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The Greatest Leader

3star

00:00 / 04:58

HOW I'VE SURVIVED FASCISM SO FAR (PART FIVE)

Evicted

I encountered a Joker on the street shouting at no one, "I should be king! I'm the most ruthless sociopath in this realm! The one on the throne now is a buffoon compared to me! The oligarchs and kleptocrats and autocrats should give me huge campaign contributions--instead of giving hundreds of millions of dollars to an orangutan! I would rip up the constitution and eliminate all regulations and never tax the rich again! I would burn to ashes any and all human and civil rights! I would send all dissidents and people of color and homeless people and transgender people and gay people to concentration camps (or murder them)! Why don't those idiots get it? Why don't they understand that I'm by far the best sociopath for the job?"
I scurried past the Joker and found homeless people on the sidewalk gazing at apartments from which they had recently been evicted. One of them yelled, "We couldn't work during the pandemic, you idiots! What do you expect, you heartless bastards? Now nobody lives in those apartments, and we're out here on the street without any shelter!"

Vultures Perched on a Car

I kept strolling down the street and encountered vultures perched on a car. Perhaps they believed that they could eat it like they would devour a creature or a human who had died and been left out on the street.

Vultures Harassing Children

As I continued sauntering down the street, I found vultures harassing two children. I rushed at the vultures and shooed them away. Then I grabbed each child by the hand and escorted them back to their home.

Vulture Trying to Carry an Old Man Away

Soon I encountered a large vulture gripping an old man's shoulders with its talons and trying to carry the poor man away. I rushed toward the man and startled the vulture enough to get it to fly away. "Wow," I muttered to myself. "These vultures are showing a lot of temerity--as if they think they can fly away with anybody."

Vultures After a Fire

After a fire burned down a huge section of the city, I found vultures searching for scraps. I discovered that rich people at the same time were buying up properties in the burned area at extremely low prices after the terrible disaster.

Vultures Waiting on My Hospital Bed

I was drowning in debt and had two crummy jobs that didn't pay me enough to survive. I couldn't even afford health insurance. After sinking deeper and deeper into depression, I got sick. I thought that I might have COVID, but I wasn't sure because I couldn't find COVID tests anywhere. Since my lungs hurt, I was pretty sure that I had pneumonia, so I went to the emergency room. Sure enough, I had COVID. Vultures gathered on my hospital bed and waited to see if I would live or die.

Rich Man on a Golden Path

I might have become a bit delirious because as I sprawled on my hospital bed, I had a vision of a rich man on a golden path that was strewn with bones and haunted by skeletons.

In the Garden

I must have started hallucinating because I imagined myself as a knight in a castle garden where flower petals stuck to my armor.

Receiving a Message

Suddenly a strange bird flew through a window with a message. The bird squawked, "Go to the underworld. Go to the underworld!" I pulled the message from the tube and read, "Go now to the underworld and face the darkness within you."

Journey to the Underworld

I found the message perplexing, but I soon found a stairway that wound down into a cave below the castle.

Werewolf in Its Den

Soon I encountered a werewolf in its den. Was it revealing some kind of uncontrollable dangerous bestial force within me? I'm not sure because it wouldn't answer me when I asked it questions. It just stared at me and occasionally growled.

Monster at a Dinner Table

Eventually I wandered away from the werewolf's den and entered a room in the cave where a table was set for dinner, which was good because I was hungry. Suddenly a terrible monster swept down and tore everything apart and devoured everything that was edible. Then it looked at me, and I ran for my life.

Isis

I wondered out loud if the monster revealed that something within me wanted to eat everything and tear everything to pieces--at the expense of everyone else's needs. Suddenly Isis with rainbow wings appeared before me. "A power-hungry monster," she stated, "tore apart my husband and flung his body parts far and wide. In tears, I gathered his body, and through my magic I brought him back to life. You too have the magic to turn horror and tragedy into harmony. Don't give up."

