Tyranny: the Daughter of Democracy

Maskwaith Ahsan

December 2018

Art & Literature

English

Tyranny’s megalomania convinces her that she’s the special one sent by God and is indispensable. Her entry into the scene of political theatre was as a messiah who would bring forth democracy to her motherland. On the stage of “Struggle for Democracy”, she performed as a versatile actress, with her effusions of patriotism, murmurs for nationalism and wailings for the martyrs.

Those who had no other means of becoming rich found her an easily navigable stairway to power. Lip-service of obedience towards her was enough to change the fate of the paupers. Her only dream was to achieve unquestionable authority. She started disliking critical intellectuals. After all, intellectualism was a mental disorder and a genetic fault that needed fixing in her opinion.

Tyranny’s preference shifted to soft-intellectuals who sit in cultural shows like disciplined kids of a boarding school; if asked to deliver a lecture they talk about truth, beauty and goodness in mellow, muted tones with abstract notions signifying nothing. Besides the paupers surrounding her favors are such ornamental intellectuals instrumental in her orchestra for democracy.

Praised as the “Daughter of Democracy” she, at last, gets the power she dreamed of all her life. Political paupers finally start to make money and ornamental intellectuals joins the race for awards and recognition. Businessmen, too, join her chariot to ‘diversify’ assets and beat up rivals. Journalists, teachers, doctors, show-biz stars and sportsmen all gather around her like medieval courtroom-sycophants.

When everyone places her above themselves, the myth of “Yes she can. Only she can” can be heard whispered in the winds, waters and twitters. And Tyranny becomes the only authority on patriotism, nationalism and the country, demolishing democracy one pillar at a time.

Intellectual dissent, or any dissent for that matter, is easily jailed in the land of Tyranny and another myth gets established that “If a tiger catches you, it may show mercy but if you are caught by Tyranny, she will not spare you.”

So people from all walks of life surrender to Tyranny’s rule, while the concept of surrendering to God slowly becomes irrelevant.

Ornamental intellectuals claim: “We don’t need democracy or elections because Tyranny is as matchless as God.” Instead they propose, “Let’s call for selection and trust Tyranny to select people’s representatives.”

Tyranny knows no bounds and decides upon the necessity of extra-judicial killings in order to keep the garden clean. The elite force starts the cleansing process, doing away with people like we do away with birds. To balance the scale, Tyranny approves mercy for criminals sentenced by the court but only for those who believe in obedience.

With the unchallenged power to decide life and death, Tyranny’s politics turns into religion. And her sycophants declare: “Either you are with us or against us”.

There’s balance in her chaos: her elite force kills people during the day and at night she distributes money to the distressed. Aboriginals are ethnically cleansed every day and Tyranny accepts refugees tortured by another tyrant. So besides patriotism, nationalism and religiosity, she also assumes the mantle of humanity.

In the meantime political paupers, ornamental intellectuals and sycophant politico-business tycoons make their fortunes, siphon huge amounts of money to democratic countries and build second home there. They do after all want a safe haven for their children because they know well that tyranny is nothing but hell.

Small people living in huts nurture only one dream; for their children to be blessed by Tyranny and get elevated from the oppressed to the royal camp of the oppressor. Becoming an oppressor is the only way to survive.

Tyranny rules over every inch of her subject’s mind without repentance. When she stands in front of a mirror, the mirror asks: “You are the daughter of democracy. Don’t you feel like facing a fair election?”

Before she can answer, a shadow of her sycophant screams at the mirror: “Have you ever heard anyone running an election against God!”