“Mutantism on the March”: Chapter 2 “The Opposite Party”

Chapter 2 “The Opposite Party”

Why the Opposite Party had gained so much strength in Zortixia might be simply a desire for change from a society so long steeped in peace, tranquility and democracy. The Opposite Party fomented hostilities and hate which they secretly propagandized. Their lies and slander were so unbelievable many believed in them. Their view was the bigger the untruth the more readily it would be accepted. The entire foundation of the Opposite Party was based on the Big Lie. Suddenly peace and tranquility once seen as a valuable societal asset became peace and tranquility begets boredom and promotes a dull mind. The goal of the Opposite Party was to eradicate Creaturism which they theorized was a corrupting force. State benevolence was to be replaced by state barbarity. Most enjoyable for the Opposite Party was the dream of capturing power and subjugating the masses.

The Opposite Party presented a strong attraction to the less fortunate elements of society. The greedy, perverse, spineless and opportunist bile the Opposite Party spewed attracted adherents with the same characteristics as their bile. It’s members cast themselves in some sort of messianic light calling themselves “the new creatures of the universe of power and respect that power generates.” However the leaders of the Opposite Party held entirely different views. It would be far too dangerous and predictable to let rank and file control decision making. It was best, as the inner faction said, to use these “insects” to gain power and once they gained power they could easily brush and swat the “insects” away.

Many Zortixians were distressed as they witnessed the growing strength of the Opposites sweep the entire Federation. The most vocal critics of the Opposites were the Creaturerists who believed that kindness and benevolent co-operation must underlie the foundations of civilization. Their spokespeople never tired of condemning violence and its attendant suffering. The Creatureists main principle was that all citizens were suffering and it would always be the ultimate goal to reduce the suffering of the citizens of the Federation. Their abhorrence of violence, as noble as it might have been, really lead to the slitting of their throats with their moral sentiments being no match for the thuggery, smooth talk full of lies and weaponry of the Opposite Party.

Vast segments of Zortixian society were for some reason no longer satisfied with the peace and tranquility they had lived under for so many decades. If this attitude was not really apparent in the Zortixian Legislative Assembly it was certainly to be found in the marketplace or in some of the seedier cafés. One could sense the boredom and a strong desire for change. A sedentary and peaceful existence for many (but not a majority) lost its charm. However, at least initially, there was no consensus in what direction or shape this change should follow. It was if a minority of Zortixians wanted change simply for change’s sake.

The political equality and established liberties of the Zortixians were subjected to abuse and ridicule by the Opposite Party. Subliminal desires for power crept into the edges of Zortixian society. It was an historical fact that Zortixians had suffered long and hard for equality and had paid a price for it. Now that equality had been obtained and maintained for so many decades it began for some to be but trivial and boring. The Opposite Party manipulated this sentiment and it was not long before the operational efficiency of the army, bureaucracy and even the Zortixian Legislative Assembly was impaired. To the Creatureists it seemed unfathomable the inhabitants of Zortixia and the entire Federation were choosing the road of senseless sacrifice and misery over the time proven civility and effectiveness of polite debate and rational discussion.  The Creatureists in power throughout the Federation could have (and in hindsight should have) acted with a strong hand and confronted the Opposite Party but force was not permitted in their ideology so they stood and slowly watched their demise. The Opposite Party was greedily sowing the assets of discontent it had previously planted. Zortixia was no exception; it was to be the prime prize of those warlocks of illusion, the Opposite Party.

COVID Poetry Corner: “Stuck in a Perpetual Lockdown”

Stuck in a Perpetual Lockdown

It would seem with half baked theories you politico medico elite
are trying to keep me from being in a hospital gown in some sort of totalitarianism spite

At times your deference to shaky theories has me puzzled beyond belief
causing millions grief

Can we digress to biblical times and look for spiritual relief?

