false choices

everyone was tense and just on the edge of exploding into anger. there was an historic 3rd term presidential race between bush and obama. both sides emphatically declared the The Future Of The World Depended Upon This Election! TV's and radios blasted nothing but updates on this 'news'. total strangers demanded that each reveal which 'side' they were voting for. if the 'right' answer wasn't given, fists followed. i kept thinking to myself, 'people can't really be this stupid, can they?'. my friends were emphatic and sincere, 'you HAVE to vote!' they pleaded with me, 'the fate of the world depends upon it!'. i spent more time than i wanted to trying to point out the obvious deceit, but it was all in vain. even my smartest friends did not want to think it was anything but real- and within their control.

in the days running up to the election, things got so crazy that one of the 'puppet masters' accidentally 'dropped the curtain' just long enough to reveal that bush and obama were actually on the same side. people went MAD. my friends were incredulous and kept saying, 'i can't believe it, i can't believe it...'. i spent days watching people rage. when they confronted me about my cool demeanor, i reminded them that i'd tried to tell them from the beginning that it was only theater.