Dystopia

End rant. Get it?

The apocalypse didn't happen overnight. It wasn't an event with a defined before and after. The apocalypse is happening right now, right in front of us, and we don't have a f*****g clue. There are no bombed-out buildings. No abandoned highways with the occasional eclectic nomad. No neon signs flickering in the wilderness.

Instead, we are corroding from within. We value ignorance and entertainment. The ivory towers crumbled. The ancient scholars were ostracized. Books collecting dust might as well be on fire. We consume mountains of bullshit and produce very little of value. Televisions. Tabloids. Charisma. Sex appeal. Shake that a*s. Watch, don't read.

People deal prescription drugs for the wrong kind of fix. Drift through life feeling like victims, but pretending to swagger. There is no duty to anything beyond the self. Even that duty stops short at hedonism. The nearsighted populace doesn't reach for greatness. No longer do they contemplate as philosophers, artists, novelists, minstrels.

Author's Note

I was reading the Wikipedia entry for Wainscotting, the act of placing a hidden world and its adventures within a clueless real world (ie. Highlander), when this struck me. What if Stephen King's The Stand didn't happen later, but is happening now under our very noses? The idea excited me until I realized a moral apocalypse is not much different than what preachers are lecturing about. But I feel the idea has some merit, if I can find a way to develop the theme without the usual religious trappings. And not be so angry while I'm writing it.