In a parallel universe, a president of a prominent country is used as a figurehead and is under unpublicized house arrest when not in use for the sparse media campaigns and PR. The old man is deliberately malnourished and put into a delirious, stupified state to keep him compliant.

Corporations play with the feeble minds of conspiracy theorists by letting just enough of their world-conquering existence known that it drives them insane to the point of terrorism. Bets are made by these elite by gathering information on the individuals using the vast resources at hand including social media and federal agencies. Whoever wins gains the wager of taking over an industry or putting another puppet president somewhere.

Local authorities are franchised as they are no longer paid by the government and thus are no longer required to serve individuals outside their contracts jurisdiction:: "To protect and earn..".

The only way to get ahead in life for the everyday middle/low-income individual is to find a niche and exploit it until someone bleeds out. Natural resources are tight, but people's wallets are tighter. Survival of the fittest in an urban jungle.

Philosophical ideals and political movements are as unintelligible in everyday life as magic was decades earlier. Who has time to spare fighting for justice when they live on literally borrowed time? One is considered lucky to be able to rent out their body to a to struggling advertising company in exchange for paying off the debt accrued yesterday getting a permit to go job searching.
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Dystopian realities are just nightmares we haven't woken up to. The sooner one realizes how close to reality such nightmares are, the harder it will be to sleep. For those who do not fear it all, sleep comes as easy as the lack of light they cast forth for others to see.