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Sterling Woodburner likes music, dancing, playing music, and of course, breathing. He also enjoys people in small quantities. It may be possible to find other works by Sterling Woodburner, but that is left as an exercise to the reader.
"You can tell I'm not evil because I'm pretending to be overtly evil," the politician messaged on the message platform. Ah yes, the politician thought, this is politics.
One reply read, "LMAO."
Another said, "'The Politician is a Pedophile.' Click For Full Story."
The third comment selected for its use in narrative contained the following message, "To anyone reading this: The NWO is taking over. Cities are burning. The elites are laughing. Help us stop them by...(1/3)."
None of these were at the top, so they were basically invisible. Invisible garbage was everywhere; strewn on the curb of major sites, tucked into tiny crawlspaces. But it was all invisible, so the politician bathed in ideas that were visible to shine brightly and become a steaming, shiny, dung-heap of brightness.
Later, having become a decidedly cool kid, the politician was invited to be interviewed on a podcast to broadcast the politician's and the podcast host's image.
The podcast host cut right into the cold heart of the issues and asked, "So, what were those messages on the message platform about?"
"Look," replied the politician. "Everybody's looking for a deep justification for my actions, but--honestly, I'm just in it for the money."
People laughed.
People died.
But people didn't care.
(Probably because of the whole death thing, but there are other theories out there, too.)
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, December 3rd, 2020
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