Osiris

Isis guided me to thrown of her husband, Osiris, who spoke, "My brother tore me to pieces but my beloved Isis brought me back to life, and I am now the God of the Spirit realm. Know that your spirit is full of harmony, abundance, and magnificence no matter what happens to you. If you die, you will be reborn. Do not fear, my friend."

Mother Earth?

Suddenly I found myself above ground. A Goddess stood before me. "Even though vultures want to eat you alive, and greedy, power-hungry people try to rob you of everything--even your thoughts and feelings--you can still know all the rainbow colors of the earth and the spiritual realms. You can find peace in the earth and in the spirit of the creatures of the earth and in the dimensions of Universal Consciousness. Don't give up, dear child."

Tiger Lilies

Suddenly tiger lilies surrounded me. Their beauty and pungent fragrance opened my heart to even the tiniest creatures of the earth and to the spirit within the vastness of the cosmos.

All poems, stories, essays, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2025 by Jim Robbins.

Pissed Off King

watr24

00:00 / 03:28

HOW I'VE SURVIVED FASCISM SO FAR (PART SIX)

Arrested for Hate Speech

Some traitor had criticized the king, so the king declared that he would designate any criticism of him or his beloved minions as "hate speech." He also declared that he would make sure that traitors who use "hate speech" would be fired from their job and blackballed so that the traitors would never get another job. Anyone who indulges in hate speech more than once would be sent to a concentration camp, and anyone who indulges in hate speech more than twice would be publicly executed. He named the new law "Three Strikes and You're Out."
I joined a large protest against the king and said a couple of things that might be interpreted as hate speech, so I was arrested.

On Trial

At the time of the protest, I didn't know that the king had signed an executive order that had enshrined "Three Strikes and You're Out" into law. Before my trial, my lawyer had informed me that ignorance is not a legally acceptable excuse for breaking the law.
"But is an executive order really a law?" I asked my lawyer.
"It is now," he replied.
At the beginning of my trial, my defense lawyer asked me what I thought about the king. I replied, "I believe that he is a great king, perhaps the greatest king who has ever lived. During the protest, I was just expressing what I believed to be the truth about one of the king's policies. At the time, I believed that I still had the right to free speech. I only found out later that the king had prohibited free speech. If I had known about the prohibition, I would never have said anything. I would like to apologize to the king, whom I have always greatly admired. At the protest, I never intended what I considered my truth to be interpreted as a criticism of the king."

Pestle on a Pounding Stone

I continued, "I would like to confess my other errors of judgement to the jury in this hallowed court. I won't ever believe that immigrants from another realm committed genocide against the native peoples here just to steal their land.

Fascist Tyranny

"I also no longer believe that slave owners who considered human beings property simply because of their skin color were practicing a form of fascist tyranny," I stated to the jury. "In fact, now I don't believe that slavery ever existed in this realm."

Removal Van

I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't: "I also don't believe, no matter how many times that I've been told, that masked thugs without identification are kidnapping people and sending them to concentration camps without due process.

Detention Center

"Why would anyone believe that people who have committed crimes are being illegally detained? The realm's powerful new paramilitary force should be thanked for their great loyalty and integrity. If you do the crime, you've got to do the time, as they say."

Pissed Off Prosecutor

The prosecutor shook his finger angrily at me. "You're not being truthful. I'm warning you. Don't treat this court like it's a farce!" he exclaimed.

Invasion

I smiled, but continued, "I don't believe that this great realm has ever invaded another sovereign nation illegally or without justification, or that our own military is now invading our own cities. Our king would never command the military to attack his own people."

Bombing a Sovereign Nation without a Congressional Declaration of War

The prosecutor frowned, but I continued, "This great realm would never bomb another sovereign nation without a congressional declaration of war, nor would it ever murder or execute innocent people in other countries or in this country without due process."

Ecocide #1

"Objection, your honor!" the prosecutor yelled.
The judge replied, "Overruled! The defendent has the right to support his case by showing his patriotism."
I continued, "Thank you, your honor. As a patriot, I will never believe that this great realm has ever allowed people to commit ecocide. All the once magnificent forests have obviously disappeared through natural processes."

