On Entering the City

[Chairman Risus]

I can't blame anyone here. I can't blame anyone for the levels of absurdity and hypocrisy they've reached. I wasn't there when any of the decisions were made, and I can't be certain I would make better choices myself.

I wasn't there when fear was let into the city, when people started to be afraid.
They've got livelihoods to earn.
These people have families to protect.

You have to understand the overwhelming presence hanging over these people. If they don't run along with the city, the machine, the system, whatever you want to call it, they risk getting ridden past the outskirts, and tossed outside of the walls.

That being understood, I cannot forgive these people for the monster they created to keep themselves warm; to keep themselves safe.

If only they could see the gears feeding on the people they were made to protect.
If only they could see the pedestrians panicking in the oncoming traffic that courses through the veins of their system.
If only they could see through the masks shouting through their television sets, hyenas pulling in those unlucky few who made the mistake of sitting too close.


On entering the city, seeing everything I saw, I had only one reaction.

I laughed.
Not because I was above it all. Not because I had a solution to the quiet madness patrolling, veiled, through the city. Not because I had figured anything out.
I laughed because that's all I could do. I laughed because that's how I survive.
I'm laughing now, and I'll be laughing all the way until they take me to the top of their buildings and throw me off.

[Chairman Risus]

This is my first "rant". It seems a bit raw for me, but it was time I got it off of my chest.
I'm interested in continuing this into a series.

Input, responses will be well received.

[Doktor Howl]

If only they could see the gears feeding on the people they were made to protect.
If only they could see the pedestrians panicking in the oncoming traffic that courses through the veins of their system.
If only they could see through the masks shouting through their television sets, hyenas pulling in those unlucky few who made the mistake of sitting too close.

Oh, yeah.

Please to cross post in the audio book of the dead.

[Richter]

Listen to your Doktor.  Cross post this.

[LMNO]

Nicely done!

[P3nT4gR4m]

First rant?

Way to set the fucking bar!

[BadBeast]

I laughed.
Not because I was above it all. Not because I had a solution to the quiet madness patrolling, veiled, through the city. Not because I had figured anything out.
I laughed because that's all I could do. I laughed because that's how I survive.
I'm laughing now, and I'll be laughing all the way until they take me to the top of their buildings and throw me off.

Cities create the fear, and then amplify it, ramp it up to occasionally critical levels, because, as a species, we have very little to fear, (other than that which we create for ourselves) No other species threatens our security, no predators stalk us through the streets, no life threatening situations confront us as we go about our day to day business. So we turn on ourselves, in a perverse attempt to create the dynamic that originally raised us to the exalted position of apex uber-predators. And ever since that day, we have been creating things, and situations that might give us back some vulnerability. It probably has it's origins, in a need to keep ourselves in from regressing back into food for other predators, and when none were forthcoming, we began predating on our own species.

But on the plus side, there's a much better nightlife in Cities.   

[Chairman Risus]

I laughed.
Not because I was above it all. Not because I had a solution to the quiet madness patrolling, veiled, through the city. Not because I had figured anything out.
I laughed because that's all I could do. I laughed because that's how I survive.
I'm laughing now, and I'll be laughing all the way until they take me to the top of their buildings and throw me off.

Cities create the fear, and then amplify it, ramp it up to occasionally critical levels, because, as a species, we have very little to fear, (other than that which we create for ourselves) No other species threatens our security, no predators stalk us through the streets, no life threatening situations confront us as we go about our day to day business. So we turn on ourselves, in a perverse attempt to create the dynamic that originally raised us to the exalted position of apex uber-predators. And ever since that day, we have been creating things, and situations that might give us back some vulnerability. It probably has it's origins, in a need to keep ourselves in from regressing back into food for other predators, and when none were forthcoming, we began predating on our own species.

But on the plus side, there's a much better nightlife in Cities.   

Sometimes I wonder if it was such a good idea, BadBeast, walling the wolves out of our cities. On some days, do you really think it would be such a bad idea to go open the city gates wide and let them in?

I wonder if we would understand monsters again- things we should truly be afraid of.
When I was growing up, there was a monster that made its nest under my bed. It would lurk around in the dark until I fell asleep. It wasn't so bad, though, because I knew how to deal with it. You leave the hall light on, no monster.

In our city today? I haven't seen a real monster in years. Today we have depression, insecurities, self-doubt. These monsters have children- collapsing economies, racism, radicalism. I'm not sure how to fight these monsters. They wait outside your windows in pure daylight, they crawl into your house through your TV. I tried to leave the hall light on- to ward them off, but they billed me for the electricity.

