Sources say the system's working great,

and the government is your friend.

Commerce is the same as freedom

and wealth is the same as happiness,

according to sources familiar with the matter.

Sources say you should hate the Russians,

and also you should hate the Chinese,

and also you should hate Iran,

and also you should hate anti-vaxxers,

and also you should hate disobedient podcasters,

and really just hate anyone but your owners.

Sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say we would never lie to you.

We've been speaking to you since you were young.

You can trust us with your mind.

If we were lying to everyone

everything would be a mess,

and the system would be a failure,

but it isn't,

so we can't be,

sources say,

sources say.

Sources say that you are finite,

and that a better world is impossible.

Sources say there is no magic coursing through your veins,

no miracles lurking in the great unknown,

no potentiality crackling within our species,

no leviathans swimming in our inner oceans, 

no dragons soaring through our mind's sky.

Sources say you are your body,

and you are your thoughts and your labels

and what you've been told you are since birth.

Sources say that small child's voice within you

whispering your primordial name

is a liar

and you should drown it in a bowl of Netflix and whiskey.

Sources say sources say sources say

look at this shiny thing over here,

look how interesting it is,

keep looking at this,

don't look within,

don't look without,

pay no attention to the gasping biosphere,

pay no attention to our nuclear Russian roulette,

pay no attention to that man starving from sanctions,

pay no attention to that man shivering on the street,

pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,

pay no attention to those angels in the attic,

pay no attention to the swelling music of the forgotten gods,

just look over here,

just stare at this vapid celebrity wankface nothingman,

look look,

he is doing a thing,

ha ha ha ha he is so interesting and so relevant to our present situation.

Sources say don't trust your own Sources.

Trust our sources; they are official and authorized.

The world is predictable and revolution impossible;

stomp down that light that's been emanating from your chest cave.

Your Source is a liar.

Your Source can't take care of you.

Your Source probably doesn't even own any aircraft carriers.

Our sources say no one else will ever love you.

Shut up and get back to work,

sources say.

Ignore your Source

and keep cranking that gear

for as long as your worthless body will let you,

and then get out of the way

and get into the hole

with the rest of the corpses

in our thriving corpse economy

on our spinning corpse planet

as we exterminate our way into paradise,

sources say.

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Reading by Tim Foley.