Ecocide #2

The prosecutor gave me an angry look, but I continued, "This great realm would never kill rivers and wetlands by diverting water to irrigate the crops of wealthy landowners. We live in a magnificent realm where everyone can enjoy our resources and everyone has an equal chance to prosper!"

Ecocide #3

The prosecutor grunted, but I continued, "Global warming is a hoax. If the planet is warming up a bit, it's just what happens now and then. This realm has nothing to do with forests being reduced to dirt and ashes through terrible fires caused by climate change. The scientists are wrong! It's just a natural occurrence!"

Poppies

The prosecutor shook his head, but I continued, "All those beautiful pictures of flowers are just AI generated images. Nature has never been that beautiful. A few radical left-wing lunatics are trying to make us believe that capitalists in this realm are despoiling nature. Any radical leftists who say stuff like that should be arrested for inciting violence through 'hate speech.'"

Perpetual War

The prosecutor guffawed, but I continued, "Some radicals claim that this realm supports the military industrial complex with over half of its discretionary spending in order to maintain perpetual war so that a few corporations can make a huge killing. That's just fake news, really just a kind of hate speech."

Traitor

I paused, and the judge asked me if I had anything more to add. I continued, "Thank you, your honor. I would just like to say that I am a patriot. Anyone who criticizes our beloved king or our magnificent realm should be hanged upside down by the foot in the public square as a traitor."

Goat God

The jury quickly acquitted me. After I got home, I decided to create my own alternate reality by manifesting the god-form of Pan and enjoying the flowers and visiting ancient pounding stones in the foothills.

All poems, stories, essays, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2025 by Jim Robbins.

Nine of Swords: Lord of Despair and Cruelty

24hey

00:00 / 03:14

HOW I'VE SURVIVED FASCISM SO FAR (PART SEVEN)

Fascist Troll

I woke up filled with despair and anger due to the fascist takeover of the realm. I suddenly felt like directing anger and cruelty at those who were responsible for the oppression, but suddenly it occurred to me that I wasn't normally an angry or cruel or despairing person, so I released my negativity and got ready for work.
As I was walking to work, I encountered a troll on the sidewalk. The troll shouted, "You're a vermin who is poisoning the blood of the good citizens of this realm! You'll soon see--we are going to exterminate all insects like you!"
Suddenly I wondered if I had unintentionally projected my anger out at other people in the neighborhood and had turned at least one of them into a troll.

Fascist Salute

During my break, I hung out in the lunchroom and ate a snack. I noticed on TV the king was giving a fascist salute. Then he presented a speech, "I hate my enemies! I hate the horrible left-wing lunatics who are responsible for all the extremism and violence in this realm. We must send them all to concentration camps and exterminate them! That, good citizens, is our final solution!"

Fascist Pundit

I quickly changed the channel. A pundit sneered, "The left-wing can only be defined now as a domestic terrorist organization! They are attempting to destroy everything that is noble and great in this realm! We've got dangerous homeless people and illegal immigrant criminals and left-wing terrorists everywhere. We need to give them all an involuntary lethal injection--just kill them!"

Fascist Storm

I turned off the TV. Then I a noticed a storm brewing in one of my coworkers. He looked like he wanted to kill me. I once thought that he was a cool guy, but I realized that he wasn't really my friend. I dashed out of the lunchroom and decided to take a walk during the remainder of my break.

Upside Down

As soon as I stepped out of the office, the world turned upside down. Afraid that I was going to fall into the sky, I grabbed a tree-trunk and held on for dear life.

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Threatening Rebellious Subordinates and Dissidents

After I had hung onto the tree for a couple of minutes, the world seemed to turn right-side up again. "Whew, I thought I was a goner!" I sighed. Then I quickly returned to my cubicle in the office.
Suddenly a coworker friend of mine peaked his head into my cubicle and exclaimed, "Hey, you've just got to see this!" I followed him as he rushed toward the lunchroom.
On TV, the king was threatening to hang anyone disloyal to him. He held up a noose and shook it violently. The king sneered, "If you are a rebellious subordinate or a dissident who criticizes me, you will one day find a noose around your neck!"

