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Literature Text
The serpentine Hydra of Grecian myth is well known for its deadly characteristics had many heads filled with fangs and hungry for human flesh, no sword or axe blade no matter how sharp could provide a fatal decapitation, for as we all know the neck stumps would merely sprout more heads to replace the one lost.
Today the whole world is menaced by a different sort of Hydra; the good news is that this one has only two heads, the bad news is no one has gotten close to chopping off either head to see if this one shares its ancestor's skill at regeneration. Each head despite being joined at the neck has its own separate name like a conjoined twin. Those names are State and Capital, State and Capital like most brothers are keen to compete to prove who's the stronger of the two and prone to arguments even on occasion violent disagreement. Perhaps because there is only two heads, both control not just the head and neck but split their shared body down the middle. State with sharper fangs and claws controls the left, whilst Capital possessing a silvery forked tongue and hypnotising eyes controls the right. Despite their disagreements they can agree on one thing, that domination and control of the world serves them both equally and when faced with a genuine threat will like any good family work together to overcome every obstacle.
Unfortunately for humanity the source of the Hydra's threats is the struggle for freedom and dignity. In order for Humanity to make gains they must take away from the Hydra's domain, and chip at its scaly hide, too much of this and the Hydra will die and rot away. So like any beast State and Capital will fight to assert their shared dominion of humankind. This struggle has been going on for centuries, usually the hypnotic eyes of Capital and the sharp fangs of State give the Hydra the upper hand, but on rare occasions humanity has pushed back the Hydra and reclaimed part of its territory. Humanity's greatest asset in the struggle against the Reptilian twins has been its numbers and the ability to organise in Solidarity with each other, when attacked on all sides two heads are simply not enough to achieve victory.
Unfortunately such Unity is rare in human history, for State and Capital are not unthinking brutes, on the contrary they are clever and know well the dangers of allowing the human race to organise itself and have developed some clever tricks to make total unity impossible. State uses its sharp claws to divide up the world into smaller chunks called Nations. Not all Nations are equal (that's the clever part) some are large, others small, some have a bounty of natural wealth others know only scarcity. The differences are quite literally set in stone, and it is not long before these differences affect the minds of the humans living within them. Those living in the biggest and richest count themselves fortunate and consider that they are also rich and big, whilst those whom live in the smaller lands and scarcer territories in a warped testament to the human spirit draw strength and pride from their lands short comings viewing those whom live in more favoured lands to be weak and sheltered. In each land more and more humans come to give thanks to the Hydra for dividing up the world for them, calling their new territories "Nation States" with a small band of extra enthusiastic supporters becoming known as the Statists whom profess to rule their lands in the name of State and the indifference of their brothers and sisters.
And Capital was also hard at work, while State was busy dividing up the lands he was busy dividing up the people within those lands. In each new Nation State Capital went to he mesmerised a select few to view themselves as better than their brothers and sisters, he told them to believe that the Nation and its riches belong to them and them alone, that they are in effect a class apart from their fellow Nationals and should not treat them as brothers and sisters. And so these bands of ambitious men and women began laying claim to their lands and resources, each acquisition gave them more pleasure and prestige, and served to detach and elevate them from their brothers and sisters fulfilling Capitals promise. After claiming all their Nations had to offer this new class faced to dilemma's, the first and most pressing was how to get at the riches of the lands, the fertility of the fields, the metals in the mountains and fish of the seas and lakes, the second was the hostility of the Statists whom did not like their attempts to divide up the land and their people. To the Statists what matter was the differences between States no those within them. The solution to the first problem was to use their brothers and sisters whom they had distanced themselves, many of whom had begun to look enviously upon the riches owned by the new class. In exchange for giving up their labour (the one resource this new class could not own outright) to work the lands growing crops, and mining the mountains, and fishing the lakes and seas the new class now called Owners would reward the non-Owners, now called Labourers -after their only Virtue the Owners believed them to possess- with a portion of the wealth of the Nation. The solution to the problem with the Statists whose hostility could lead to violence in a mockery of the familial disputes between the Hydra heads was to reassure the Statists that the Owners where still part of the Nation of which the Statists ruled they were just a better class then the Labourers. By working together the Owners and Statists would stand strong and tall over the other Nations.
The alliance of the Owners and Statists were then cemented by a clever practice known as taxation, in order to keep the Statists strong the Owners would give a portion of their wealth to the Statists whom would use it to strengthen the Nation. So close did the two grow that the Owners soon openly declared themselves Capitalists in honour of their Patron Hydra head. And thus humanity was bitterly divided and the battle against the Hydra's waned and their domination of the world seemed total and complete.
To be continued.
Today the whole world is menaced by a different sort of Hydra; the good news is that this one has only two heads, the bad news is no one has gotten close to chopping off either head to see if this one shares its ancestor's skill at regeneration. Each head despite being joined at the neck has its own separate name like a conjoined twin. Those names are State and Capital, State and Capital like most brothers are keen to compete to prove who's the stronger of the two and prone to arguments even on occasion violent disagreement. Perhaps because there is only two heads, both control not just the head and neck but split their shared body down the middle. State with sharper fangs and claws controls the left, whilst Capital possessing a silvery forked tongue and hypnotising eyes controls the right. Despite their disagreements they can agree on one thing, that domination and control of the world serves them both equally and when faced with a genuine threat will like any good family work together to overcome every obstacle.
