Broken

A group of children approached and tried to provoke the leopard by waving their hands between the bars, but the cat remained transfixed on his circuitous journey to nowhere. "That's so weird!" exclaimed the youngest boy, "and it reminds me of episode 23 from season 6 of Seinfeld." The others nodded in agreement, all deeply knowledgeable in the complex stories of situational comedies.

"That's like the scene from Batman," said the boy in the red Nike shirt, compulsively recalling the fictional images constituting his consciousness. He had no awareness of literature, classical tales, theater, philosophy, or any cultural reference point -- and never would -- only streams of entertainment products meant to pacify people with comforting lies, dull cliches, and predictable story arcs.

"He walks like an uptight Republican just like Jon Stewart said," offered the pigtailed girl, obediently repeating what she had learned about political ideology from entertainment as a supplement to public school indoctrination.

Progress had achieved its destiny.