Member-only story
Fiction. Or maybe real life, slightly disguised.
He sold his time, which was his life, for $9 an hour. He made crap to sell to consumers. He worked 10 hour days, came home and watched the same TV as everyone else. Then he passed out on the couch. The couch opened out into a bed, but he never got that far. None of this was anything special. Mark lived in the world as he found it.
Important people appeared on TV, moved numbers on digital spreadsheets, made big decisions. Mark lived with those decisions. Nobody wanted his opinion. They wanted him to make crap to sell to consumers. Mark did.
So did Ann, Jerry, Charles, Wajid, Yuan and a few billion others. Most made crap, but a few made useful things like food, clothing and shelter.
This system was sanctified for the religious and unbelievers alike. The world had to be this way and nearly all agreed that it was good. Sometimes a few heretics spoke up — or remained silent. It made no difference. As long as Ann and Jerry and Charles and Wajid and Yuan and Mark kept at it, all was good.
The dissenters were called agitators, traitors, commies. They weren’t important, but they made a convenient focal point for the masters, and they could count on Ann and Jerry and Charles and even Wajid and Yuan to join in the condemnation. Mark would too, but…
