Noah Cicero: Go to work and do your job. Care for your children. Pay your bills. Obey the law. Buy products.

I replied, “Yes.”

“The next slogan is ‘Efficiency is the path to enlightenment.’ This means that to be a good citizen one must believe in efficiency. Being efficient means you show up on time, it means you do your job, it means you follow the rules, it means that you don’t make excuses, it means that when your boss tells you to do something, you do it. You don’t ask why, you just do it. For things to run smoothly, things must be efficient. Society wants efficiency. It wants people who show up on time, do their job, do what they are told, and believe that what they are doing matters. These deviant criminals must come to terms that to survive they must become efficient. That society demands efficiency, here at NEOTAP we teach them to be efficient. When they become efficient they will get jobs, they will show up to work and do their jobs, they will get raises, they will pay their child support, they will pay bills, they will buy things and contribute to the consumer economy. By participating in the consumer economy their lives will be enriched. They will find happiness in work and buying products. Work will make them happy. Buying products will make them happy. They will have reached enlightenment.”

She went on to the next one. I could see that she was enjoying herself. “‘Repress criminal thoughts, submit to the law.’ This means that criminals have criminal thoughts and we at NEOTAP teach them to repress those thoughts. We teach them what those criminal thoughts are and how to repress them. Their criminal thoughts will never go away, but at least we can get them to repress them and hate them. The criminals must learn that submission is key to surviving in this world. The world demands submission to the law. The law is what keeps us safe. It is what keeps us strong as a nation. The law allows for happiness. If there is no law, then there is no happiness. The government supplies us with the law and they have weapons to back the law. These criminals must understand that they are not the law. We are the law, NEOTAP is a direct representation of the law. The criminals believe that they know better than the law, but they do not. They will never win against the law. The law is stronger and more powerful than humanity. The law is beyond humanity. The criminals must understand who is in control and what is the truth. The truth is the law. I love the law. I believe in it, I submit to it. The residents must also submit to it. If I have to submit to it, then they have to submit to it. Do you understand, Michael?”

“Yes.”

She went on with another slogan. “‘All deviants are guilty.’ This means that everyone in NEOTAP is guilty when they are here. A court has proven that everyone here is guilty. Every time they do something wrong, they are guilty. If they get seven meatballs instead of six, even if it was an accident, they are guilty, they will be written up. There are no excuses for getting seven meatballs. If they have three magazines in their locker instead of two, they are written up, even if they have a good excuse. They are guilty no matter what. They are deviants and deviants are guilty. Do not ever ask them for an excuse. Do not ever allow them to have a reason or a cause or an alibi. They don’t have one, they will never have one. You do not need to concern yourself with their reasons. They have no reason. If they had the ability to reason, they wouldn’t be here. They are guilty because they are deviants and all deviants are guilty because they are deviants.”

“The final slogan of NEOTAP is ‘For the government so loved its citizens that it gave them NEOTAP. Only through responsibility may we gain happiness.’ This basically means that the government loves its citizens and wants to give citizens a chance even if they are deviants. The government has decided to fund NEOTAP. The residents must understand that the government loves them. That the government is the law. That they should love the law because the government loves them. And if they submit to and love the law, they will, in turn, love the government. The government wants to reform these criminals into responsible individuals. Through responsibility these deviants may come to know happiness. Happiness is responsibility. Responsibility is efficiency. By going to work, by doing your job, by paying your bills, by paying your taxes, and taking care of your children, then you may learn what happiness is. We must teach them that happiness is not drugs, even if drugs make them very happy. Happiness is going to work for a company. Happiness is loving that company. Happiness is going to the mall and buying products with money you’ve earned by working for a company. Happiness is buying a large flat screen television and watching football on it. Happiness is going to work and making money and buying new clothes with that money. Happiness is paying bills. Happiness is paying off your debt. These things are what make a person happy. Drugs and crime do not make a person happy. The law does not want that. We must obey the law. Responsibility and efficiency are the keys to living a happy life in modern society. Do you believe that?”

I said without pause, “Yes, I believe that.”

“You do not believe that religion can help these people? You do not believe that Freudian psychology or healing through the arts can help these people?”

“No.”

“Good, but you must understand something. In your interview you stated a very sociological view of why crime exists, which might be true. But we are not concerned with truth here. Truth will not help these criminals. These criminals have no interest in truth. They have no interest in discussing ideas about truth or ideas about psychology. They don’t care. They will never care. Most of them haven’t graduated high school or only have their GED. They don’t care about truth. We must accept that. They do not want truth. We must accept that also. They are interested in getting money and surviving so they can play video games and wear Nike shoes. And hopefully we can reform them enough so they want to at least pay their child support and go to work. This is our only hope, that we get them to go to work, hold a job, pay their bills and pay their child support. They are a drain on the system but since many do not commit crimes bad enough, we cannot lock them away forever. They commit only minor crimes, which require small sentences over and over and over again. While they are out for six months or a year they get women pregnant. These women don’t care who the father is. They don’t care about money to raise the children, they don’t care about raising the kids to become adults. They don’t care whatsoever about their children. The men only have children because it makes them feel like adults. They are truly worthless people but they still feel the need to procreate and have children. These children are a drain on the system. The government spends millions every year to take care of these children and their useless mothers. Their fathers are in prison or out committing crimes and do not care at all about what happens to their children. But the law states we cannot sterilize the criminals. We cannot even tell them to have fewer babies. We are not allowed to mention the fact that they recklessly have babies. We have forty women in the female ward, and most of them have children. Many are here for child endangerment. They don’t care. You must understand that they don’t care. They have different values than you. They don’t believe that child rearing is an activity for responsible hardworking people who make enough money to raise children safely and in a good home. These ideas are alien to them, truth is alien to them. If they had any interest in the truth they wouldn’t procreate. The job of NEOTAP is not to teach them truth or to be interested in truth. Our job is reform criminals into responsible, efficient citizens who go to work, buy goods and pay their taxes. Do you understand?”