This writing was accepted for publication
in the 84 page perfect-bound issue...
Down in the Dirt magazine (v078)
(the January 2010 Issue)

This is also available from our printer
as a a $7.47 paperback book
(5.5" x 8.5") perfect-bound w/ b&w pages

Order this writing in the book (bound) Down in the Dirt prose edition		order the 5.5" x 8.5" ISSN# book order the 8.5" x 11" ISBN# book

Cities of Fools

Tom Ball

    In the year 2167 AD a new city was established. It was called the city of fools, and it was established mainly as a reaction to all the highbrow and stressful things required in the modern world. Here life was simple and you could feel free to act as stupid as you wanted.
    In order to enter the city you had to prove you were a fool in front of customs judges. Yet strangely many people who were known for being clever also tried to get into the city, and generally they had no trouble acting stupid. Basically many clever people were curious.
    As time went by many other cities of fools were set up all around the world. Then one day a fool from one of these cities was elected president of the UN. His first move was to require everyone to act stupid most of the time. Many people were relieved by the new law, as they didn’t want to think. And anyway society was largely automatic and so no one really needed to think.
    A few years later this law was amended to force everyone to act stupid all of the time. All new science was forbidden, universities were closed and no cleverness in the media or the arts was permitted.
    The new government of fools meanwhile insisted that it was the nature of all humans to act foolish, and there was no meaning to life anyway.
    Since no one had to do anything anyway, most people acquiesced with the new system. Of course a few people spoke out against it, but they disappeared, just like in times of old.
    Surveys showed that people had never been happier in general, and the government of fools kept getting re-elected. They ruled for thousands of years until all memory of acting intelligent had been forgotten.

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...