A couple of shorts
Ressentiment
“One person should never have so much power! We die and starve at his whim, while he lives lavishly in his palace. Let’s depose him and establish a republican society to rule instead” — they said.
“The republicans are old and corrupt. They just cannot take decisions, they send our sons to fight useless wars and take advantage of our daughters. These decrepit, wretched old mongrels! We need to unite for one true leader who is strong, righteous and just.” — they said.
“They treat us workers like vermins. We have no rights, no liberty, we are treated like beasts of burden! We need to break free and demand an equal society. A society where each and every one of us have equal rights and equal ownership. We demand communism!” — they said
“There is no growth in our economy. Our systems are not productive. None of us have the drive to work hard. We are so much poorer than our Western counterparts. Commies suck, we demand free markets!” — they said
The City
The city is beautiful. It has one of the largest art museum with its pristine collection of antique art, an extremely posh downtown with restaurants serving every imaginable gourmet cuisine, theaters and opera houses hosting some of the recent works from some of the best directors and musicians, tall skyscrapers with head offices of some the largest finance, media and tech firms in the country. The main attraction is a beautiful man-made lagoon with artificial islands that has private houses of some of the richest people of the world.
The city is ruthless. It’s collection of antiques and arts are pre-colonial artifacts procured and stolen from older local settlements. The streets leading to the downtown are full of homeless people who cannot afford housing due to steep rents. The theaters and opera houses reek of the disappointment of the hundreds of actors and musicians who struggle daily to find a break. The few tall skyscrapers mirror the wealth gap in the city with its few billionaires and countless paupers. The lagoon is the result of sweat and often blood of thousands of underpaid immigrant laborers.
