Challenge #02286-F096: An Effective Apocollapse

"Interesting Times" the four horsemen of panic. "Misinformation, Rumour, Gossip and Denial". And Boy! does this remind me of politics, common and the more toxic. -- Knitnan

This is the way the world ends, T. S. Elliot wrote, Not with a bang, but a whimper. How sad, how tragic, that it almost came true. For the Horsemen to ride, it wasn't necessary to have War, Famine, Pestilence and Death in force. No, they started much, much smaller. After all, it is from little things that big things grow. Little things like Misinformation, Rumour, Gossip and Denial. The other four came anyway, of course they did. It was the other four that blazed the trail.

Misinformation whispered in ears, of pseudoscience and ancient wisdom and of how many chemicals were in everything headed for children's bodies. Of how evolution would make children stronger if they fought disease naturally. Of course everything natural was better. Of course essential oils were the cure. That was why they were called 'essential'.

Rumour tickled assorted earlobes with tales of how those types were small criminals escaping the brutal justice of their more criminal overlords. How they were sleeper cell members out to collapse society. How they were a drain on the economy by having too many babies. People heard about their ridiculous, unpronounceable names whilst on their way to pick up little Maqeyleigheigh and KVIItlyn[1] from Yoga For Tots.

Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 49 Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories!