Frederick K Foote

The Great Debate Between Good and Evil by Frederick K Foote

(Today Mr. Foote returns with one of the things he does best–a dialogue –The Eds.)

Cicero: Dear audience, please prepare yourself for a spectacle unlike anything the world has ever seen or heard.

I’m Cicero Webster. I’m your host tonight.

Tonight, live on our stage. We have a debate for the ages without commercial interruption. This presentation is being carried by most major streaming, television, and radio outlets. For the next two hours, prepare yourself to see Evil and Good in their inaugural debate.

Viewers and listeners to the right of me. We have Mr. Good, a blonde, blue-eyed, six-foot-one-inch-tall White male in a custom white tuxedo that literally glows. He’s crowned with a silver halo.

To my left is Ms. Evil, a five-foot-nine-inch dark-skinned Black woman in a form-fitting red sequined dress and red heels. The tips of twin red horns stick out from her natural hairstyle.

We will start with each party providing a brief definition of the concept they represent. Mr. Good has won the coin toss and has elected to start.

Good: Thank you to the billions that are looking and listening for joining us tonight. Thank you, Cicero, for hosting, and thank you, Evil, for making this event possible.

And now, to my definition.

Good is an activity that promotes the well-being of humans and nature. Good thoughts and good intentions are weightless in the world of actions.

It is our good deeds and efforts that define us.

I yield the floor to the elegant Ms. Evil.

Evil: Ahh, Good, you are resplendent and gorgeous in your glowing garments. And your halo is absolutely divine.

To Cicero and all our audience, I welcome your kind attention and thoughtful consideration of our words.

Evil is hateful or harmful acts committed by humans for the actor’s satisfaction, or gain, or with utter indifference to the impacts of the actions on humans or other life forms.

Equally important is the duty to oppose evil in your sphere of influence. The failure to oppose evil is evil.

You are all familiar with evil. It is part of your everyday life.

Cicero: If these definitions are satisfactory starting points, would each of you give your best example of good and evil in the last century? Evil, it is your turn to take the lead.

Evil: It was a six-year season of blood, brains, brawn, and guts mired in the trenches, smothering the beaches, and the macabre fruit of every remaining tree or shrub.

It was the invasion of Poland on tracks, wheels, and soaring wings of steel, with shells, bombs, and bayonets, that watered and sowed the blood-sodden soil with the sweet meats and tender flesh, and glistening bones of 250,000 corpses, a grand death dance to open wide the gates of hell on Earth in WWII.

Invasions, battles, sieges, retreats, firebombing, atomic bombing, death marches, the rape of millions of women by Axis and Allies troops, “Comfort Women,” Unit 731, and the mass murder of 13 million human beings because of their race, culture, physical and mental ability, or ethnicity.

And this banquet of butchery establishes record numbers of 20 million military deaths and 40 million civilian deaths.

This war was a symphony of acrimony, hatred, hubris, and greed in a monument to the endless capacity of humans to do violence to one another.

It is evil incarnate.

[Evil has changed from her red gown to green camouflage fatigues, boots, and a steel helmet. She is holding a shovel and a sign, “The gravedigger is the final victor.”]

Cicero: Well spoken, Evil. Good, the floor is yours.

Good: Evil, your words move me, touch my soul, and terrify me. Yet, I find goodness in the world. Lift every voice and rejoice. In 1900, world life expectancy was 32 years. In 2026, worldwide life expectancy is 73.66 years. Forty-one years of life is a glorious bounty worth taking a minute to savor.

We are living testimony to our good work, our incredible ingenuity, and our commitment to our communities.

[Good has morphed into a garbage worker’s white overalls, gloves, and work boots.]

Cicero: Do you have any comments or questions at this stage?

Evil: The hunting-gathering societies that preceded and still coexist with us had life spans of 70 or more years if they survived birth and infancy. Perhaps civilization had negative impacts on life expectancy that we have just corrected over the last century.

Good: Whatever the context, we have documented the good we have accomplished.

Evil: Dear audience, if you are of the opinion that good and evil are distinct and separate and opposite entities, please let me tell you that is not the case. We are devious and deceptive in our presentations, and you will have to watch us carefully. But you will soon understand that our differences are overwhelmed by our similarities.

Good: I adamantly disagree with that proposition. Without good and the distinction between good and evil, civilization falters, and the world runs to ruin. We can separate good from evil as clearly as we can see the difference between day and night. Hitler, from your WWII example, is a case in point.

