Check out this
unusual place:
Persecuted groups
came to create
A place where they
could discriminate.
1840s gold rush
dreams
Preceded years of
get-rich schemes.
Nutty religious
cults explore
End-time prophecies
galore.
Believe whatever if
that's your conviction,
Even if your
"facts" are fiction.
You can construct
your own reality;
"Whatever
goes" is gaining vitality.
Anti-intellectualism
Accompanies attacks
on secularism.
Fewer people think
it's not odd
For leaders to wait
for messages from God.
Satan's causing
natural disasters,
For he's out to get
us, according to some pastors.
Hustlers hustle the
hustled, you see:
Religious
theatricality.
Snake oil is sold
for a quick fix;
Someone always has a
bag of tricks.
Charismatic
visionaries
Hope their income
never varies.
Though P.T. Barnum
is gone, we can say
That humbuggery is
here to stay.
Homeopathic cures
are widespread.
Devious mediums talk
to the dead.
Scare tactics of
foreign "invasions"
Keep popping up on
numerous occasions.
Some have rewritten
the history of the South.
Fake news spread by
cyber "word of mouth."
Commingling
entertainment and news--
Called
"infotainment"--can spread one's views.
Acting out your
fantasy makes you feel
That fantasy--NOT
reality--is real.
People are duped by
made-up scares.
The National Enquirer peddles its wares.
Cosmetic surgery
transforms features.
People are abducted
by strange space creatures.
The fantasy industry
proliferates:
Fox News infects all
fifty states.
Prosperity-gospel
preachers are abounding,
Hoping their
spiritual interest is compounding.
The war on the devil
is not metaphorical,
For scripture, some
say, can't be allegorical.
There are always the
paranoid ones
Who fear the
confiscation of guns.
Groups attempt to
change the rules
So creationism can
be taught in the schools.
Anti-establishment's
becoming the norm;
Mistrust of experts
is taking greater form.
Lies don't matter as
long as you
FEEL that what
someone says is true.
Some fear
"invaders" crossing the border;
Others fear a scary
New World Order.
Distrust places the
media on trial
And fosters climate
change denial.
Some say vaccines do
great harm
And GMO foods are
cause for alarm.
They say gun laws
will only provide
Guns to "bad
guys" with something to hide;
That regulations on
any level
Of finances are the
work of the devil.
A con-man leader
will always keep spinning
The fantasy that
with him we'll be winning.
That fake news is
harmful and only distracts
People entitled to
making up facts.
Voter fraud's still
the talk of the Right;
Conspiracy theories
keep coming to light.
Con artists boldly
state:
Conversion therapy
makes you straight.
If an alternate universe is in demand,
Then WELCOME, ALL,
TO FANTASYLAND!
-by Bob B (11-12-18)
*Inspired by Kurt Andersen's Fantasyland: How America
Went Haywire
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