Demonic Project

"Seems like we are all suffering from feelings of despair and anger--must be some kind of mass psychosis, I think," I mumbled. My friend turned to a different channel, and I could see a demon standing next to an open book. The caption at the bottom of the screen read, "Project 25."

Fascist Paramilitary

Afraid that the police were coming for us, my coworker friend and I burst out of the office and dashed down the street. Suddenly a man in a military uniform pointed a machine gun at us. "Stop!" he yelled. "If you are homeless or an illegal immigrant or a dissident, I will have to detain you!"
"No, no!" I gasped. "We are coworkers on a break. We're just racing back to the office before our break ends."
"I will have to detain you anyway. You look like dissidents," he sneered.
"Look!" I yelled. "A homeless man!" As the soldier turned away to look, my friend and I dashed away.

Finding a Job

The soldier fired his machine gun at us as we dove behind a trash bin. Then we dashed around the corner and escaped down the street and found a homeless man meditating next to the sidewalk. He seemed to have a terrible rash all over his body. "You need to get out of here, my friend!" I exclaimed. "Soldiers are rounding up homeless people in this neighborhood right now!"
"I'm sure you've heard of the man named Job in the bible," he replied. "I became terribly ill, and I lost my home and family and all of my possessions, just like Job. I'm sure the paramilitary force will find me soon. I'm without much hope for the future, my friend. You know, you two should to get out of here before they catch up to you. You look like dissidents."

Fascist Invasion

In the distance my friend and I could see fascist soldiers attacking the people of the realm. "The military is waging war against its own people!" My friend cried.
"The fascists are taking over," I replied.

Illegal and Unjustified War against a Sovereign Nation

My friend and I quietly tiptoed away from the soldiers and eventually found a safer part of town. We stopped to rest in front of a store window. Through the store window, we could watch TV--on the screen a bomb was exploding in some other realm. "The fascists must be invading sovereign realms without congressional approval. The fascists are murdering people all over the world," I groaned.

Justice: Libra

On the store wall, I could see a painting of Justice holding up a sword. "Don't despair, my friend," I comforted him. "We can still bring harmony and balance back into the world--even if only a little at a time. It's not over yet." My friend looked at me with tears in his eyes.

Mother Mary

Suddenly we entered a church and encountered a woman who looked like Mother Mary. She turned to us and stated, "The answer to all of this hatred is forgiveness. We can release all of this negativity from our hearts. Only through love and forgiveness can we be free."

Fascist Swamp

My friend and I headed out of town. Soon we came upon a fascist surrounded by alligators in a swamp. The fascist laughed at us, "You have found Alligator Auschwitz. You are obviously both dissidents. Guards! Arrest these fools and take them to the concentration camp!"

Alligator Auschwitz

My friend and I were separated and dragged to different parts of the camp. The guard sneered at me as he dragged me to a tent, "You think you deserve due process? Idiot! Due process no longer exists in this realm. We're going to shave your head and starve you and work you to death. Good luck, sucker!"

Escaping Fascism

Whenever I could, I searched for my friend in the camp. I wasn't even sure that he was still alive. I was beginning to starve, so I decided that I had to escape from Alligator Auschwitz without my friend. Tears streamed down my face, but I convinced myself that I could somehow come back and help him to escape. I crawled under the fence at night under a full moon and ran as fast as I could past sleeping alligators and pythons. I had finally made it out the swamp.

All poems, stories, essays, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2025 by Jim Robbins.

Creating a World

bwarm2

00:00 / 05:38

HOW I'VE SURVIVED FASCISM SO FAR (PART EIGHT)

The Magician: Mercury

After I escaped from Alligator Auschwitz, I experienced the overwhelming feeling that the whole world was going insane--and that I was also losing my mind. I still had a little money in the bank--I checked my savings account and discovered that I had enough money for a session with a psychiatrist.
After I got there, I waited for a few minutes, then the psychiatrist invited me to sit on the floor. "You told me over the phone that you feel like your world has fallen apart. What I want you to do for me now is to rebuild your world. Create a building with these toys and tell me what kind of people you would want to include in your world."
That sounded kind of fun, so I grabbed some blocks and started building a castle. "I would like a magician to live with me in my castle--someone who remains in touch with the dimensions of Universal Consciousness, someone who is capable of manifesting a harmonious, beautiful, just world," I told him.