Evil: Hitler was one person who had the support of millions in his racist, nationalist, imperialistic campaign of conquest and genocide.

And even those who did not support Hitler but failed to oppose him fall into my category of evil.

I think 90% of the German people fell into these two categories of evil.

Yet it would be difficult to say that these millions had not a grain of goodness in them. Don’t you agree?

Good: We are talking about Hitler as a uniquely evil person beyond a doubt. Most people would agree on that.

Evil: Most people are evil. We have demonstrated that with our Germany example. The value judgments of a cabal of evil are questionable at best.

Good: Dear, dear, Evil, grant me this one concession that people of the world recognize Hitler is one of the truly great evils of our time.

Evil: Does he lack even one grain of goodness?

Good: Even if he does, it utterly fails to compensate for his crimes against humanity.

Evil: Hush now. Tread carefully, for you are on the precipice when you declare even an odious human such as Hitler an inhuman thing undeserving of human concern. At this moment you start to glow evil.

Good: Evil, why are you supporting the alleged humanity of Hitler? Answer me that.

Evil: To prove my point. To win our debate. Evil is everywhere and in all of us, given the opportunity to express it. You are all subjects in my kingdom. Bow down.

Good: No! No! Goodness is the hope and the foundation of the world. Without our goodness, without our families, without our caring for each other, without our raising our children to adulthood, there would be no humankind, and this is the essence of goodness—our caring for each other.

Evil: [Applauds] Bravo. Good. Dear Good, you do understand that most domestic abuse, most child abuse, most false indoctrinations, such as religion, racism, and nationalism, occur within the family.

Family miseducation provides the foundation for every Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.

And I know you have seen the DNA results that show that the rate of incest is higher than we had assumed.

Family values in action by the good families of the world.

Oh, and don’t forget Cain and Abel and Joseph, and his brothers, Hamlet, Macbeth, and too many more dysfunctional evil families to mention.

Good: Evil, I’m not claiming that the family or any other human institution is perfect; we all know that is not so. What I’m claiming is that, for the existence of humanity, the family has been the good, the good platform we stood on and still stand on.

Evil: Let me whisper a secret to you, Good: What you are missing from your account is the fact that this is the good and evil platform of family.

And at this point, I suggest you concede the debate to me, for you have admitted that all human endeavors are imperfect and therefore subject to and contain the seeds of evil.

[Evil is now dressed in a red bikini, flip-flops, and a bathing cap with a towel over her shoulder.]

Good: NO! Never. God is good in perfection.

Evil: God! No, you didn’t. If you are referring to the Christian God, if you are referring to the one who destroyed the world once and has threatened to do it again, has destroyed six or more cities and slaughtered thousands. If that is your exemplar of good, you are deranged. Your God is the evilest creature I have ever encountered.

I will speak no more on that.

Good: That is the most despicable and disparaging comment I have encountered from a creature of reason that professes respect for the beliefs of others.

Evil: Oh, please, Good. Don’t play dumb and innocent. If your God exists and its bibles are its true words, they are its proud public confessions. If it is a myth, shame on the myth makers for promoting mass murder and genocide.

Good: God moves in mysterious ways beyond the comprehension of man.

Evil: Rubbish! You supposedly understand your God’s goodness and eternal love that is erected on this platform of evil and destruction. You have an enormous, apparently immeasurable capacity for understanding.

Come, Good, forget the debate. Come with me to the beach. And we can discuss good and evil in a more relaxed setting.

Cicero, I’m going to blow this joint. Thank you all for listening, and we await your comments.

Good: I reject your arguments against God. They demonstrate the true nature of evil. You would deny humankind hope and salvation.

Evil: Save it for the next debate. I’m beach bound.

Good: I will not leave millions in the lurch. We shall have this out here and now.

Evil: Your true believers will be unswayed by logic and truth, and doubters will still have their doubts.

Cicero: Perhaps you could return for another debate. That would allow us to evaluate the overwhelming responses we are receiving.

Evil: Of course, Cicero. Possibly at the beach next time, but not too soon.

Good: So be it. I will settle for a second match. Evil: A dip in the ocean might just cool my temper.

Evil: Good, Good. Why don’t you be black for the afternoon? It would be gratifying for us to be on the same page for a change.

Good: I can do you one better than a change in my skin tone.

[Good turns into a dark chocolate brown woman wearing a white bikini.

Evil: I like your style, Good. Let’s take in the ocean air.

[The pair disappears from the studio.]

