A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

Pal, I've made a mistake,
Expecting boots on my face forever
It would be far too obvious,
And far too clearly mischievous

It's a drug to make you docile
But no, it won't be material
Why risk the chemical, the visual,
When you can hide the psychological?

[Chorus]
Hello, totalitarian
Forget the gun-toting oppressor
Forget the drug-forcing suppressor
Just dim the gaslight, and convince you it's bright

It won't be thugs kicking down your door
If they have power, what's force for?
Frame it as freedom, pursuit of happiness
Retreat to our minds, in the name of wellness

They make you read fiction
Of dark and brooding alleys
When all they need is what's present
Just stretched to its conclusion

[Chorus]

They'll say that being king is a divine blessing
And just the natural state of all things
They'll derive from what is to what ought to be
Then sell what's communal as signed property

[Chorus]

Hello, Totalitarian

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

Oh resentment, oh envy
That's just normal, don't worry
Book your therapist, lie on that couch
We'll fix whatever's made you grouch

Stop looking at what's external
Don't you be such a fool
All improvement is internal
Self-care, self-love are the tools

[Chorus]
Don't you be jelly, jelly, jelly
Keep that smile steady, steady, steady
When others do better than you
Just smile wide, say "good for you!"

Can't you be glad that others smile?
Their success makes life worthwhile
Blame not the world for how you feel
Your toxic thoughts are now revealed

You can't make the world rotate
You can't choose where the sun will set
When the night is dark, just go to sleep
Be grateful for the things you keep

[Chorus]

The world just works this way, sweetie
Personal responsibility
Your mind makes your reality
So think happy, and don't you worry

[Chorus]

Jelly, Jelly, Jelly

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

Freedom, liberty, happiness
Mindlessly yapping words
Like talking to fleas, brain size of peas
I feel dumb entertaining your pleas

I can point out fallacies
And your lack of moralities
But your bad faith begs, a Hitch slap
So let me serve you, a bitch slap

[Chorus]
Shut up, damn neoliberal
You just want us to sell ourselves
Marketing our lives into profit lines
Corporate whoring by design

I'll argue with folks I disagree with
If our base purpose we can work with
If we want everyone to flourish free
Then we can fight on strategy

But for all your talk of freedom, liberty
The only one you care about is "me, me, me, me!"
Man, you're so full of bullshit
Even Atlas shrugs and says “fuck it!”

[Chorus]

If you think the world should serve you, own it
Don't pretend it's for the common benefit
If you judge by who's useful to you, own it
Don't pretend that you give a shit

[Chorus]

Shut Up Neoliberal

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

So here we are again, my friend
Another case you need to mend
Let me stretch first, get my ass unbent
Hell, this could have been an email sent

I'm Marcus, but just call me Mark
My mind cuts sharp like razor's arc
In world so atomized to quark
I’m here to give enlightenment a spark

[Chorus]
Ah! This time it's psychology
Mixed with some pop phrenology
Dressed-up phenomenology
Bad logic masked as philosophy

Yes, I am a psychologist
But no, I ain't no therapist
Call me a psychoanalyst
So sit down there, my masochist

If you want perfect mental health
You need a bit of brain cell death
Be blind, pretend this world ain't cruel
Self-care! Worry 'bout your own fuel

[Chorus]

You need to know if someone's Freud
Or else you'll swallow wisdom from some fraud
They'll blame you for your shit situation
Claiming mind's the source of all creation

[Chorus]

Pop Phrenology

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

Hey you, take a cue, yes you
Would you like to play some games?
No! I'm not suspicious at all
I'm Mark, and I sell games at the mall

Pixel farms and candy stacks
Firearms and planned attacks
Come let's play a stressful game
Makes you think with careful aim

[Chorus]
Don't sell bird-throwing at green pigs
Don't sell brick-matching color tricks
My games gonna get your brain switches flicking
Work frames to get your mind wheels turning

Dear my prospective customer
I hear you're feeling quite down under
Yeah, life's genre is not casual
It’s more tactical and mostly brutal

What you need is to play on a map
Not some tower defense mobile app
But as countries filling the trade gap
Choosing whether to side with the top hat or the flat cap

[Chorus]

Life is stressful, so you run to games
Escaping reality, seeking fun to gain
But dear patron, life's genre ain't casual
Escaping reality forever ain't rational

[Chorus]

Bird-Throwing At Green Pigs

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

Love's just a fine art, specimen
Bought with a beating heart's regimen
Scared you're gonna die alone
Sleeping in grave without ever getting boned

Going thirty, never married
While to happiness others get ferried
So pal, tell me, are you a loser?
Or have you got principles worth being a loner?

