FADE IN:
EXT: OPULENT MANSION – DAY
DISSOLVE TO:
INT: INSIDE MANSION - DAY
Located in the rich and
private Aspen Gated Community, CHARLES WHITE III, an older, graying .001%
mega-rich Trillionaire businessman is conversing with his daughter AMELIA and
his executive assistant TREVOR WILLIAMS. They just finished watching the INN
interview with JOE PALENTI.
CHARLES
That man is dangerous.
TREVOR
A nobody from New York Tent
City? How is he dangerous?
CHARLES
The fact that you can’t
see him as a threat is why you are the assistant and I’m the boss. More to the
point, he is not a threat to you because you have little, so you have little to
lose.
TREVOR
That’s relatively true –
but you’ve dealt with adversaries who seem much more substantial in terms of
power and resources – so why is a poor professor from a Tent City a threat?
CHARLES
Because he is sharp, charismatic,
brave and has a vision – a dangerous combination in a person who has millions
of angry, homeless citizens behind him.
ENTER: AMELIA – Daughter
of Charles White
AMELIA
Daddy, did you watch the
interview with Mr Palenti?
CHARLES
Yes, we were just
discussing it – what did you think?
AMELIA
I thought he was eloquent
and seemed very knowledgeable and righteous about his views. I agree with him
about the microchip implants being over the line…
TREVOR
Why? Those working class
and poor people living in the tent cities are a filthy den of thieves! The only
way to keep track of the limited government supplies is to have them implanted
with a chip to eliminate any scams!
CHARLES
I’m sorry sweetheart, but
I agree with Trevor on this issue. These people of color are historically the
half of the country that live off of welfare and handouts from the government.
They work the system and can’t be trusted to play by the rules. After all it is
mostly rich people’s taxes that pay for all these government programs.
AMELIA
Wow – that’s strange
because in the past you have said that only suckers pay these ridiculously high
taxes on the rich! Talk about working the system! And FYI, 50% of the residents
of the Tent Cities are white and they too receive welfare!
TREVOR
Yes – the ethnic white
trash is unfortunately part of the problem that has plagued our country since
the late 19th century immigration flood during the Industrial
revolution.
AMELIA
Listen Trevor – could you
please keep all your uninformed, xenophobic stereotypes to yourself? Most of
them are the middle class and working poor who do pay their taxes. Dad, you
seem disturbed by this Palenti guy and the CRD movement – how come? Do they
represent a threat to one of your business endeavors?
CHARLES
You are sharp as a tack
young lady. Maybe he is. Yet not just to my business dealings but to all big
business. His restore democracy Socialist movement is a threat to the recent
progress we have made eliminating many regulations and lowering the corporate tax
rates under President Faice.
TREVOR
These lousy leftist
Socialists don’t see it like that. They want to reach deep into the rich
people’s pockets and take what is not theirs!
AMELIA
An incremental tax system
is just logical and fair – the more you make, the more you pay into the system and
infrastructure that allowed you to become rich in the first place! And since
the robots have taken millions of jobs away – safety net solutions like the
Universal Basic Income was inevitable to avoid a breakdown of society!
CHARLES
Sometimes I wonder what liberal
Socialist nonsense they taught you at that Ivy League college. Big business
built this great country. That includes the corporations that radical rebel
rousers like Mr. Palenti reject. Tax breaks for the rich create jobs – or least
they used to before the robots entered the picture. Anyways – the chip implant
won’t happen anyway because of the new left leaning House in congress and all
the protesting, and now this planned march on DC. The president knows he will
not stand a chance if they force this chip issue and crack down on this
populist movement right before the election. The president has his own
long-term financial self-interests at stake.
AMELIA
I hope you are right –
because the government may step all over our rights as well and demand we put a
chip in our bodies!
TREVOR
That will never happen.
AMELIA
How can you be so sure?
TREVOR
Because our elite class founded
and owns this country! We once again control the key politicians inside the
government. We now pay for their elections’ advertising and social media
campaigns behind the scenes and reward them later with cushy, hi-paying
lobbying jobs working for us after they get out of the game like in the glory
days past of the GOP.
AMELIA
You’re living in the past
Trevor. The huge legislative reforms to our democratic process back in the late
2020s undid much of what you refer to – although it’s true that some of these
laws have been weakened by the current Republican administration – yet they
could easily be reversed again by the next administration. Big money in
politics has much less power than it used to or else the previous 30-year
progressive Green New Deal could never
have happened.