The Health Care Snare by Frederick K Foote

(Note: Frederick has recently published poetry with us. But  he is prominently a creator of short, trenchant, witty prose, which we are happy to present today–The Eds.)

“Good evening, I’m Mavis Williams of American Evening News. Our program has been preempted by a special message from the White House and President Amanda Jackson.

We now take you to President Jackson.”

“Over the last decade, the United States of America has been on the edge of economic disaster. As my grandfather would say, we are surviving by the skin of our teeth.

To make the nature and extent of this threat clear, let’s look back at our recent history.

A decade ago, our country, regrettably, entered an ill-conceived and unprovoked war with Iran. That misadventure has extinguished over 30,000 lives and wounded over 100,000 others.

The War has cost us over 600 billion dollars to date, and our compensation agreements continue to burden this nation.

And that war has cost us support and friendships with many, if not most, of our past allies. We are still repairing these relationships.

The cost of his War, combined with the rising cost of health care, especially health care under the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, created an unprecedented budget challenge.

Our honest assessment of our health care systems was that they were the most expensive in the world, but other, far less costly health care systems in other nations had far better health care outcomes.

Under increasing dissatisfaction from the public, the growing frustration of health care providers, and the declining number of private health care insurers, we sought a meeting of all the players in our health care system. The past administrations were open to all approaches to extract ourselves from our cascading predicaments.

And as you all know, we initiated a Manhattan Project-style development that merged the resources of our technology, artificial intelligence, and vast libraries of health research and information.

And with sweat, blood, and tears, creativity, imagination, and dedication, we produce a modern miracle—the Internal Health Care Monitor, or as most of us call it, IHCM, or simply, the Chip.

The Chip is about the size of a quarter, but half the weight, and is most commonly inserted just under the skin layers on the inside of the upper left arm.

The Chip has a living battery that draws its power from the body. Under normal circumstances, the Chip does not have to be removed; it is updated online and sends its information the same way.

All your vital functions are monitored 24/7, 365 days a year.

And this encrypted data is sent to the Department of Health Monitoring Evaluation, or DHME, where robust AI systems evaluate your health status and notify you and your health care provider when necessary.

In essence, you have the world’s most experienced and knowledgeable healthcare provider at your service at all times.

This health care system is the envy of the world.

For the last three and a half years, we have been testing and evaluating this system on members of our armed forces.

Three months ago, our evaluation of this system was completed and is now available online for everyone. I encourage you to read at least the executive summary of this fascinating report.

One of the many amazing results found in this 1,200-page document is that during the first two years of using the Chip, our healthcare services’ military costs were cut by 50%.

And our sick leave absences decreased by 60%.

In 73% of cases where medical assistance was required, no visit to a physician or care facility was made or required. Our AI diagnostic systems worked to a tee, and medication was prescribed and quite often delivered within less than two hours of diagnosis.

I found the results of this report absolutely incredible, and I would like to give my thanks and appreciation to the thousands who worked tirelessly to make this vastly improved system available to everyone in this country.

Now, we are ready to make this remarkable system available to all Americans. No one in this country will be denied access to this Promised Land of quality care for all.

Understand that billionaires and fast-food workers will receive the same quality of care.

Those who have no income will have the same access as everyone else.

I know you wonder if this program is safe. I don’t know if I have the words or knowledge to convince you of the safety of this system; however, I have Dr. Lisa Limbaugh, who is an expert on this system and will provide any level of detail required, and she will be here to answer your questions, from the very technical to the very basic.

However, in this particular arena, I believe that actions speak louder than words. My husband Godfrey and I both have Chips, and we have had them for 18 months now. With no adverse experience and have recommended the Chip to our children. That’s how safe they are to me.

Now, I’m turning you over to Dr. Limbaugh to answer your questions and explain in more detail how the Chip works.

Please ask your questions, read the Report, and check with service members and women about their experiences with the Chip.

I hope you choose to join Godfrey and me in the greatest healthcare revolution in the history of humankind.

Good night, and may God bless America and this endeavor.”

***

A conversation in a secure room in the White House between President Jackson and her Chief of Staff, Bong Yee, immediately after the President’s message to the nation.

“Damn, Bong, I need a shower. I feel like a used car salesman. How did we get into this mess?”

“Ms. President, the Democratic Party followed State Craft, our AI’s suggestions—”

“Shit, more like directions.”

“—on developing the Chip and on selecting you as our candidate, and here we are. One happy family.”