Most of time I sense you have no idea what you are doing
sort of like politico-medico elite pooing
unfounded and critical analysis no better than a pigeon cooing

Was it Moses that said let my people go?
you elite claim you are in the know
but is it that you are in the Big Box and Amazon undertow
and your musings are nothing but the squawking of an unruly crow

And should it happen your directives are full of shit
you have enslaved us and we ae supposed to admire your grit
sucking on the nipple of the Big Pharma tit

Mutantism on the March: Chapter One; “Bye Bye William”

“Mutantism on the March”

Chapter One “Bye Bye William”

The masses of the planet Zortixia wept bitter tears with their shame and impotence wafting about in the guilt-ridden air. A huge wretched mass of them had trudged out to the rocket fields on a silent pilgrimage. In the distance, close to rocket itself, they discerned him, the innocent victim of evil follies. With his head hanging he stood with his family. Being a picture of dejection, he disturbed the crowd. They slowly and softly chanted his name. He looked up and with a vague smile appeared on his creased face and he shouted, “Ami tsech curvi” which in English could be translated as “There is always hope”. The mob responded with applause and cheers terminating any vestiges of collective depression. In its place there was a sudden ugly current of hate and frustration. For an instant there was hope. There was courage. And there was desperation.

Like mad dogs the crowd lunged at several guards and literally tore them to pieces. They pushed on towards the rocket where he and his family stood but a vicious contingent of blackbooters arrived at the scene and mowed through the angry crowd killing and maiming forcing the angry crowds into retreat and in their panic crushed many of an Opposite visiting delegation. The angry mob was not spent and urged on by some of its younger members regrouped and counter attacked. They possessed but few weapons but their lack of arms was compensated by their red-hot hate.

The counterattack caught the blackbooters by surprise as they were busy congratulating themselves and enjoying their torture of some of the captured mob detained in their initial attack. Well that angry crowd served poetic justice on the blackbooters and raced to the rocket compound but alas it was too late. The rocket had been launched taking along with it their beloved. As soon as the personal guards of the soon to be exile had seen the counterattack, they had whisked him and his family off to the waiting rocket and it had blasted off out of the reach of the Zortixians forever.

The furious mob stormed through the rocket complex mad with rage terminating all opposition in their path. But reality could not be ignored as more blackbooters from the personal palace guard of Jiber swarmed the area and “subdued” the mob or at least that is what the censored Zortixian papers printed the next morning.

Willie Montenez, the exile, sat in the rocket with his wife and son. Willie was in shock with the carnage he had just witnessed. It had all taken place so quickly and now he was off in preprogrammed fashion to some unknown planet.

Why the exile? Zortixia had been for so long a place of love and peace. But now, and we know it is the present moment that counts, the Jiber had gained control of the political machine meaning there would be no room for Willie.

The Jiber was a crude and cunning creature. Less careful creatures would have murdered Willie long ago but Jiber wanted no revolt or rebellion to snatch away his newly found power. If Willie Montenez was murdered the Opposite would most likely face large scale revolt. Exile was not the most efficient way of dealing with opposition but at least it was a proven crowd placater.

Willie mused over the peaceful days of his premayorship of Zortixia. Mob violence was unheard of. There was little evil and idle chatter. Jails had been virtually empty for years. The police and army had little more to do than engage in cosmic bowling contests. But now this cretin Jiber had ruined all of this reinstating barbaric practices long ago forgotten by the peaceful population of Zortixia. The media had been silenced, intellectuals murdered and many dissidents had died due to freak accidents or ingestion of plutonium laced tea. Bestiality had replaced benevolence and now William Montenez was hurtling towards some barbaric and uncharted planet called Earth.

This grief-stricken day of exile signified a horrible act but also the demise of a noble and lofty era in Zortixia. It had been a time of planetary cooperation.  It was an era of peace and cooperation. Civil unrest had more or less vanished. Yet without reason the once fecund Federation had crumbled. Vice, corruption and greed filtered from the depths of certain souls leading to intra-Federation squabbles on feuds. Most of the planets in the Federation were plagued by the parasite of Oppotism.

Tara Brach’s “Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with The Heart of a Buddha”

Tara Brach’s “Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with The Heart of a Buddha”

Tara Brach is a psychotherapist and meditation teacher.

“As we lean into the experience of the moment-releasing our stories and gently holding our pain or desire-Radical Acceptance begins to unfold. The two parts of genuine acceptance-seeing clearly and holding our experience with compassion-are as interdependent as the two wings of a great bird, they enable us to fly and be free.
The wing of clear seeing is often described in Buddhist practice as mindfulness. This is the quality of awareness that recognizes exactly what is happening in our moment to moment experience.

