Flipping the script

Things are getting bad, really bad. Nobody is able to understand what is going on. Nobody is allowed now to ask questions. That doesn’t matter, because nobody dares to question anything anyway. “Question” - whether a noun or a verb - is simply off the table. If you are walking down the street, sitting on the grass in the park, or having your favorite latte and overhear the word, first you will cringe, or wince, and then you will do everything in your power to get far away from it. “Question” is, plain and simple, not something you need or want in your life. It isn’t just a useless thing, thought, action, or sound. It is highly dangerous and above all, it is illegal.

Do not ask me to explain the reasons for this, because I’m not capable of doing that.

So we can agree, I suspect, that everyone knows illegal substances, if you use or possess them, are dangerous. You can land in jail for a very long time, maybe forever. You might not even make it to jail because cold persons, wearing masks and tattoos, carrying some sort of heavy object, are known to intercept your delivery to a place of detention (sometimes known as a black hole). We all know this, even if we think it’s not going to happen to us. We’re not criminals if all we do is ask for explanations or try to get information. We might do that through social media or even by reading books. We ask, because we are naturally curious, right? Questions happen when we need information. That is the point I’m trying to get across for those of you who don’t know.

Information, however, is not a given right. We can’t demand, by law, to be told what we hope to know. That is reprehensible and carries a high price. Nothing is free and that is the reality. An example might be helpful. We might think we want to know the weather for the upcoming week, so we can plan our activities accordingly. That is really too arrogant of us and knowledge of the weather is not permitted. It’s advisable to simply tough it out. Getting stuck in a blizzard or washed away in a flood caused by the torrential rains of a hurricane is really nothing to be concerned about. We are expected to take things as they come. We must trust in the powers that be. It’s not required to know who has the power or where it’s located. Plus, we lost interest in things like that long ago.

Some people still think they have the right to ask what words mean, like the dictionary helps us do, but they are not wise people and should always be cautioned to stop with the aggressive push to know things. Other people, ones we don’t know, are supposed to worry about the meaning of things like truth, lies, fun, free, delicious, nutritious, sexy, blonde, botox, things like that. Those items simply don’t concern you or me, and we must move on from them if in fact we once knew what they meant. We should be grateful that we’ve reached fourth grade reading level and can comprehend most comic books even if the mechanics of the plot tend to lie beyond our mental capacity. We also still prefer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Every day, if possible.

That’s most of the story about “question,” whether it serves as a noun or a verb. If you look in a dictionary, the word has probably been removed. The powers started with things like slavery and equality, justice and process, but I’ve heard those have been eliminated from daily usage. In fact, they’re pretty much forbidden. We don’t need thoughts that sadden us or cause agitation. Silence is golden, and we are all richer for it. Many are grateful, I’ve heard, but those who are not will be leaving soon.

There are other things to understand, so I’ll go on:

There’s the matter of thought (and thinking), of which “question” could plausibly be a subset. Thought is not needed, and thinking is every bit as perilous as questioning, obviously, because when we think, we could be tempted to question. Also, we could be led to think in new, unapproved, untraditional ways. We might be able to see more than one thing, or to ponder different types of actions. This is wrong, because we are not meant to compare. Compare? No! Another absurd notion, because who are we to judge? If things aren’t all the same, if some seem better than others, the world might become dissatisfied, it might lead to thoughts of inequality and that might lead to questions of resistance. People might start to think they can decide for themselves. We’ve eliminated all reading beyond fourth grade level specifically to eradicate this sort of tilting toward open conversations. Who knows what people would begin to discuss? It could all turn violent and the world, our world, could eventually be destroyed. We don’t need that!

This is the reason there is an imperative to stop all the nonsense. One way to do this is to ban books, the internet, and basically all contact with the rest of the world, except for the bare minimum. Which isn’t a bad strategy, since few people know how to create anything now. Not reading groups, not art workshops, not universities. Heavens! Who needs any of that. People have been ordered not to consider making stuff, and in place of constructing things - anything - they are only allowed to destroy. For that, only a few words and phrases have been approved, which simplifies things, especially since asking questions is not permitted. As the saying goes, ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die. Or is it do and die? I really can’t recall, because it’s been a while since I’ve had to put two and two together. Usually I’m limited to one and one. Basic brain. This world, if we don’t control it and ourselves, is going to hell in a hand basket……

[scribbles, illegible handwriting, phrases angrily scratched out]

The editor stopped, took off his glasses and rested his forehead in his palms. He had discovered the diary after Stephen had stuck his head into the gas oven. It wasn’t for the same reason as Sylvia Plath, poor woman, had done it, but still… The diary had to be preserved, its contents analyzed thoroughly, then locked away in some desert nobody could reach. If the ideas - and there were many more like the ones already found in the early pages - ever got out, the world would be doomed.

Thank heaven the editor knew what to do.