“So… darlings... Are we participating in the equal rights march this weekend or not?” PINKIE asked, as she downed another shot.

​

“I’m in,” ZUR said, biting into his food.

​

“Why are you even asking me? You know I’m going. And this year BUNS is going to be with me as well, in the form of this little cutie,” OBR said, as he threw the SKIMMA up in the air and caught it.

​

Lightning briefly lit up the street-side tent they sat in, as the rain outside intensified.

​

“What about you, TINFOIL?” PINKIE asked, as she gave the fourth member of their dining party a quick inquiring look, before looking across the bar and ordering another round of drinks and shots for everybody.

​

“Not sure,” TINFOIL said, as she swung her bar stool from side to side.

​

“Why? What’s the problem?” ZUR asked, through a mouthful of food.

​

“Chew first. Questions second. Simpleton!” PINKIE said, grabbing ZUR’s ear. “But seriously, TINFOIL. Why?” she asked, as she continued pulling on ZUR’s ear.

​

“I refuse to play their game,” TINFOIL said, leaning in.

​

“Whose?” OBR whispered.

​

“Theirs. The ones who control it all.”

​

“What are you talking about?” PINKIE asked, finally letting go of ZUR’s ear.

​

“It’s all a sham. All of it. Sexism. Racism. Discrimination based on religion, sexual orientation and what not. It’s all made up nonsense,” TINFOIL answered.

​

“We know. That’s why we’re protesting it. We want equal rights because anything else is, like you say, nonsense,” PINKIE shot back.

 

TINFOIL began to speak, but stopped as the waiter arrived with the drinks. She waited until he was out of earshot and leaned in even more.

 

“No. I’m saying that we’re all being fooled into fighting each other. Some of us are taught to discriminate and be close minded right from birth. Others are taught to be open minded instead. But it’s all planned. This whole fight, between being on the side of equal rights and no discrimination, versus being on the side that wants to create ethnic states and have nationalism and religious dogma prevail. It’s all preplanned. It’s all created in such a way that there never is any end to it all. It’s all a distraction. A distraction from the truth, from the real injustices, from the secret takeover of the entire planet.”

​

“What are you talking about?” ZUR asked, genuinely interested.

​

PINKIE pulled his ear again. “Here we go again,” she said, giving OBR a quick smile.

​

TINFOIL was too excited to notice. She continued. “Look at what’s happening around the planet. The weather keeps getting worse, and yet, environmental regulations keep getting dismantled. Corporations keep stealing our data and selling it, and yet governments keep letting them merge into larger entities. Billionaires and various industries keep throwing money at the government, lobbying it to get what they want, and we keep letting them; and we keep buying things from them, and giving them our business on top of it all.”

 

PINKIE lifted her shot glass, signaling everybody that it was time. PINKIE was trying to break TINFOIL’s train of thought, but it didn’t work. TINFOIL paused for a few seconds to down a shot with everybody else, and continued immediately after.

 

“The working classes get a pittance in the name of tax cuts, while the corporations get the entire bank. And yet, none of us boycott them. Our politicians are openly corrupt, and they clearly do not serve us, and yet we reelect them, because they claim fealty to the same Gods as us, and promise to throw out everybody who doesn’t look like us. Look at the poverty around us. Look at the difference in the richest of this country and the poorest. Every year, the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer. Look at the state of UWA. There is so much poverty and crime all across our planet. So many countries are getting closer to crises where they have no drinkable water. The entire planet has a garbage problem. Developed nations are consuming more resources than they need, while the poorer nations get barely a quarter of what they actually deserve. Hunger is rampant across the world. And I mentioned poverty, didn’t I?”

​

TINFOIL stopped to catch her breath.

​

“But we’re protesting these things you are talking about. It’s not like we are doing nothing,” OBR said.

​

“Really? When have we protested global poverty? Or hunger? What about those channels that claim to be news channels despite not having a news license? They tap on genuine fears of gullible OSZA, and turn otherwise sane beings into insane racists and bigots. Where is the march against them? Where is the march against specific politicians? Where are the demands to get politicians who are deregulating and dismantling every reasonable and genuinely needed regulation to resign? Where is the fight? We protest some racist comment a stupid celebrity makes, but we do not play the long game. We get outraged for a few minutes, say something about it on social media, and then move on. Where is our long term plan to defeat the billionaires? They keep dividing us using race, class, sexuality and religion. They’ve done it for centuries. And we have not wised up to it. Where is the march against them? Where is the march against unfettered greed? Where is the march to stop billionaires and politicians from perverting democracy and capitalism, and restore them to their original intent? We have been fooled. We have been turned against each other. And we have been thrust into a routine where we are so divided that we are too busy combating silly, made up differences, while the true ruling class, the one that controls the world but is unseen to most of us, is strengthening their foothold over our planet even further. And they’re laughing at us fighting each other like a bunch of idiots while doing so.”

​

TINFOIL stopped. PINKIE raised another shot glass.

​

“I’ll tell you what, TINFOIL. Help us with this march, and we’ll help you with the others. These long term goals you talk about,” PINKIE said, as they all took another drink.

​

“Deal,” TINFOIL smiled and said.

​

OBR knew PINKIE wasn’t going to uphold her end of the bargain. She was just messing with TINFOIL. But TINFOIL’s ramblings had awakened something in OBR. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with everything she’d said. But this was the first time he had truly listened to her. And a lot of what she had said made sense.