The second wing of Radical Acceptance, compassion, is our capacity to relate in a tender and sympathetic way to what we perceive. Instead of resisting our feelings of fear or grief, we embrace our pain with the kindness. Compassion honors our experience: it allows us to be intimate with the life of the moment as it is.”

Robert K Stephen’s New Novel “Mutantism on the March”

Get ready for another serialized novel by Robert K. Stephen entitled “Mutantism on the March” which is political science fiction wrapped in satire.

Follow the adventures on earth and the planet Zortixia. Willie Montenez is your superhero as he is exiled from the planet Zortixia to earth. The terrifying Jiber and the regressive Opposite Party, Dr. Zodiac as physician to the Greek Gods. And don’t forget Captain Squid! And the great King Mabuto!

Gentle Santa has organized a terrorist gang, Tarzan a drug dealer. Witness the formation of the United Mutations. Revolutions and counter revolutions! Can you believe Canadian Marxist Leninists owning car dealerships to sell Ladas! Snarky comments and run ins with Quebec Politician René Hecklevesque and explorer Jacques Cartier. Starting soon in serialized fashion. Daring, innovative and creative!

“Mr. Stephen’s novel is a testament to all mutants of the globe. It traces the mutantism movement from day one which was for us humans way back in time. At times you’ll be moved to tears while a page or two you’ll be in stitches. It rides the success of Mr. Stephen’s “Life at Megacorp” and “Virus # 26″. This novel will stand as a great work of literature and presented to readers in a Dickensian fashion.”
Dr. Mogwat Trimblat, CEO Albanian Mutantism Research Council

“An outlandish and brilliant attempt to become a famous author and he succeeds with his cutting insight into politics and fantasy. I would consider it as a postscript to Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” yet more daring and probing”.
Professor Slago Muckrack, Science Fiction Chair at the University of Tennant Creek, Australia

Virus # 26: Epilogue

Epilogue

My name is Dr Evan Terpene and I hope you have enjoyed my voyage through the COVIDs and Virus # 26. Why did he write this you say? I am not quite sure other than giving you my view of history which may be quite different than what you will be watching from mainstream documentaries especially any produced by a news network just about all of which gave a stilted analysis in their coverage worshipping social distancing, mask wearing and the inevitability of a vaccine sucking up in many cases what was spoon-fed to them by governmental propaganda machines bolstered by compliant medicos.

There was so much propaganda circulating about preventative measures and their effectiveness I think through research the TRUTH may take some 30 years to be known.

And when and if the litigation against any responsible authority with two pesos to rub in their pocket is settled perhaps we will determine who is to blame for the carnage for the COVIDs but as for Virus # 26 it was the Turks and Iranians who harped back to prior glorious days of the Ottoman and Persian Empire in a desperate attempt to hold onto power in their economically and COVID ravaged economies. Religion and politics make miserable and deadly bedfellows.

When it is a question or your life and death have we learnt anything? I suppose it is who can you trust? I am sorry I can’t answer that question but there are liars and opportunists lying in the reeds who don’t give a damn about whether you live or die, It could be the snakes are or were politicians and Big Pharma or it could be television networks more than happy you die as mounting fatalities make great stories.

My advice to you is to take care of yourself. Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise your body and mind and do not fall into the prescription medicine rabbit hole.

As for me in 2032 I am in my late 70’s and I have been going like a madman for all my life. I have sold my medical practice in Sunridge. Alexis has married and I’ll be a grandfather soon. I am so very tired and a decade later I have finally found the time to mourn the death of my wife and son and it hurts horribly. I have been crying most days and look forward to being a grandfather and eating Alexis’ wonderful cooking and reading. Yes I can fish as much as I want to on nearby Lake Bernard. And yes Spike’s cellar needs some working on. I love those Glocks Spike left behind. I have become quite a good rabbit hunter with them! And the locals have taught me how to skin and gut them. Rabbit stew and trout on the grill have become simple delights for me.

So thank you for sharing my journey which by the way has been cemented by a publishing and movie deal.