“Yeah, I still wonder why you came along on this unjoyful ride.”

“You asked me to, and we have been friends since law school. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to peek behind the stage and see what is really going on.”

“You know curiosity killed the cat. Any new info on the fucking Chip?”

“Dr. Limbaugh and her stiff-lipped crew of medical grand masters believe the Chip is performing as designed, and we should trust the magic of AI and move ahead with implanting the chip worldwide.”

“Damn, Limbaugh scares me worse than that fucking AI. So, what are our reckless scientific rebels saying?”

“Well, they are performing their test beyond the scope of AI, and they have evidence that the Chip has abilities well beyond what Dr. Limbaugh claims.”

“Do they have any proof of their claims? As if that would make any difference. We have to move ahead with this, this questionable fucking experiment, or be in debt to China. When I was giving my sales pitch, I had a strong, almost irresistible desire to cancel the Chip and take our chances with China.”

“I, too, would rather deal with humans than AI, but if our rebels with a cause are right. It might be too late. We have already implanted the chip in the military. And the rebels believe the Chip can impact bodily processes, not just monitor and report on them.”

“What a mess. What a fucking mess.”

“Well, AI was right about you, you have that combination of warm grandmotherly caring and steel African American determination that made you appealing and electable.”

“Yes, but I wonder if my main attraction to AI was that I am controllable.”

“Amanda, I think they may be wrong on that one. The rebels will be here in a few minutes with their evidence. How do you want to play it?”

“We listen and learn and ask every damn question we can. We do not accept or reject the validity of their information at this time.”

“We leave them swinging in the breeze.”

“For now.”

There is a knock on the door.

“Bong, I hope that’s opportunity knocking.”

They smiled and bumped fists before they opened the door.

Poetry Is by Frederick K Foote

Sometimes

Poetry

Seems

To be:

A hammer, a stiletto

Pretentious, modest

A mummer, a scream

Propaganda, the gospel

Fucking and sucking

Gorging and fasting

Ducking and dogging

Slick and slimy

Profound, profane

Soulful, senseless

Ass kicking, ass kissing

Soft days, sick nights

Hallow ground, wasteland

Nigger ways, White rights

Blind insight

Wasted words

Tidy turds

Null, void

Dead

and

risen

again

Frederick K Foote

(The image is Mr. Foote)

Two Poems by Frederick K Foote

She Is by Frederick K Foote

She is

square blocks

of white

marble

Substantial

in every way

Riding a

prancing pony

of pride

Hiding

a dark

nag of

doubt

Love in a Modern Time by Frederick K Foote

It sneaks ashore like light leaking under a doorway

It has the magical mischief of effortlessly joining the family

with a handshake, a hug, a kiss, a fist bump, a cough, or a sneeze

It loves the lonely, the incarcerated, the institutionalized,

the suffering, its love consumes them, banishes them, and It

is restless even in Its domination and seeks authority over nations

It humbles science, the military, politicians, and commerce

the world dances to its tune of isolationist separation

It alienates our affections and laughs at our insurrections

It will not accept our peace terms or unconditional surrender

It will love us where it finds us until it finds us no more

Frederick K Foote

(The image is of our friend, Mr. Foote)

Two Poems by Frederick K Foote

(Ed note–We are extremely pleased to present the first five poems submitted to us by Frederick K. Foote. Fred is an esteemed writer, poet and social critic. He has published over a hundred short stories on Literally Stories in the past ten years alone, which is but a small portion of his literary canon. He is a many times honored author and we are pleased to run his poetry: two today, two tomorrow and a single one to conclude this what we hope will be the first of many runs to come on Saragun Springs–The Eds.)

Lusty Religion

Cedar-wood skin
Sinful full lips
Halo round ass
Full paradise thighs
Bible bright eyes
Gospel singing hips

Revelation to disrobe
salvation to explore
Damnation to lose
no resurrection
in sight

Terminal Romance by Frederick K. Foote

My heart skipped a beat when you appeared
arrhythmia, with rare ventricular couplets

My eyes respond when you are around
glaucoma abounds, the pressure astounds

The sound of your voice is music to my ears
tinnitus echoes a siren’s timpani song

The sight of you snatches my breath away
emphysema squeezes my air to a trickle

The touch of your hand is more than I can bear
your shingles spread to my face, hands, and hair

You are my everything, always and forever
my affectionate end-stage affliction of choice

Frederick K Foote

(The image is that of Mr. Foote)