TREVOR
Some of what you say is
true Amelia, but don’t fool yourself about big money not influencing contemporary
politics. Granted it is a lesser animal than before the Green Socialist era,
but it still yields great influence - just more behind closed doors than
before. The world’s ultra-rich having private meetings to determine human society’s
best path forward has never stopped – trust me!
AMELIA
Best path forward for
whom? Obviously not the millions around the world living in tent cities and
refugee camps!
CHARLES
Yes – our political
influence is not what it once was. We lost half our family fossil fuel fortune
in those 30 years! Fortunately, we have made some of it back in the last couple
of years since the ban on new oil production was lifted – and there is much
more to be done in the near future as long as we have one of our people in the
White House!
AMELIA
This is where I agree to
strongly disagree and I worry whether I can take the legal helm of the
corporation if you deny the climate science from 99% of the top scientists in
the world who predicted decades ago the catastrophic flood crisis that did
happen, albeit sooner than expected.
TREVOR
There are things your
father has kept from you so as not to burden you with the family’s business
dealings while you attended college.
AMELIA
Trevor, your tone is patronizing,
and I am not a fragile wallflower. You are only a few years older than me so
please save your misogynist bs for someone who cares! I
finished first in my class
at Harvard, have a black belt in Jujitsu and will soon take over much of the
White family business after I pass the bar exam!
CHARLES
Yes, you are a force to be
reckoned with just like your mother was. Just conserve that fighting spirit for
after you pass the bar – because you will need it to help run my empire!
(Trevor looks concerned) And don’t worry Trevor – as long as you do what I tell
you – you will have a top position in the corporation. (His Phone Rings) Oh I
have to take this call – excuse me a moment. (Steps out of the room)
CHARLES EXITS: AMELIA
& TREVOR REMAIN – DISCUSSION CON’T…
TREVOR
I don’t appreciate the way
you talk to me in front of your father. Since we got intimate – you have gotten
too comfortable with your jabs and basic disrespect.
AMELIA
Oh get over it – I don’t
treat you any different than before. And please do not use the word intimate –
we had a fling and that was it. We had a few too many and got carried away. I
told you to forget about it and move on.
TREVOR
Well I felt something
after words that you obviously do not and that’s too bad because as a power couple,
I think we could conquer the world.
AMELIA
Power couple-Conquer the
world? What are you talking about? My father hired you a few years ago partly
because he felt sorry for you because of what happened to your parents, God
rest their souls. Be careful about your mighty ambitions because you may bite
off more than you can chew. From the small amount of my Father’s business I
have witnessed – it’s not a pretty picture and to be honest I am not looking forward
to help manage it myself.
TREVOR
Don’t worry about me – I’m
no charity case. I did well at Wharton and yes – I’ve got big plans. My parents
left behind a decent inheritance to launch my ship when the time is right. Your
father has taken me under his wing, and I am learning the ropes from a master.
What you consider distasteful dealings - I thrive on. It’s a shark tank out
there and I’m an Orca - baby! You’ll come around when I’m in the big leagues,
but by then I may already be with someone else.
AMELIA
Oh my God – Firstly, Orcas
are part of the dolphin family genius and I can’t believe we’re even having
this conversation! Let it go for Christ’s sake! We have no chemistry or common
interests – it’s a no brainer! Here comes Father – no more talk of this ever
again or I can make life very uncomfortable for you!
CHARLES RE-ENTERS ROOM:
CHARLES
I just spoke to a
colleague who knows about this Joe Palenti guy. Seems he was in secret ops
while in the military before he became a radical leftist. He may become an
obstacle to our future petrol business expansion plans. This march on DC has to
be stopped. Amelia my girl, I was not going to have the reality discussion with
you until after you took the bar exam but these new developments on the
national stage do not allow for that. You see Dear, we in the petrol industry
have always known that global warming is real and the CO2 emissions from petrol
products are a major cause along with coal use and meat consumption etc.. Flexxon
did one of the first thorough studies as far back as 1979 – almost a hundred
years ago. Scientists were actually warning about the negative effects of greenhouse
warming even further back in the 1950s…
AMELIA (VERY CONCERNED LOOKING)
Oh my God – I don’t want
to hear anymore! This is like a surreal nightmare unfolding in real time that
I’ve actually really had!
