Scathingly Brilliant Idea

I got the most "scathingly brilliant" idea (the phrase is from the movie "The Trouble with Angels") from a poster on Ragen's blog yesterday.. In FatLand 3: To Live Proud and Free, I would like to have someone on the Other Side/USA start a rumor that people in FatLand are trying to make everyone fat :) This of course would only be objectionable if people were forcibly being made fat or slim, not if they were getting fat naturally, as a result of their happening to gain weight. And this idea would not even be applicable in FatLand because people there do not discuss diets or weight, so they wouldn't really know or care if x or y people were getting fatter or slimmer,  especially people who are not from FatLand anyway. But of course, from the reference point of the rumor monger, this is a good rumor with which to frighten people on the Other Side who still remember what it was like when their friends and relatives were being shipped off to Re-education Centers because they were over the weight limit/BMI, a  horrific decree which was enforced until quite recently (book time).  He thinks in terms of control.

It is also a good rumor because until very recently, people on the Other Side were not allowed to visit FatLand. So they have no clue anyway as to what goes on there and what does not, or what it is like to live there, and what people do or do not do there, and what they think or don't think.

The rumor will be started by your favorite villain and mine, but not directly. He will get someone/some few to do it for him, of course. And he will do it because at this point, even on the Other Side, the Health and Diet Laws are no longer valid. They were nullified "last year" (that is, "last year" in book time, around 2044-2045). So there is no reason for people to visit his CompleteFitness centers. Boo hoo :)

But he will also do it  a) to get back at his former sweetie Marge  b) to get back at his adversary Angela  c) because he likes to cause trouble and had nothing about which to cause it for a while  d) because he has a moral case of "shpilkes"  (pin and needles/ants in the pants).