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Message-ID: <1f3qc3z.146e831piqpj4N%jwgh@earthlink.net>
Subject: FTSD: the planet of the fools (rewrite)
From: "Jacob W. Haller" <jwgh at earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 14:10:24 GMT
It's peaceful on the planet of the fools. There's no heavy industry, few cities, little crime. Through some quirk of nature disease mostly passes them by.

It's boring on the planet of the fools, but only if you are not a fool yourself. Fortunately, fools are easily entertained, and the thriving newspaper industry gets by with headlines such as:

SKY STILL BLUE
SUN TO COME UP TOMORROW MORNING
ONE PLUS ONE STILL EQUALS TWO

The fools already know all this, of course, but they think it's nice to have it confirmed.

Occasionally an intelligent person is born on the planet of the fools. It's always a cause for consternation and the parents invariably feel guilty. But somehow the smart children never seem to survive for long. When one dies everyone feels sad and there's always a big funeral.

It wouldn't take much to disrupt the planet of the fools. A single con artist could cause a lot of damage. Outsiders have tried to warn the inhabitants of this, but the fools always respond with a puzzled half-smile and change the subject. In their hearts, they know that such a thing is impossible.

-jwgh

-- 
"Man... Tough world we live in...  First God dies than the blues too. 
Next there won't be any doughnuts or trout fishermen.
     -Jim Wells (jwells at iadfw.net) on Blues-L, 4 Aug 2000

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