Sniplet from a Possible Future
Jan. 27th, 2005 01:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forsythThey thought it would never happen. We thought it would never happen. Not to us, we were special, different. The chosen people. Besides, nobody wanted it, we all agreed on things, when it came down to it. We figured things nobody wanted wouldn't happen, figured we were all sane, at least a little bit.
Others thought they were chosen, too. Others more ruthless, more dangerous, more batshit insane. And they took power with a bodyguard of lies. Those who were supposed to watch for us, supposed to protect us failed. Too many had morgtaged their souls for power and influence, too many were afraid, and the rest, like the rest of us, figured it couldn't happen, even when it was happening in front of their faces.
The others in power thought this was just like any other thing, and tried to accommodate, tried to compromise. There was no compromise, there was no accommodation. What would they need that for? They had all the power and control now. They had the levers of power, they had the horns of propaganda, they had millions of fanatical footsoldiers, tuned only to their horns.
As for the rest of us, we didn't see the dangers. Or we didn't believe them, figured this too would pass. Comfortable in our shells of things, nothing enough to risk fighting for, speaking out for. Or scared, scared of what they'd turned our fellows into. Overwhelmed by the sheer scale and scope of the assaults, attacks that just seemed too big for little us. Or shocked by disbelief, that they'd be so bold, so blatant.
And so, a great many good men did nothing, and evil triumphed. The margins didn't matter, not in a battle fought with lies and hatred. And our empire came tumbling down around our ears, the choicest bits plucked away by scavenging aristocrats, like centuries early archaeologists. Millions of dreams and ideals, sucked by vortexes from the sinking State. Crushed down by the banal and commonplace evil until nothing remained. A lifeless and thinly ground dust, that choked what life remained an smothered whatever tried to grow.
The ones who caused it choked too, on their own vomit and bile, on the dust, but it was no satisfaction, not when all else was lost. With no breath left to laugh. And in the end, others just shook their heads and tsked, and figured it would never happen to them.
Others thought they were chosen, too. Others more ruthless, more dangerous, more batshit insane. And they took power with a bodyguard of lies. Those who were supposed to watch for us, supposed to protect us failed. Too many had morgtaged their souls for power and influence, too many were afraid, and the rest, like the rest of us, figured it couldn't happen, even when it was happening in front of their faces.
The others in power thought this was just like any other thing, and tried to accommodate, tried to compromise. There was no compromise, there was no accommodation. What would they need that for? They had all the power and control now. They had the levers of power, they had the horns of propaganda, they had millions of fanatical footsoldiers, tuned only to their horns.
As for the rest of us, we didn't see the dangers. Or we didn't believe them, figured this too would pass. Comfortable in our shells of things, nothing enough to risk fighting for, speaking out for. Or scared, scared of what they'd turned our fellows into. Overwhelmed by the sheer scale and scope of the assaults, attacks that just seemed too big for little us. Or shocked by disbelief, that they'd be so bold, so blatant.
And so, a great many good men did nothing, and evil triumphed. The margins didn't matter, not in a battle fought with lies and hatred. And our empire came tumbling down around our ears, the choicest bits plucked away by scavenging aristocrats, like centuries early archaeologists. Millions of dreams and ideals, sucked by vortexes from the sinking State. Crushed down by the banal and commonplace evil until nothing remained. A lifeless and thinly ground dust, that choked what life remained an smothered whatever tried to grow.
The ones who caused it choked too, on their own vomit and bile, on the dust, but it was no satisfaction, not when all else was lost. With no breath left to laugh. And in the end, others just shook their heads and tsked, and figured it would never happen to them.
