The False Face

There are two groups of people: those who question and those who do not. 

But both groups believe its trait is what makes it the moral one.

"So what about the Truth and Justice crowd? How can we keep cramming war, wealth transfer and woe down everyone's throats in perpetuity without them calling us out?"

The room was not smoky nor stuck in the back nor hidden in any way. It was, in fact, overlooking the streets from a sky high perch, touched only by low hanging clouds. The men did not smoke cigars and use crude language while laughing evilly but rather were well manicured, sipping processed water with the utmost of decorum. Smooth, polished and political - the devil's effective new face.

"I wouldn't worry about them. We can marginalize them as hysterics without lives trying to ruin life for the rest of us."

"I agree. Besides, what kind of commitment do they really have? It's been my experience most want justice only when it's convenient or they can be bought off with phony political power. Give them their head and they'll pass away."

"I'm sorry, but I do not agree we can take that approach this time. We need to convert them to our cause. Blatant warmongering and social theft has given them a new credibility. If reforms were actually implemented and then found to make life better our way of life would be threatened in the extreme."

"What's to be done then? Things must continue as they are or we're all going to be working on the streets down below and I for one will never stand to be put in that position, not on your life. I don't care who has to die."

Each of the men looked at the others in knowing glances. They knew what it meant to live at the mercy of men like them. Let the self-deceived, the fools, and the willfully ignorant muddle along in hopelessness while others pulled the strings of their lives stripped of all meaning. They knew: once having tasted a life of true self-determination there's no going back. It's rule or die.

Finally, the chairman of the board spoke. "Basically, we know on the whole people are corrupt. That is our one saving grace. But they cannot stand to be perceived as unjust. What we need is a false face. With that we can divide the Truth and Justice crowd, pitting them against one another."

"Brilliant! God help me, I do love politics! It's the greatest vehicle for violence man has ever known. It's the only place where a lie has a home."

The chairman resumed. "People fear change more than injustice. A false face will arise from their crowd self-deceived into believing itself to be the face of justice and that, my friends, will be our savior. Who can touch us then? Love will have its day - but not in our lives."

Hell's new face gave fresh credence to the nightmares of the day. False reform gave comfort to the false moralists. The empowered continued to draw from the weak. Hope was but a myth and slogan to be sold. Those who questioned the myth were shouted down by those who accepted it. "Unbearable" wars became "just" wars. Refilling the coffers of the greedy deemed "pragmatic". Gullibility perverted from sin to virtue.

As the chairman had predicted, a divide formed on those claiming to be on the side of truth and justice.

"I do so love the new face and I for one am grateful for the hope and change he has brought us! He is a man full of grace and wisdom and charm. We are the better for him and we who are truly in touch with reality know this."

"But it's a charade! The greedy still make the rules, the war machine rolls on and the corporate chains are stronger than ever. Only difference now is you don't give the suffering a voice because your closed mind insists that everything is fine."

"You just don't want to admit the truth! Truth and justice must be compromised. If the new face puts chains on us then that must be what's best. The time for questioning is over. Our side must win. We are Jesus!"

"That's what the other side says too. But nobody wins unless justice wins. You're just being used, played as 'useful idiots'."

"Great! I always wanted to be useful!"

The accusations were ceaseless, the men on the thirtieth floor laughing in delight.

"Our false face has exceeded all expectations. A murderer with a peace prize! Who dare hope for this scale of glorious duplicity? Have you seen the fools fawning over window dressings of "change"? Why were we ever worried? No man sees himself as a villain. They can't see our true faces without first seeing their own. We are safe."