscated land in Canada was given to settlers loyal to Britain; they did not realize they had created enemies with a long memory and a depth of deep anger.
3. The Acadians joined the French Creoles, Creoles of Color, Spanish, Germans, and others under General Genardo de Galvez (Gov. of Spanish Louisiana) in the American Revolution War to recapture Baton Rouge and the West Florida Parishes in 1779 and to attack the British at Mobile, Natchez, and Pensacola. Spain was an enemy of Britain, so the Acadians, who suffered more cruelly than the American colonists from the British, were happy to fight against them.
4. Armand Broussard was a Cajun in the conflict. His family had been forcibly removed from Acadia (now Nova Scotia) by the British, leaving him with a strong resentment towards British rule. In addition to participating in battles, due to their knowledge of Louisiana’s swamps and waterways, the Cajuns employed effective guerilla tactics, ambushing British patrols and disrupting supply lines. There is an Armand Broussard House in Lafayette (I believe it’s still in Vermilionville. Another interesting place is Acadian Village).
5. Galvez was officially recognized by George Washington for his aid during the American Revolution, which qualifies the descendants of those militiamen to become members of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) as Patriots.
6. There were Cajuns from other areas who fought the British. At the time of the Revolution, a group of Acadians from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia enlisted in the Continental Army and fought as patriots under the leadership of Colonel Jonathan Eddy who was originally from Massachusetts.
7. Strange as it may seem, however, this transfer of Louisiana from France to Spain in 1762 was a most fortunate development for the oppressed Acadians. France made little effort to relocate displaced Acadians and what attempts were made were dismal failures. The Spaniards, however, made it possible for the Acadians to settle in Louisiana, assisted them materially, and even managed to bring the thousands of stranded Acadians in France to Louisiana in seven expeditions. One of the first official acts of the Spanish governor of Louisiana was to take a census of Acadian militiamen.