CHARLES
Yes, a little denial goes
a long way my dear, but you will hear it because you’ve had a hyper-privileged life
because of this surreal nightmare! Via disinformation campaigns and
CHARLES (CONT)
controlling our politicians
like puppets, the petrol
industry held off the
Green Revolution for around 70 years during the 20th and early 21st
century. We knew the world was going to change – get warmer, more extreme
weather events and of course the sea level rise reaping havoc around the world,
as all the tent cities now attest to. But the Fossil Fuel Industry did a
cost/benefit analysis and even knowing there would massive devastation and
upheaval around the world caused by Global Warming, humanity would eventually adjust
through relocation scenarios and new technologies that would help ameliorate
the negative consequences of too much CO2 in the atmosphere. These unfortunate consequences,
which negatively affected mostly poor and middle-class people, would be the
costs. The benefits, of which you have enjoyed your whole life was of course
the bottom line, our monetary quarterly profit margins. And with the mega wealth
and power that comes with it - we, the global, multi-national corporations
would not let any governmental institution tamper with, even if it meant
playing dirty. This worked for generations until our Republican party imploded
after the last moronic reality TV star President in 2016, thus allowing the
Green Revolution to ensue with all of the Socialist radicals from different
ethnic backgrounds to take over our government. Soon after they, along with
radical leaders in Canada and Europe etc. shut down any new fossil fuel extractions
for decades and cut our family fortune in half!
AMELIA
Hundreds of Millions of
ruined lives around the world are ‘unfortunate consequences’? I think I am
going to be sick…
CHARLES
We had solutions Amelia! One
of the first top secret government sanctioned projects was the chem-trails via
airplanes to reflect the sun’s intense solar radiation back out to space to
steady global temps, and that did help a little for a time. They knew it would
based upon evidence of the no-fly time period immediately following the 9/11
terrorist attacks where the earth actually heated up ever so slightly because
of the lack of all the commercial jet planes’ white cloud like exhaust reflecting
sunlight back out to space. We were about to utilize another secret government
weather control device and installation in Alaska called HAARP that was
originally built to interrupt radio frequency transmissions in case of war,
CHARLES (CONT)
but also ended up conveniently
affecting weather patterns. But both of these potential solutions to Global
Warming were stopped after some congressional hearings where some top
scientists with hippy-dippy ecology and physics backgrounds vehemently protested
their implementation. They claimed that tampering with the delicate balance of
nature would have unknown and undesired side effects. But we industry leaders knew
better and have faith in our technology to solve all problems. So, we shut most
of them up quickly with whatever means necessary. Just like the puppet politicians
– most had their price and the small handful that did not – well, we destroyed
their careers in the same way we will destroy this Joe Palenti’s – through our many
networks and character assassination via all the mass media outlets. This will
be your next mission Trevor. Start the process – now! (lOOKS AT TREVOR AND
SIGNALS HIM TO LEAVE ROOM)
TREVOR EXITS ROOM
CHARLES (CON’T)
Yes Amelia - We had other
new hi-tech solutions to the Global Warming problem that never saw the light of
day because of the un-American; Socialist Green Revolution took over our
country for decades! But they will be reintroduced soon after the president is
reelected. This must happen if we are to keep the new petrol flowing from our
once dormant oil fields in the arctic and reestablish our place among the top
power families of the world. Oh close your gapping mouth Amelia – it is not
attractive.
AMELIA
My God - You sound like a
mad man from a cheesy Hollywood B movie! I’ve read about all the conspiracy
theories online - about the world’s nine richest, most powerful families, the
banking cabal, the manipulating of governments by the multi-national petrol corporations
all over the planet, but did not want to believe it! (Starts to cry)
CHARLES
Now, now – dry those tears
because I need a strong, adult woman to manage my affairs, not a sniveling, spoiled
little girl! We Whites are among the most elite tribes in the world for the
last few centuries for a reason – because we are hardcore and refuse to accept
defeat. I don’t have another child, so I expect you to step up and fall into
place as my heir as I did and generations of White’s before you! How can you be
so naive?
