Page 58 - Big Idea
P. 58
The Big Idea – Act 3
RIVAL 1:
So you must now realize
That your spirit would be killed
In this poorly-understood
Utopia you would build.
Why? Because its foundation
Is a forced equality,
In which limits would be placed
Upon your frivolity.
In such a society,
No joke can have as its butt
A single person or group—
Everyone must be cut.
All are fools or saints or thieves
When it comes to casting blame,
In this tidy little world
Where everyone’s the same.
No exception will be made
For you as special cases;
No pranks, please, while at work—
Do your jobs with blank faces.
Humor itself will become
Just a non-productive sport:
Permissible in free time
(Which may well be very short).
You will have to get along
Without the laughs and the praise,
And go where others won’t hear
You joking about their ways.
Break the majority’s rules,
And you will face expulsion:
Maintenance of discipline
Necessitates compulsion.
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