Please be careful and enjoy each day the best you can. We have all realized how precious life is and wonder when the next pandemic will hit.

Virus # 26:”Chapter 61 “the post pandemic world: shifting personal values”

Chapter 61 “the post pandemic world: shifting personal values”

As we near the end of my long-winded accounting of the plagues that afflicted the world for little over a decade it was inevitable personal values underwent somewhat of a change. In 2019 the driving ambition of many was the accumulation of personal wealth and status symbols like big retirement accounts, big houses, cottages, expensive vacations, top restaurants, the best private schools and the mandatory Fillipino nanny. Good health and plenty of everything was a presumption except of course for cancer and a whole host of diseases. For the less affluent there was more of a survivalist mentality but employment, as crappy as it often was, was taken for granted. For the poor life was often bleak as those with mental and physical disabilities got short shrift. And there was a mean streak of arrogance amongst the elite. A CEO of a Canadian publicly traded company in 2019 made by lunchtime on the first working day of the year more than an employee in that company made in a year. Yet only a few cared being blinded by poverty or the race for wealth.

After 70% of the earth’s population was eliminated by all these pandemics personal values or ideologies shifted;

  1. Health became a number one priority. Diets shifted away from fast food and chain restaurants particularly amongst the less affluent elements of society where such diets were more affordable than healthy foods. Plant based organic foods became the norm. Dietary supplements which boosted the immune system became very popular.
  2. The pursuit of wealth did not disappear but the diminution of corporate giants became more difficult considering most of “the senior management teams” perished and the remaining population was sick and tired of greed to the extent legislation was passed in many countries limiting executive compensation.
  3. The distrust with Big Pharma as useless pill pushers and the thousands that died in their pandemic vaccine trials was not quickly forgotten.
  4. Vaccinations for chicken pox and measles became dirty words.
  5. Life became simpler. Good food on the table became paramount as it, and not Big Macs and fries, boosted the immunity system and good health.
  6. Disease and pandemics were recognized as part of life instead of being feared. One did what they could through a healthy lifestyle to be in the best of health.
  7. Politics in democratic countries shifted emphasis on public health through increases in funding to community health and hospitals. This jacked up corporate tax rates. In autocratic regimes tyranny and surveillance increased to “prevent the reoccurrence of pandemics” caused by enemies of the state.
  8. Life was something to be enjoyed instead of ignored through the pursuit of wealth.
  9. A greater sense of family developed. Long term care facilities were a place for seriously ill persons and not a dumping ground for the elderly.
  10. Entertainment and professional sports were decimated because there was no corporate money to support the arts like ballet, classical music and opera they too perished or were community based. Great opera companies, theatre companies and the like were transformed into “travelling minstrel shows”. Mindless television shows disappeared and replaced by locally produced events. Reruns of mindless television shows and old movies resurged in popularity.
  11. Religion was slammed down on the mat. How could Allah or God or whatever supreme being one believed in could let so many innocent people die. About the most popular sect was the “Noah’s Ark” movement that claimed the pandemics were God’s way of punishing the wicked. Of course, most victims were innocent and far from wicked.

Virus # 26:Chapter 60 “the post pandemic world; restaurants and wine”

Chapter 60 “the post pandemic world; restaurants and wine”

You may have guessed what happened to restaurants. Sixty percent of restaurants were wiped out by the COVIDs and then Virus # 26 just about did all the rest in. There were very few left as if you have no customers the inevitable is the demise of a restaurant. Given the collapse of the food supply chain most remaining restaurants survived on locally supplied ingredients. And the food better be damn good as restaurants and bars had gained such a bad reputation during COVID as super spreader locations that bitter memories kept many possible patrons away with their memories of non caring Millennials partying away like it was pre COVID times. I once asked a psychiatrist friend of mine about the suicidal obsession of Millennials with patios and crowded bars. The best answer I obtained was selfishness and loneliness.

In our town of Sunridge, Ontario I had said my dear daughter Alexis had became a really superb Italian chef who knew how to cook up incredible feasts often with immune boosting cannabis and her huge truck garden produced al manner of vegetables including San Marzano tomatoes that rivalled those from Italy and made the most rich and astounding sauces. And despite my protests as a vegetarian she had a small heard of Angus cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs which she personally slaughtered rather giving me the shivers.