I've been looking for a real monster, BadBeast. Maybe seeing it will remind everybody that we don't have to feed on each other. I'm going to catch it and I'm going to show it to everybody- I'm going to show it to everybody and they'll finally get it. We don't need to build new predators, and we don't need to wall ourselves up in these cities.

[BadBeast]

I laughed.
Not because I was above it all. Not because I had a solution to the quiet madness patrolling, veiled, through the city. Not because I had figured anything out.
I laughed because that's all I could do. I laughed because that's how I survive.
I'm laughing now, and I'll be laughing all the way until they take me to the top of their buildings and throw me off.

Cities create the fear, and then amplify it, ramp it up to occasionally critical levels, because, as a species, we have very little to fear, (other than that which we create for ourselves) No other species threatens our security, no predators stalk us through the streets, no life threatening situations confront us as we go about our day to day business. So we turn on ourselves, in a perverse attempt to create the dynamic that originally raised us to the exalted position of apex uber-predators. And ever since that day, we have been creating things, and situations that might give us back some vulnerability. It probably has it's origins, in a need to keep ourselves in from regressing back into food for other predators, and when none were forthcoming, we began predating on our own species.

But on the plus side, there's a much better nightlife in Cities.   

Sometimes I wonder if it was such a good idea, BadBeast, walling the wolves out of our cities. On some days, do you really think it would be such a bad idea to go open the city gates wide and let them in?

I wonder if we would understand monsters again- things we should truly be afraid of.
When I was growing up, there was a monster that made its nest under my bed. It would lurk around in the dark until I fell asleep. It wasn't so bad, though, because I knew how to deal with it. You leave the hall light on, no monster.

In our city today? I haven't seen a real monster in years. Today we have depression, insecurities, self-doubt. These monsters have children- collapsing economies, racism, radicalism. I'm not sure how to fight these monsters. They wait outside your windows in pure daylight, they crawl into your house through your TV. I tried to leave the hall light on- to ward them off, but they billed me for the electricity.

I've been looking for a real monster, BadBeast. Maybe seeing it will remind everybody that we don't have to feed on each other. I'm going to catch it and I'm going to show it to everybody- I'm going to show it to everybody and they'll finally get it. We don't need to build new predators, and we don't need to wall ourselves up in these cities.

I agree. We seem to have forgotten how to spot the Monsters. Either that, or they have become better at hiding, as we have become stronger, and more dangerous. But now, the true fear is the thing that eludes us, it's scarcity is the thing we are seeking, because for all it's warnings of danger, it makes us feel! Makes us feel alive in a way that only a glimpse of our own death can do. Not just seeing it, up close, but realising that it is always close, always no more than a breath, or a heartbeat away. The Monsters of our childhood no longer frighten us, but that is a good thing, it shows that they have done their job well. The Monsters of out Adulthood, are harder to see, more subtle, more insiduous, and more dangerous. we rarely see them before they strike. Even then, we see them as other things,  bad things, inevitable thing, anything except a Monster, because our conscious minds knows that Monsters no longer exist. 

Our guts, and our unconscious minds though, they say different, and I know I trust my guts more than my tricksy consciousness, I know how slippery it can be, getting a straight answer from it.
The Monsters are still there, it says! Where?  In the shadows? Under the bed? Hiding in the woods? No, they are hiding in the open, wearing Manskins, complacent in their confidence, we sense them, but we don't see them, so we dismiss the feeling that we are in any danger, and just push through the feeling of vague uneasiness that it leaves behind.

But you are correct, they are still there, and I want to hunt them, on my terms, not just have them gloat at what they see as our blindness, I want them to know, we are still aware of them, to make them stop pretending they are not Monsters, maybe THEY have forgotten, but I haven't.

[BadBeast]

I
On entering the city, seeing everything I saw, I had only one reaction.

I laughed.
Not because I was above it all. Not because I had a solution to the quiet madness patrolling, veiled, through the city. Not because I had figured anything out.
I laughed because that's all I could do. I laughed because that's how I survive.
I'm laughing now, and I'll be laughing all the way until they take me to the top of their buildings and throw me off.

Laughing is the most appropriate response in the face of what seems such an obscenity, we sense that it is all a big cosmic joke, and laughing affirms the faith we have, that one day, we will be told the punchline, and then everything will fall into place.