Amazing Stories

27 November 1997, 953 words


Author's note:
One of the main ways I work out the various issues and problems of life is by writing fiction. However, the following short short stories are more an expression of confusion than of solutions.

A Sex Story

Once upon a time, there was a country where rape became a major crime. Women seemed to become special targets, from being told obscenities in the streets to being murdered at home. Many women called upon castration and even death be made the legal punishment for rapists, even without a trial. This demonstrated that, given equal political and physical power, women would equal men in barbarity, too. The men of the country were themselves quite primitive, especially the learned judges, who often accepted a manslaughter plea from men who had killed women on the basis that "she was horning me, Your Honour."

Interestingly, not even the psychologists - who had a major Association meeting in the same week that many especially shocking rapes took place - provided any useful analyses of the phenomenon. Nobody noticed that the male population of the country now outnumbered the female population and connected this statistical fact to the innate drive of males for sexual partners. No local intellectual commented that a wide gap between rich and poor inevitably resulted in a high crime rate and, coupled to the fact that upper-class men monopolize several women of child-bearing age, an increase in rape was a tangential result of increased sexual competition among lower-class males without the resources to get mates.
After all, this was not a country where people, even professionals, understood that true statements followed from true premises and that, therefore, it was only with true premises could one come up with effective solutions.
 
A Detective Story
Once upon a time, a State witness who was to testify against two police officers was killed by masked gunmen. The police officers appointed to investigate the case never solved it. They couldn't find any suspects.
 
A Crime Story
Once upon a time a businessman shot a non-businessman to death. The judge set the businessman free on the bond since the judge felt that businessman has already been punished enough by hearing the sound of the prison doors. But this at least was an improvement over previous cases, where one businessman's pitbull dogs killed a passer-by and mauled another and the case never reached court , or where another businessman shot a foreigner but all the witnesses forgot what they had seen.

Meanwhile, the non-murdering business people in this country were up in arms over a minimal minimum wage proposed by the Government. One businessman wrote an article explaining why this country should follow Singapore, claiming critics had never visited Singapore. He, of course, had gone for two weeks as a privileged guest and swallowed hook-line-and-sinker everything he was told, even to the extent of saying Singapore has zero unemployment when this is not true of any country in the world. Consumers continued to get shoddy goods and high prices. Rum and cigarette advertisements were geared specifically towards young people.
However, economists still couldn't explain why the country was not as prosperous as it should be.
 
A Political Story
Once upon a time, the second Prime Minister of a small country died ten years after losing a general election. During his lifetime, a lot of jokes had been made about him and after his death several commentators said that people should be more respectful to their leaders. Few people observed that politicians in such societies have real power, unlike ordinary citizens, and that humour is one of the few weapons people have to strike back with. And nobody observed that respect should be earned and that holding an official position is not in itself worthy of respect. But this was a country where the President maneuvered himself into the post and then awarded himself the nation's highest honour a year later and all commentators had to say was that the President should automatically get the award.
 
A Morality Tale
Once upon a time, a Christian sect severely whipped a young girl for masturbating. One member of the Church recommended she be stoned to death, while another tried to have sex with her. No religious leaders had any comment to make, perhaps because the sect had Biblical authority for their actions. The sect was even still allowed to have a radio programme, but as soon as they criticized the Hindu religion, they were immediately taken off the air. This had never happened before in the history of the country, but there had never been a Hindu Prime Minister of the country before.
 
A 'nansi Story
Once upon a time, there was a Government Minister who lied to Parliament. His first lie was proven to be a lie beyond any shadow of a doubt. When an Opposition member pursued that particular lie, the Minister dropped a red herring by making statements about former Ministers in the Opposition party. The Minister insisted that this time he was telling the truth, but he was very careful about not making those same statements without the cover of Parliamentary privilege. The Prime Minister just a few months before had been very concerned about "ordinary citizens" - i.e. a major party financier who had received several large Government contracts - being libelled in Parliament. Now, however, the Prime Minister seemed quite comfortable about the same issue.
 
A Horror Story
Once upon a time, alien invaders landed on Earth but were driven off by an army of vampires and werewolves. And, in a small Caribbean country, a dentist was appointed as an Education Minister. But the Prime Minister insisted that children and education were major concerns of "his" Government.

Copyright ©1997 Kevin Baldeosingh