CHARLES (CONT)
How do you think we became
trillionaires? Yes – toes are stepped on, but we take care of our own! Do you
think this mansion, inside a safe, gated and patrolled community built itself,
or your Ivy League education paid for itself, or all the trips around the world
staying in five star hotels and all the shopping in the best boutiques with all
the fancy labels you wear - and your own thoroughbred horse and on and on since
you were a child? Money does not grow on trees young lady! It is earned and yes
– even taken from those not smart or worthy enough to handle it! If the world
was left to the lower classes, we’d all still live in dirty huts and not have
created the comfortable, hygienic modern world with most diseases eradicated or
have mass produced any of the great inventions and hi-tech conveniences that
make life more bearable for all people! So, you see we masters of the universe are
not completely morally bankrupt as some of the over educated, self-righteous
radicals believe. We just take the bull by the horns because if we do not -
someone else will! This is the law of the jungle and how nature really works
whether or not limp-wristed leftists like to admit - with all their idealistic,
KumBaYa bullshit!
AMELIA
I feel sick. I, I need
time to process all this. My worst fears have been confirmed today. My family
is a big part of the problems facing the world – not the solutions. All your
philanthropic work is a joke, a mere tax write off and good PR for the
corporation! I knew you were an atheist, but you have espoused some humanist
ethics over the years, but now I know it was all just bullshit – just for
appearances! A law of the jungle mentality is equivalent to no morals! Is life
just a Darwinist, Dog-Eat-Dog reality for you? A bloody materialist ego competition
where the guy with the most toys at the end wins? This foolish ‘survival of the
fittest’ social construct is a misinterpreted understanding of Darwin’s theory,
which was all about adaption and now we know a certain amount of luck! This is
all really sad and I’m not sure I want any part of it!
CHARLES
Sorry to disappoint you
Amelia. Nonetheless, we Whites’ make our own luck and you have had the good
fortune to grow up in a very safe and privileged environment, which has
obviously blinded you to the ugly aspects of the real world where animals,
including we humans go at it for limited resources.
CHARLES (CONT)
Resources necessary to
feed, clothe and house the billions of poor, ignorant humans that breed like
rabbits! Yet, you enjoy all the fruits of my labor – no? I realize this may be
a lot to digest so I will back off for now. I too once questioned my father’s
ethics when I was young and naïve but soon enough, I was brought into the
family fold for the same reasons you will be. Namely, we are blood kin and it’s
us against the world. Secondly, we cannot keep our level of lifestyle without
due diligence and being 10 steps ahead of everyone else. A lavish, comfy lifestyle
that we have all grown accustomed to over many generations.
AMELIA
Wow – I really don’t know who
you are anymore, and you obviously don’t know me – if you ever did at all! I
have become a spiritual person with a strong sense of right and wrong. I trust
my inner moral compass and my gut. And both are telling me to get out of this creepy
situation before my karma is damaged beyond repair! I refuse to participate in
your soul crushing enterprises merely for the sake of material wealth and your huge
male ego and vanity! So many millions of people around the world have died and
suffered during this Global Warming crisis! All because of you and your evil cohorts
with your callous and sick us against them attitude! All your greed, racism and
blind ambitions have severed any goodness left in your souls and even common-sense
neuron connections in your brains! I want no part of it! Charles White the
third – this is the last time you will see your daughter, your only child - until
you to have seen the error of your evil ways and do all you can to rectify all
the horrible machinations you are currently involved in and do the right thing
for all humanity!
CHARLES
Nice speech darling but it
will be a cold day in hell that’s going to happen and Ha - I don’t even believe
in hell! You go and live your pathetic little, idealistic, middle class life in
some small, rinky-dink roach infested apartment in the middle of nowhere! We
shall see how long it will take before you miss your monthly stipend, which is
more than you will earn as a novice lawyer, and all the luxurious trappings of
the rich that sheltered, spoiled brats like yourself take for granted! Yes, it
won’t be long before you come back to big Daddy with your tail between your
legs. And yet, I will accept your humble return with no malice.
CHARLES (CONT)
Then we can start the
training you will require to eventually take the helm of our recovering White
empire.
AMELIA
You really are a cold hearted
and crazy person! I will be fine with a humbler lifestyle if it means keeping
my karma clean and my soul intact! I am out of here! BYE!
AMELIA EXITS – STORMS OUT
CHARLES (SHOUTING OUT THE DOOR)
You’ll be back young lady!
See how far your hippy karma theory takes you! You’ll miss your shopping
excursions, expensive dinners and exotic vacations! Mark my words - you will
return! Spoiled little bitch!
(CHARLES EXITS – MUMBLING
TO HIMSELF)
FADE OUT:
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