Future Schlock
“I don’t know how they managed, back in the middle 2000s,” Connie replied.
It was the usual Wednesday morning group at Starbucks. The three of them were outside, on the patio, given that the weather was balmy.
“We’re lucky they didn’t destroy the entire planet,” observed Karen. “Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and now we can enjoy a peaceful life.”
“You have to wonder,” said Connie, “When the dangers are so obvious, when the solutions are available, why did they persist on driving us to the edge of extinction?”
“In a word, greed,” said Karen.
Connie nodded her head as she swallowed her sip of latte. Then, “Absolutely, greed,” she repeated for emphasis.
Laura, the quiet one, had been mostly silent, as she usually was. But now she spoke. “It’s not like everyone was greedy back then. And it’s not as if there are no greedy people here in 2132. I’m thinking we’re really the same people. Well, I mean the same different kinds of people.”
Connie smiled her condescending smile. “The same, but different? How does that work?”
“I mean there were greedy people then, and there’s greedy people now. And honest people then and honest people now. The same different people.”
Karen’s smile did not entirely hide her contempt for Laura. “This is a different time. We have little tolerance for those who think only of themselves and not for the entirety of humankind and of nature.”
“But they cared back then, too,” Laura countered. “Do we care more, now? Or less? Or the same? We can’t just make up our own answers to this; we need to examine the reality.”
Karen placed her cup down on the glass top table rather abruptly. “You can see how different it is today. Climate change has been conquered. We have nothing to fear. We have the Uniparty, which operates efficiently and compassionately, instead of the democrat and republican parties of the past, that were always fighting, and solving nothing.”
“But the Uniparty was created when leaders of the democrat and republican party came together and formed the Uniparty. The Uniparty isn’t something new, it’s just a continuation of what existed.”
Connie smiled compassionately. “You just won’t give up, will you? You just have to shake things up. Why? What good does it do you? Or us? Why not just accept how good it is, instead of messing with it?”
“I just like to understand...” Laura heard a sound in a nearby tree and looked up. “That squirrel in the tree there is having a nice life, I imagine. This winter, things might be rough. But he won’t think about any of it, he’ll just accept it. I think we should think about all of this, and not just accept it, even on the good days. Who says things can’t get worse?”
“Because things are being handled, that’s why,” Connie scolded. “Climate change is over. Crime is under control. Disease is being handled. What more do you want?”
“You say all that. But we still have floods. And droughts. We still have violent crime, and people still die of cancer. I’ve done all the checking that I can do, and I don’t see where anything is all that different, much less improved.”
“Laura, I didn’t say gone. I said, ‘being handled’. And they are. Clearly they are. What is it with you?”
“Do we have less floods? Can you say that it’s so? Crime? They stopped enforcing a lot of the laws, even took them off the books. So now they say crime is down, because things that used to be illegal no longer are. Is that necessarily good? Making it legal for a person to destroy their life with drugs? Is that a good thing? The drugs are legal, so technically that reduces crime, but we have more addicts and deaths than ever.”
Connie again displayed her condescending smile. “We have leadership like we’ve never had before. All governments are in tune with each other, working cooperatively. Surely you can see that.”
“Think of what we can’t see. The Uniparty works things out behind closed doors, and then comes out and makes their pronouncements. How do we really know what the truth is? Nobody is working against them, challenging them. They’ve solved climate change, or so they say. But what does nature say? I see the same storms, the same floods, the same droughts. The only thing that’s changed is the Uniparty.”
Karen was having none of it. “We have a standard of living, and peace, and health, and education that is better than anything else in the history of mankind. Will you please let go of whatever it is that possesses you?”
“We don’t know any of that to be true. We only know what the Uniparty tells us. You both know that. I’m banned from social media for asking these very questions. How many others are banned? If the Uniparty is so right, they should be able to easily respond to our questions. They could even show us up for being incorrect, if they have the facts to prove it. Instead, they censor us. Why?” Laura looked them each in the eye, back and forth, several times. “Are either of you prepared to swear that you believe every word you are told by the Uniparty?” …Damn! They faltered!... “I’m glad you aren’t. That indicates rational assessment instead of blind belief.”
“All the same,” countered Karen. “Somebody has to be in charge, and I’m glad it’s the Uniparty. Maybe stretching the truth a bit is required, to keep everyone on the same page.”
“What page is that?”
Karen didn’t like feeling uncertain. “Whatever page they say. It’s up to them. Even if the Uniparty isn’t perfect, I accept their judgment, and that’s that.”
“And five year olds believe in Santa Claus. You are saying more about yourself than about good government.”
They were all distracted when the squirrel fell out of the tree, momentarily vulnerable to predators. But then it scurried back up the tree, and into relative safety.
Oh no, We will still have Karens in 2132?
The years and circumstances change, but from Day One, human nature remains the same.