But the elders' problem was that they did not have the time or the peace to concentrate. The pace of life in the metropolis was too fast. So, in times of change or crisis, when all seemed impossible, they smoked a relaxant called phleme. They discovered that if they only smoked it occasionally, once every few months, they could arrive at hugely positive conclusions about their potential for the future. The drug seemed to make their brains work faster, more logically and more creatively, allowing an infinite capacity for detail.
 BARE KNUCKLES: JEFF WINBUSH kicks off the Dangerous Visions Issue with "REGGIE WHITE GOES DOWN."
 FLISS USSHER's G21 EUROPE column LONDON CALLING! has a Dangerous Vision of a generation in "PARABLE OF A GENERATION"
 G21 ASIA RAOUL TESLA reports from Angeles, the Philippines.
ANOTHER Great Joke of the Day in THE HOUSE OF CARDS! G21 ASIA has KIM CARTER back talking about another type of foolishness in "CANNIBAL ISLAND."
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 TRIO: RADIO RAHEEM is back to explain the "PALACE COUP" --- at THIS MAGAZINE!
 CULTURE CAST's JENNIFER BLUE looks at the frenzy for "THE EGG."
 G21 WORDS features a new poem by NATHAN BLACK.
 G21 SOUTH AMERICA THOMAS HARGROVE Testifies before U.S. House of Representatives - [For the non-frames version of Mr. Hargrove's testimony, click here.--- Ed.]A follow-up to our 3-Part Series on Narco-terrorism and Kidnapping!
 STONEWALL VIEWS' PHIL MARTIN announces "CURE FOUND FOR HETEROSEXUALITY!"
TRIO THOMAS HART returns to tell "WHY I'M SO IMPORTANT"
TRIO ROBIN MILLER makes the "CONFESSIONS OF A RESTAURANT BIGOT"
 JENNIFER BLUE's PLANETARY MADNESS looks at YOUR influences!
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But phleme was never smoked more frequently than this. Between sessions, it was stored in a high cupboard, gilt-edged, far above the curious arms of children.
Now, the little children may not have been able to reach the vials, but the older ones found they could. Phleme was so sacred in this society that it had acquired the respect and authority of the elders themselves, and some children wanted to rebel against that. So they stole the drug and took to smoking it each night. They were joined by others, who just wanted to get that feel-good factor and keep the intensity day-in, day-out. Life felt so much better that way, they thought. Not a care in the world - you could just focus on the funniest joke that had just been spouted from the mouth of your best mate! Nothing else mattered. It was so cool - it was like there was all this space and this time, like, and all these little people just sitting in it. Cool shit!
The children spent much of their time thinking, but maybe their minds were too young for rationality, for it all went wrong for them. They had not been trained to question their assumptions and they tended to trust in their knee-jerk reactions to a thought, often believing that these familiar devils were the voice of reason. The more intelligent reached terrifying conclusions and became paranoid. The others became slugs. One girl got thinking that words were ultimately empty impositions that meant nothing. She did not speak to anyone for months.
For most, however, those first few nights were a hilarious, if raunchy and promiscuous, new experience.
But the kids carried on smoking it each day, something the elders had never done. And such is the nature of phleme that, with frequent use, it reversed its positive effects. Instead of feeling inspired, the children started getting irritable, pessimistic, unable to cope with criticism, and ultimately tearful. The drug dried out their bodies, leaving them with headaches, stomach aches and peeling skin. Many doctors - and countless women - will testify that phleme reduces the secretion of vaginal fluid, making sex painful and sometimes impossible.
Worse though was the irritability and the depression. The children refused to believe there was anything wrong. They lost all interest in their studies and had no thoughts of the future. An entire generation wasted. How could they be stopped from abusing phleme and disrupting the harmony of the wise society?
The elders held a meeting. They lit up the remainder of the sacred drug and thought long and hard about what was to be done. Every detail was discussed, all objections raised in their entirety until, a couple of hours later, the elders came to their conclusion. They must dismantle their system and make themselves redundant, so that phleme could be stripped of its symbolic importance to the new generation. Only this would free the young children to forge new ground.
The mayor stepped forward to the waiting crowds and proclaimed: "You can't bring that in here - that's an octopus!" His flippant and somewhat surreal remark caused him to be instantly removed from office. The elders resigned in support and phleme was never again abused or used in that old, once wise society.