The High Priestess: The Moon

"Hmmm, very interesting. Please, build your castle," the psychiatrist urged.
"I would like a high priestess to live in my castle too," I replied. "Someone who can help me and others stay in touch with the Source of all creation. Someone connected to all dimensions of Universal Consciousness who can keep people in my community connected with each other and help individuals stay connected with the unity of all of creation."

Three of Pentacles

"Wonderful! Please continue," the psychiatrist encouraged me.
"Yeah, okay. I would like a monk and an architect and some masons to live in my castle too," I replied. "In other words, I would like someone who can see into the spiritual realms--someone who has visions of symbols that represent spiritual principle--to help the architect design the great cathedral. And, of course, I would need masons to build the physical structure of the church."
"I see! Someone with spiritual vision who can guide the architect to incorporate spiritual symbols into the building's structure. The monk has the spiritual skills, and the architect has the creative and intellectual skills, and the masons have the necessary physical skills. Together, they can complete the process of manifestation. Very nice," the psychiatrist replied.

Ten of Pentacles: Lord of Wealth

"Thank you," I replied. "I would also like the Lord of Wealth to join me in the castle. He knows the paths of the Tree of Life. He is someone who can manifest abundance for the families who live in the city and in the castle. When families live with abundance, it's easier for them to experience joy and happiness and love for each other."

Three of Cups

"Happiness and abundance and love is definitely better than fear and anger and cruelty," the psychiatrist replied.
"Yep. And I would like creative people to live with me in my castle--you know, writers and artists and composers and musicians and dancers who can bring us together through their wonderful insights and creativity and harmony and joyfulness."

r

The Devil: Capricorn

"A wonderful vision of a new world, my friend!" the psychiatrist smiled. "But what would you do if something or someone disrupted your ideal world? This world, after all, is not free of darkness. How would you deal with the cruelty and evil in your world?"
Suddenly I had a vision of the devil in my mind's eye. I replied, "I think we're seeing how powerful people use methods of domination to retain control of the world, but I'm not sure that I would want to use those methods."
The psychiatrist responded, "What do you mean by 'methods of domination'? And what do you think is wrong with those methods?"

Banana Republic

"Well, I don't think that I would create some kind of banana republic, where one leader is surrounded by plutocrats who control a population through cruelty and fear. That would undermine my vision of sacredness and harmony and beauty and joy within my community. Rulers of one kind or another, call them kings or feudal lords or employers, throughout history have relied on some form of tyranny to control human society--the tyranny throughout history differs only in degree. Most of the people throughout the history of civilization have been treated either as chattel slaves or as serfs or as wage slaves. Maybe I'm searching for a different kind of social order, one that doesn't rely on tyranny."

Pincushion

I continued, "I want to build a society where everyone has dignity, where everyone experiences the harmony, abundance, and magnificence of the spirit. A society where we take care of the poor and each other, a society where no one is marginalized or cast aside. A society where we can all follow our own worldly path and our own spiritual path. Do you think that is asking too much?"
"No, not entirely," the psychiatrist responded. "But that kind of society would be quite a challenge to create and maintain in the world as it exists now. Realistically--how would you create it?"
"We could start with a living wage," I replied. "Wages have remained stagnant for decades but prices keep rising, which forces the vast majority of us to go deep into debt. Honestly, when you go shopping, you can feel like you're being jabbed with a pin every time you place something in your grocery cart."
"That's often true," the psychiatrist responded sympathetically. "But how would you increase wages and keep prices down when money is considered speech and corporations and the rich control politicians through campaign contributions? The elite make sure that they continue to make a profit. That amounts to more inflation but few or no wage increases."
"Yeah, that is not democracy. That is tyranny," I replied. "A handful of people make the decisions within a corporation or a company, and the employees have little or no say in how the profits are spent even though they do most of the work. Only about three percent of the people in this society are members of the employer class, and they set the prices and they decide how much to contribute to politicians and how much to pay employees. The rich and the corporations strive to concentrate wealth--they don't want a free market. Corporations strive to create monopolies so that they can more easily control prices and wages, and they make sure through campaign contributions that politicians do little or nothing to break up their monopolistic control. We need to democratize the enterprise. You might call that socialism. I call it a true form of democracy."

