Once upon a time, long ago, the former country was given a Bill of Rights. The First Amendment granted those people freedom of speech, press, religion, and peaceful assembly. The text is illegal now. And I can see why. The government was not permitted to make a law establishing religion; it could not keep people from practicing their religion. It could not prevent someone speaking their mind; the press could print what it wanted. People could assemble in peace and even petition the government to redress the grievances of the people.
The First Amendment does not exist here anymore. In fact, there is no more Constitution as it was once known.
There were people who once cried out calling people who were different things like "Fascist!", Socialist!", "Communist!" without knowing what those words even meant.
Ironically, they became the very thing they accused others of being. They became everything that they caused people to fear.
In the days following the Great Divide people once cried that their freedom of speech was being threatened when others disagreed with their words, called their words barbaric.
So the government outlawed all speech that reflected poorly on them and called it "freedom". The news media soon became controlled by a powerful business conglomerate. They controlled what people read, what they saw, hoping to control their thoughts.
How could they do that?
Easy.
Fear.
Fear sells.
It is a hell of a sales person, appealing to the most primitive senses, it's instinctual. Fear taps into the "fight or flight" inclination of a person. Create an unnecessary demand by pretending there is a limited supply. Pretend you have the answers. You have the tools needed for the masses to survive. You incite enough fear to where people truly believe they need it.
Then sell it only to those who can pay.
Collect the money and then stand back and watch how the desperate people fall over themselves to find a way to pay. Carefully stashed life savings will be wiped out.
Fear makes people desperate, and desperate people will pay anything to stay safe from what you told them to fear.
People became millionaires this way. Any fool with a microphone, a radio wave, or a television show became rich by shilling fear to the ignorant masses.
There were those who spoke out against it. They questioned it, doubted it. They had the audacity to speak out. Those who later became Les Gris laughed at those who became Boîtes and Les Boîtes made those people suffer.
They were killed.
Shot.
Or gathered into a special studio audience for a show, a show in which they were told to air their grievances. Some believed it. They went along to the studio full of bluster and confidence. They were deluded into thinking these barkers were actually interested in what they had to say. Luckily only a few dozen went. It's a special taping, they were told. Just your people and your views against mine, the host, Evris Gaidaros said.
They were led into the studio. They were told to sit down and wait for the taping to begin.
Time ticked by. Silence continued.
Silence persisted.
They were gassed.
Of course the gassing wasn't shown on live TV.
The ashes of their bodies were sent to their families as a warning.
They were also warned to stay silent or die.
Houses ran on gas, you know.
Oil companies also fractured rocks for gas...and that got into the water.
It was easy to pump just enough gas into a specific home and all it would take was a flip of the switch and boom.
Happened more than once.
Of course, the host didn't want you to know that was what happened.
If you watched the TV shows that he recorded, he made it sound as if the people had seen the error of their way and changed. They were sent to live in his special town he was building in rural Texas, a town that was the epitome of what a perfect society should be.
And oh, how happy they were!
But cameras were forbidden in this libertarian utopia.
That trick only worked once.
After that, no one wanted to go near the studios and rejected all invitations, but they still spoke out in whispers. A silent grapevine.
No one was allowed to disrupt the perfect tax-free haven that the New Confederacy was trying to be.
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...Dust
Ficción GeneralWelcome to the future. The United States is has been divided and everything has changed. The people are divided, too. Divided between the Les Boîtes, the conformists, and the Les Gris, the ones who do not fit in. Les Boîtes are given happy, tax-free...