Mandated Report

Seemingly radical on the surface, and at its heart scathing, righteous and powerful, Mandated Report, volume I is a probing and insightful expos of exactly what is wrong with America. Beneath a facade of equality ("liberty and justice for all") and opportunity ("The American Dream") lies an underbelly of greed steeped in centuries of racism, elitism, and corruption. In America you only get as much justice as you can buy: equality in all its forms, be they social, economic, cultural, judicial, or racial, is only for those with the right amount of money and the right color skin. But such iniquitous subjugation comes at a great cost - for treating others as less than human has a dehumanizing effect on the self. Ultimately, Shodai argues, America the empire will crumble because it lacks anything at all resembling a clear or cohesive social conscience. And our fall from grace isn't just unavoidable - it's as imminent as it will be absolute, because we are either too (willfully) ignorant, too self-involved, or too self-narcotized to see it. And yet another layer deeper, beneath the righteous indignation and profound historical-political-psycho-social-cultural analysis, lies the faintest glimmer of hope. But first we must ask ourselves: "do we have the type of government we want?" - for Shodai affirms that we already have the type of government we deserve. Some readers may disagree, and many will no doubt be offended, but none can deny the power or significance of this unique and awesome work. - James Alexander Overton V, BS Stanford University, Senior Systems Engineer