Civilized! (standard:Satire, 1459 words)
Author: Jeff Webster	Added: Aug 03 2004	Views/Reads: 6691/2715	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Americans love entertainment. This is a darkly satirical work about what might happen if we take that love too far.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

and much to the rave of the general public. 

"When the police brought out their guns and started shooting her family
to get them to stay away, I nearly fell out of my chair in laughter! 
They were struggling so much to keep her there, why couldn't they have 
realized we were doing her so much good?" 

"Allison is a terrific actress. She was able to actually convince me for
a few seconds that she wanted to stay in that dirty village." 

"I think the fire was a nice touch. It added a sense of urgency to the
situation, like the village was on fire, they had to get out of there, 
quick!" 

Such a show was completely unprecedented, both in concept and in
ratings. Ninety-seven percent of all television owners nationwide were 
glued to their screens, rubbing their hands together in excitement. And 
the surprises weren't done, yet. The medical tests given to Allison, as 
well as Mark at the beginning of the first season, were thorough and 
precise. So, the fact that she was to give birth to a child could not 
have been avoided. 

This presented a problem. A moral problem. A problem that could be
disastrous to the show, because the producers were caught in a dilemma. 
Many meetings were held, with many advisors offering several solutions, 
but none came through correctly. It seemed to be the end for 
"Civilized!", and only in its second season. This problem might destroy 
the entire entertainment industry! 

Nobody, in the history of mankind, has ever been able to make a pregnant
woman beautiful! 

One producer (who must be noted by the reader as quite an extremist)
suggested that the only real solution was to kill the child. This 
caused an uproar of disapproval, and the man was ejected immediately. 
The vulgar, immoral act of abortion would NOT take place on Allison. 
They were trying to civilize her, after all, not dehumanize her. 

The solution everyone eventually agreed on was not a good solution.
There was no correct answer, here, there was only the matter of how 
cushioned the fall would be. The second season of "Civilized!" was not 
going to happen, for Allison was going to be involved in a tragic 
accident that would send her flying head first through the front 
windshield of a car and into a cement wall at one hundred miles per 
hour. The accident would be televised. 

"Wow! A finale on only the second episode! We never saw that coming,
guys, great job!" 

"The slow motion replay of Allison colliding with the wall, then falling
dead to the ground struck me deep within. It was by far the greatest 
moment on television, ever." 

"It's tough to see a civilization end so quickly, but when it ends like
that, I have no complaints!" 

Executives rejoiced at the response, they weren't sure the public would
be happy with an abrupt ending, but they were. This opened up new 
opportunities for their show, opportunities that would not have been 
available to them had they not acted on their decision to kill off 
Allison. This wasn't the end of "Civlized!" at all. No, it was merely 
the beginning. 

"I think "Civilized!" has a lot of potential, now. We're going to do our
best to get a proper subject for our third season, and I think 
everything will turn out alright in the end." 

The third season of "Civilized!" was a smash hit. It consisted of a full
thirteen weeks of inserting a man, named Daniel, into normal society. 
They gave him a drug problem, and he died from an overdose four years 
later. The fourth season had a woman, named Erica, who they released 
after a quick ten weeks out onto the streets to be a prostituted. She 
died after being severely beaten by one of her customers. The fifth 
season was a breakthrough event; they chose to civilize a couple and 
marry them. Their names were Donny and Janet, and they bought guns 
after their fourteen week run on television and killed thirty people on 
live television before they were shot down by the police. Everything 
turned out alright, like the executive predicted. For years and years 
to come, television was bringing people nobody knew out from the 
background, and placing them in the limelight. This was a dream for 
some, but a reality for those that were unsuspecting. 

Twenty years from the first episode of "Civilized!", one troubled young
man asked a question. "Doesn't anyone else think that by controlling 
the way others live, we're destroying some delicate balance, some 
impressive culture, even forcing forward the extinction of 
individuality?" 

And another, more knowledgable young man was quick to answer. 

"There really is no such thing as bad television." 


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