I was born. Unbeknownst to me was all that was before me, and all that would be after; that’s why, my thought had always been such that reality starts with me. And shall I end, reality would as well.
Unfortunately, reality continued for many years to come, and I was currently on a trip overseas to Tokyo, Japan. For no particular reason, I just liked this place.
Having descended from the plane, I walked through the crowded streets near the airport. The smell of the relatively clear air on my nose, and the sound of the buzzing screens opaqued by the murmurs of people in my ears.
As I was walking, checking the condition of my luggage inside the backpack hanging from my torso—
‘Thud’
I accidentally bumped into someone. Or reversely, someone purposely bumped into me. It was a kid of white hair and a tidy appearance, seemingly around the age of fourteen. I turned back to see him, and he did so as well. The lifelessness in his pupils caught my interest, almost leading me to talk to him. Still, in the end, I just ignored it and kept walking. Then—
‘Thud’
A bald man fell on the street. Many people gathered trying to help him. It was strange though, he looked healthy, just like the airport’s secretary whom I’d also seen fall down this morning.
I didn’t think much of it and moved on. Being there wouldn’t make him more prone to survive, or to die, at that.
After a few minutes I arrived at a two-story house building, of a size of around 64m² per floor encompassing a kitchen and dining room on the first floor, and a bathroom and bedroom on the second. I entered and headed upstairs, left my belongings in the bedroom and started eating a premade bento box I grabbed on the way here. Observing the details of my new room, I caught a glimpse of the TV’s remote control and turned it on. A news outlet called ‘Isis News’, suddenly popped up in-screen.
— “A once-thought proven scientific theory, stating that the rate of expansion of the universe accelerates with time, has recently been proven false by Dr. Landon Hayes, who published the currently prevailing theory in his most recent paper altogether his apprentice, gaining a lot of support within the scientific community. Lately a lot has been changing in the world, hasn’t it? Many enthusiasts even say these discoveries are on par with the one relating to the Higgs Bos-…”
“‘Once-thought proven’…? Oh my, does intelligence pursue every single journalist in this world, but the poor guy hasn’t ever caught one.” I scoffed and switched channels. The screen flickered to ‘Foreknews’, where a heated debate was already in progress.
— “President Ethan’s policies are designed to lift up society’s most vulnerable.” argued a blond woman in a black jacket, seemingly defending Ethan Thorne’s policies as the head of the Democratic Party, which assumed power back again almost a year ago now, in November 2029 after Vince Sterling and the Republican’s massive campaign success.
Her opponent, a man with a tired expression, shot back.
— “Or they’re designed to label entire groups as ‘vulnerable’, to shield bad policy from criticism. It’s a classic strategy: find a victim, declare yourself their savior, and suddenly anyone who disagrees with you is an oppressor. Back in the industrial age”, the man continued, “their predecessors championed the ‘exploited worker’. Now, the focus has just shifted. But the game is the same. It’s a racket.”
I muted the TV, a grim smile on my face. It amused me. The man had a point, but he was only scratching the surface. Nowadays, public stances of critique towards left-winged politics, especially when it came down to the government of the United States, were scarce. Consequently, commendatory analyses were even rarer.
Such was the case even though the majority of the population seemed to privately favour anything else. I’d been observing and thinking about this paradoxical trend for years, eventually distilling the pathology down to three ugly pillars.
First, it was a grift. Under the masquerade of helping the ‘weak’, they could take resources from everyone and manage them at will. Their ideology always being only but the opposite of their counterpart’s, permanently taking advantage of those they claimed to be helping. Did those called ‘the weak’ notice this? Well, who in their right mind would question their deliberate position of privilege and deprive themselves from such?
Second, it was a cure for the boredom of the wealthy. When you’ve achieved everything you wanted, what’s left? You search for new interests in the hopes of filling up the emptiness left from the absence of a yearning. Ultimately, you play God. Having lived a life for oneself, philanthropy would be refreshing in many ways, making one feel moral. It wasn’t help given due to sympathy, just pity born from the deepest arrogance. A terrible form of egotism, like a pop star who claims to ‘love his fans’ but only really loves the climbing numbers.
Deep in thought, I looked back at the TV, the woman gesturing angrily to the man. Such led me to my third idea.
Finally, and perhaps most pathetically, some actually believed in this. The old saying was true: ‘Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.’. These were the actual weak ones, fed with a diamond spoon, who honestly thought their “success” to be pure luck and not the fruit of someone’s effort. So they extended a hand to assist the “less fortunate”, not realizing that real strength comes from facing challenges, not being perpetually rescued. That you don’t become ‘strong’ by being given a fish; you do it by learning how to use the damn rod.
It was all a trap set up for the inexperienced. Coincidentally, in this epoch, these ones also happened to be the ones most accustomed to technology: the ones who had a ‹voice›—even though usually a small one—in the world.
At this point, I unmuted the TV. Of course, only to discover that the remaining content was of none of my interest.
— “The United States, which was close to wholly recovering its former glory, is now once again second to other national superpowers and has stopped providing supplies to several regions it used to contribute to, such as Africa. Following up, Puerto Rico has declared its independence-…”
Amidst the dead-serious reports, as I was about to turn the TV off, two panelists cracked a joke.
— “Africa’s surely been real quiet ever since this dropped…”
— “Indeed, they do at least know you ought to keep quiet if you are a-…”
I was baffled, it was just too much. I belatedly turned it back on, only to be shown a technical-problems advice. Upon this unbelievable sight, I bursted out laughing. I made a mental note to make sure to remember this channel’s name.
Then that all also didn’t last long as an holographic white window suddenly popped up in front of me.
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