Eight of Swords

"Do you really believe that socialism is possible in this country?" my psychiatrist politely inquired.
"What you are really asking is whether or not democracy is really possible in this country," I replied. "Is it really possible to maintain a democracy when a few people control most of the power and control most of the wealth? Is it really possible to maintain a democracy when women and minorities are exploited and subjugated and oppressed? Corporations and employers show no fealty to anything other than the bottom line, not to the people who work for them. Are the super-wealthy striving for more money for themselves or for more equality for the people of this country? Or do you believe that equality applies only to about thirty percent of the population, in other words, white men?"

Worker Bee

The psychiatrist remained silent. I continued, "Do you think worker bees can feel good about themselves when they are being exploited and don't make a living wage and remain deep in debt and have little or no political power? Is capitalism good for psychological health?"

Permanent Underclass

I continued, "The rich need a permanent underclass in order to make worker bees fear that they will lose their job and then end up impoverished and marginalized. Is that good for their psychological health? Part of the underclass ends up in a private prison system as slave laborers. Is that good for their psychological health? Is that equality or is that capitalism plus poverty plus slavery?"

Paramilitary and Military Forces

The psychiatrist remained silent. I continued, "People are getting desperate because of the great disparity of wealth and the social inequality and the debt that is overwhelming most of us. The super-wealthy are starting to worry as they squeeze more and more money out of the worker bees who are getting more and more desperate, so they send military and paramilitary forces into the cities to intimidate the masses. That is why my friend and I ended up in a concentration camp. I escaped, but I might never find out if my friend is still alive. Don't you get it? I am being driven insane by fascism, which is essentially 'capitalism plus enslavement in concentration camps plus murder.' We are experiencing a treasonous conspiracy to overthrow democracy--wherever it exists--in the workplace or in the schools or in the church or in the political and economic realms."

Homeless Veteran

The psychiatrist opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I continued, "The politicians, ruled by the super-rich, are commanding the military to conduct an illegal and unconstitutional war on the citizens of this country. The irony is that many of the members of the military will end up homeless on the streets--about five percent of the adult homeless population, in fact. Nobody is safe. Not even you, my friend. The fascists don't want people to be happy and healthy--they want people to be sick and full of hate and uneducated and terrified and psychotic. They've unleashed the military on us, you and me and everyone else. They might start rounding up psychiatrists and teachers and spiritual leaders and dissidents next."

Oligarch

The oligarchs and kleptocrats and plutocrats are becoming more and more afraid because they keep causing more and more misery and death throughout the world. Nine million men, women, and children die from starvation every year while a handful of people accumulate and horde more and more wealth every second. Numerous people die from gun violence and from smoking cigarettes and from drinking alcohol and from overdosing on drugs and from lack of access to health care and from global warming and from the poisoning of the planet. The obscenely rich are cracking down on us because they believe that fascism, not democracy, will keep the mobs from breaking down their doors."

Insurrectionists

I continued, "I'm not blaming you. I know you're trying to help people survive this collective nightmare. But I would like you to confront your own soul. What more can you do to stop this social disaster? We're all in this together. We don't have to resort to insurrection or violence, but we can each do a little every day to make some kind of change for the better."

Starting Over

The psychiatrist mused for a moment and then told me that my hour was up. I thanked the psychiatrist and drove to the foothills, where I lost myself in the grass. I released all of my negativity and realized that I could start over as I experienced the peace and tranquility of the trees and the grass and the flowers and the earth.

All poems, stories, essays, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2025 by Jim Robbins.

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