[Chorus]
Getting hitched early in your twenties
Tent pitched early, drop your panties
Do you get together 'cause you're meant to be?
Or are they just a tool of your utility?

To college, tick box. Good grades, tick box
Cruising through life, just checking your inbox
Own business, blank box. Get married, blank box
Just let the business apps HR your life!

Mutual benefit contracts
Insurance with profit, death tax
Check if your partner adds your net worth
But don't breed kids only for self-worth

[Chorus]

Y'all gonna wrinkle as your health trickles
So don't treat others like they're just fickle
If you use others just to fix life's pickle
Don't get mad when you're just theirs to twiddle

[Chorus]

Tent Pitched Early

Character Song Album from upcoming Dystopian Novel:
THE POSITIVITY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Coming 2026

Check out the Album for character songs.
___

THE POSITIVITY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Phil works as a low-wage data-entry clerk at Merope Lithium Trading, dutifully following government-mandated wellness guidelines that keep him bright and positive despite his economic struggles. But when he witnesses a colleague's suicide, his unshakeable belief that life is always worth living begins to crumble.

He met Sophie, a game streamer who openly expresses the socially forbidden emotion of Negativity. Through her influence, Phil's journey shifts from inner contemplation to external confrontation with a society that has weaponized psychology to pacify its population.

To awaken the world, Phil must rediscover his ability to express negativity, but this tragically puts him at odds with his crush and therapist Dr. Hilary, and Mr. Charon, CEO of the Macaria Wellness Foundation.

PROLOGUE - The Positivity Industrial Complex

ACT 1 -2 INTERLUDE

ACT 2-3 INTERLUDE

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

My boy and girls, my thespians
You ain't yet seen the real demons
You think therapists are your antagonists
But let me show you—the true parasites!

These psychologists just justify the game
Shaped by the ground from which they came
When you sit upon a crooked wedge
Of course your ass conforms to every edge

[Chorus]
What's that smell, beneath the floor?
The base under your super structure! 
Bloodsuckers who call themselves investors
Out-reeking even my posteriors

Ain’t nobody doing mad stuff for free
Nobody’s doing big projects like “wheee!”
Unzip your brain, prepare to wee-ee-ee!
Golden showerin’, urine trouble

If you ever wonder 'bout the world's wonder
Ask "Cui bono?"—who benefits, I wonder?
'Cause behind every ideology
Lies a strategy for growing money

[Chorus]

Yeah, some ideas beget ideas
But ideas alone don't buy Tia Marias
'Cause remember, money don't grow on trees—
A fact you can't handwave in therapy

So they select which one's got R.O.I.
Till they say "Capital!"—that's one for you and I
Then they go twirling their moustache:
"Grind!" "Labor!" here, use this idea

[Chorus]

Super Structure

A character song from my upcoming dystopian novel: THE POSITIVITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Check out the album for more character songs.

____

I lost my wife to her despair
My debts, not hers, yet she paid the price
Though I gave her all the world could spare
She took her life in silent sacrifice

This world for us, is too cruel to bear
No heart can stand its endless pain
So I built Macaria with care
That none should suffer so again

[Chorus]
We're all just ants beneath the heel
Of forces far beyond our grasp
So don't overthink, just learn to feel
And find shelter, where we’re safe at last 

What can one man do against the tide
Two hands against economy's cold grip
You're a sailor, cast aside
Far below on fortune's ship

Don't seek love beyond your place
Look down, not up at gilded halls
Be grateful for your humble space
What lies above will never fall to you at all

[Chorus]

I am a protector from life’s harsh storms
In this hell that we all roam
So sit down there, be a good boy
If you don't want the fire to eat your soul

[Chorus]

Ants Beneath The Heel

Writes working-class speculative fiction. Browse along for character songs!

Ants Beneath The Heel

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