It might have helped in my clinic I charged no fees so my clients felt somewhat obligated to occasionally eat at Alexis’ restaurant. And yes I will admit on my birthday, Christmas, her birthday and the birthday of our dear biker friends Cedric and Chester I could be convinced to eat baby roast goat, chicken stuffed with Rosemary and 100 pieces of garlic or flank steak with chimichurri sauce. Slightly blushing I became a little less vegetarian due to the culinary skills of Alexis.

Wine was somewhat of a problem but as Spike, yes dear old Spike, had 3,000 bottles of mostly Italian wine we were set for a few years. But with my bio-chemical skills developed as a physician we had enough local ingredients for me to create a micro-brewery. Grapes were a big problem but through my surviving wealthy winery owners I managed to secure some decent Ontario wine. And through my surviving Irish cardiologist friends a small flow of Irish whisky arrived thanks to the gold coins and bullion that Spike had left me with and the “import connections” Cedric and Chester had!. So with cannabis infused dishes and nips of Irish whisky Alexis’ customers left with a full belly and a bolstered immune system. Hey I missed the wines of many a country but this was not the world it used to be.

The restaurant scene in Toronto had no relevance to me anymore. I had a piece of culinary heaven in Sunridge and that was enough for me.

Virus # 26:Chapter 59 “the post pandemic world: movies, entertainment and sports”

Chapter 59 “the post pandemic world: movies, entertainment and sports”

I can either say the entertainment industry was shot to pieces and died a deserved death or was transformed to meet the post pandemic world.

A common thread is that the obscene salaries paid to sports idols, movie stars and rock n rollers vanished so that these gods became the uneducated and overpaid idols smashed to the floor by the lack of disposable income of the masses mostly because there were no masses anymore. With no masses there was no money to be frittered on mostly mindless entertainment events particularly on those “Hollywood Blockbusters” or important playoff games and accompanying endorsements.

For example professional sports bled spectators and sponsors dry in order to pay talented ball dribblers, baseball hitters and flashy skaters earning in one year what the majority of the population could not make in a lifetime of working. Professional sports became irrelevant and 50 goal scorers became janitors and waiters or god forbid hefty garbagemen. Put bluntly there was no money to fund the extravagant conspicuous consumption of tattooed sports gods. Those still fond of professional sport watched reruns of seasons realizing the repetitiveness drudgery of sports. The NFL, NBA and NHL simply disappeared. There was more relevance to people to a local softball match, high school basketball game or shinny hockey match on a frozen lake. The only people lamenting the demise of professional sports were the obscenely rich athletes, pension plans and hedge funds owing majority stakes in sports franchises that had zero balance sheets after Virus #26.

As for film Hollywood met a similar fate. After 60 years of obscene salaries and the cult of personality the castle came crashing down. Like professional athletes the movie stars with their mansions were easy marks for looters and rioters. Independent low budget cinema survived and being accustomed to streaming over the pandemics managed to survive if not thrive. The same for classical music, opera and theatre with much lower operating costs hung in there with much lesser salaries but with lower cost accessibility to the “masses”. In fact the fine arts prospered with low cost streaming charges reached international audiences as opposed to the well heeled domestic “Patrons” scoffing up free food and booze in the “Platinum Supporter’s Lounge”!

In our local community in Sunridge, Ontario a big week-end was a softball match, a community hockey game or a curling match with a barbeque or “tailgate party”. Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Lady Gaga and Austin Mathews (and their insidious tattoos) and the whole lot of them were anachronisms of the past. I don’t mean to sound like Norman Rockwell but local and low key rather became the norm. People’s values had changed with the ravages of the pandemic. Sunday night football was replaced by backyard barbeques and football frisbee……without regrets. There was a change in attitude. And for birthday party’s pin the tail of the Trump was a hugely popular game. As a physician I was a bit uncomfortable with the memories of a mass murderer.

And as for rock n roll it was all local with young musicians playing for a small sum and all the beer they could drink. A bit like Robbie Robertson and the Band with Bob Dylan before they hit he stratosphere to implode. Innocence rediscovered?