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THE FALDERA DOCTRINE: A FABLE The kingdom of Faldera is a faraway place completely isolated from the rest of the world by high, snowcapped mountains. If it had not been for a crashed balloonist the rest of the world would never have known about it. Tom Parker was the only one to survive the crash, but he never got out of Faldera. Only his diary did. I bought it from a Sherpa I met in Katmandu. Parker's account of life in Faldera is both fascinating and disturbing. This is his story: The people of Faldera always look very happy. This puzzled Parker at first until he gradually became aware that every citizen of Faldera was forced to pretend by their King Tsong Chang. Those who did not pretend paid heavy penalties. For example, any citizen who failed to pretend to be happy and had a frown on his face instead of the mandatory smile was rewarded with 30 days of hard labour which in Faldera was called recreation. Ill people pretended to be healthy, poor people pretended to be rich, and everyone pretended to love, honour and obey their king. The first time Parker noticed there was something strange about these people was when someone told him the sky was always green in Faldera. A person could end up in prison for a very long time if one dared say that the sky was actually blue. The king had decreed that the sky was green and no one dared dispute anything the king said. Not only was the sky green, trees were blue and snow was said to be black. Truth was a lie and lies were truth. Exploitation was called service, dictatorship was called democracy, conflict was called peace, insanity was called wisdom and death was called life.The Falderan national anthem is Life Is Wonderful. For entering Faldera without an invitation the king rewarded Parker with ten years of freedom all of which he spent in prison which was called paradise. No one dared contradict the king's decrees. With some rare exceptions people really believed all these things, for to think differently meant one was not like the others and so when a person believed the sky was actually blue, he thought there was something wrong with his eyesight and when something was heavy he knew his muscles had to be weak. No Falderan wanted to be an outcast. It was dangerous not to be like everybody else. Everyone knew that only abnormal people were normal. Long before Parker crashed in Faldera there had been a short-lived revolution. It was led by Skepticus, an enlightened man who dared say that the king was crazy. But people assumed that meant the king was very intelligent. Skepticus fought for freedom, but most Falderans believed that meant they would suffer for they had been taught that freedom was slavery. The rebel and his followers were not punished but rewarded by being hanged. It was seen as an act of royal mercy. I have read Parker's diary over and over and lately I am beginning to believe that the Falderans have infiltrated our society, brainwashing us like they have been brainwashed themselves. I can see more and more evidence to support my suspicion and the scariest part is that no one seems to have noticed.... * * * |