Unfortunately for humanity the source of the Hydra's threats is the struggle for freedom and dignity. In order for Humanity to make gains they must take away from the Hydra's domain, and chip at its scaly hide, too much of this and the Hydra will die and rot away. So like any beast State and Capital will fight to assert their shared dominion of humankind. This struggle has been going on for centuries, usually the hypnotic eyes of Capital and the sharp fangs of State give the Hydra the upper hand, but on rare occasions humanity has pushed back the Hydra and reclaimed part of its territory. Humanity's greatest asset in the struggle against the Reptilian twins has been its numbers and the ability to organise in Solidarity with each other, when attacked on all sides two heads are simply not enough to achieve victory.
Unfortunately such Unity is rare in human history, for State and Capital are not unthinking brutes, on the contrary they are clever and know well the dangers of allowing the human race to organise itself and have developed some clever tricks to make total unity impossible. State uses its sharp claws to divide up the world into smaller chunks called Nations. Not all Nations are equal (that's the clever part) some are large, others small, some have a bounty of natural wealth others know only scarcity. The differences are quite literally set in stone, and it is not long before these differences affect the minds of the humans living within them. Those living in the biggest and richest count themselves fortunate and consider that they are also rich and big, whilst those whom live in the smaller lands and scarcer territories in a warped testament to the human spirit draw strength and pride from their lands short comings viewing those whom live in more favoured lands to be weak and sheltered. In each land more and more humans come to give thanks to the Hydra for dividing up the world for them, calling their new territories "Nation States" with a small band of extra enthusiastic supporters becoming known as the Statists whom profess to rule their lands in the name of State and the indifference of their brothers and sisters.
And Capital was also hard at work, while State was busy dividing up the lands he was busy dividing up the people within those lands. In each new Nation State Capital went to he mesmerised a select few to view themselves as better than their brothers and sisters, he told them to believe that the Nation and its riches belong to them and them alone, that they are in effect a class apart from their fellow Nationals and should not treat them as brothers and sisters. And so these bands of ambitious men and women began laying claim to their lands and resources, each acquisition gave them more pleasure and prestige, and served to detach and elevate them from their brothers and sisters fulfilling Capitals promise. After claiming all their Nations had to offer this new class faced to dilemma's, the first and most pressing was how to get at the riches of the lands, the fertility of the fields, the metals in the mountains and fish of the seas and lakes, the second was the hostility of the Statists whom did not like their attempts to divide up the land and their people. To the Statists what matter was the differences between States no those within them. The solution to the first problem was to use their brothers and sisters whom they had distanced themselves, many of whom had begun to look enviously upon the riches owned by the new class. In exchange for giving up their labour (the one resource this new class could not own outright) to work the lands growing crops, and mining the mountains, and fishing the lakes and seas the new class now called Owners would reward the non-Owners, now called Labourers -after their only Virtue the Owners believed them to possess- with a portion of the wealth of the Nation. The solution to the problem with the Statists whose hostility could lead to violence in a mockery of the familial disputes between the Hydra heads was to reassure the Statists that the Owners where still part of the Nation of which the Statists ruled they were just a better class then the Labourers. By working together the Owners and Statists would stand strong and tall over the other Nations.
The alliance of the Owners and Statists were then cemented by a clever practice known as taxation, in order to keep the Statists strong the Owners would give a portion of their wealth to the Statists whom would use it to strengthen the Nation. So close did the two grow that the Owners soon openly declared themselves Capitalists in honour of their Patron Hydra head. And thus humanity was bitterly divided and the battle against the Hydra's waned and their domination of the world seemed total and complete.
To be continued.
I'll admit this is a weird one, I wanted to break from the horror and political themes in the stuff I was writing (that didn't turnout so good) and wanted to try my hand at a fantasy or fairy tale.
Now Fairy Tale were originally designed for children to teach them very important lessons, for example Hansel and Gretel is about why going into the woods is dangerous, and less a warning against Witches. And I wanted to do a modern explanation of the world for children.
Since most Fairy Tales were originally quite dark and scary I thought a negative tinge would be best, and since I've been reading a lot of Anarchist literature it seem obvious at the time to make the system of states and capitalism which Anarchism all ready calls monsters, to be an actual monster, and since the two are linked in Anarchist theory why not a two headed beast? And thats why its a Hydra, if you're wondering why it only has two heads, well I may explain that in another tale.
Now Fairy Tale were originally designed for children to teach them very important lessons, for example Hansel and Gretel is about why going into the woods is dangerous, and less a warning against Witches. And I wanted to do a modern explanation of the world for children.
Since most Fairy Tales were originally quite dark and scary I thought a negative tinge would be best, and since I've been reading a lot of Anarchist literature it seem obvious at the time to make the system of states and capitalism which Anarchism all ready calls monsters, to be an actual monster, and since the two are linked in Anarchist theory why not a two headed beast? And thats why its a Hydra, if you're wondering why it only has two heads, well I may explain that in another tale.
© 2012 - 2024 Skargill
Comments7
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This is very good. And I like your philosophical touch in the description, especially the word tinge. 