A Forbidden City
Imperial Beach is the name of the most southern beach in California, about three miles north of the border with Mexico. Approximately 40 miles into the ocean, on the north-west of Coronado islands, there is a small island of about 50 square miles, commonly referred to as “The Loony land”. Like most of the Pacific islands, it has tropical climate with unusual (as people in other islands would call it) vegetation. This island, once inhabited by natives (who totally vanished after an outbreak of an epidemic disease) belongs to the US government, and it is used to house certain deportees. Connection to this island is only by boat, and for those arriving here, it has so far been just a one-way route. Once a month, US Coastguard transports a fresh group of deportees to the island and returns with crews only, since no one can ever leave or escape from this island. Transportation of any kind, an automobile, a boat or an air transporter, is not available to inhabitants. The island has been growing in population in the past ten years and it is estimated to have reached a population of about 65,000 people, although no one knows the exact number. No census has ever been taken, nor is there any polling to gauge social and economic life of the people. There are roads and shops and factories and other buildings, but not any government establishment. In the absence of a local government, there is no need for administrative officials such as police force or tax collectors. Inhabitants of the island live in such a way that would not entice any outsider a desire to eye on their material possession, neither is any competition for wealth (or anything else for that matter) among the islanders. The island is encased with barbed-wires and surrounding water is patrolled by the US Coastguard 24/7.
The only instruction new arrivals receive from coastguard crews is to walk straight to a large white building near the gate, as soon as they put their foot on the ground. Instead of a welcoming committee meeting them, they automatically form a line and stand or sit on a few chairs in that large room, adjacent to a few bathrooms. Deportees are condemned to life in this island by a special court decree. Some years ago, a bill was passed through the Congress, which was signed by the first female president. Accordingly, those considered outcast have been shipped to this island. Definition of outcast was not specifically mentioned in the law and it was left to various judges’ interpretations to decide the fate of the person who should be removed from the US soil forever. There was decided not to have any visiting by relatives and friends as the condemned person had to live the rest of his or her natural life in the island.
People are of course different from each other, and every person has a different level of intelligence, knowledge, expertise, as well as any other unique traits. However, one likes to live in a group, which can be a family, a farm, a community, or any group that one is proud of being a part of. Every once in a while a very different or a totally unique person is borne into the society. Some scientists or some inventors may be ahead of their times, whom we call visionaries. They act and think differently. we attribute such traits as "thinking ahead of their times". We do not put them in insane asylum, even if they act very peculiar. They are basically outcasts; however, we envisage them as nobles and we wish to be like them! There are other outcasts whom we consider just weird or different, and we label them as manic, autistic, bipolar, schizophrenic, depressed, and such titles, while we try to make them think and act like us. This group of outcast used to be led to insane asylums and special clinics. Due to lack of funding, such people were sent to jails, or they were left in streets as homeless. Another group of outcasts are those who do not believe in the social structure of the society and try to change it violently. At their height, they either become revolutionaries, or politicians, or common criminals. Some may even move up to lead a nation at their pinnacle, such as Napoleon, Hitler, Alexander, and basically leaders of all imperial powers. Most of the people in this group (with the exception of common criminals) are of course not outcasts, and as with the first group mentioned above, they become symbols and idols for youngsters, and look up to them. The rest are societal outcasts, and the Congress considered them unfit for the society. The best way to deal with them, therefore, was to toss them to an inhabited island, and let them fend for themselves!
The only instruction new arrivals receive from coastguard crews is to walk straight to a large white building near the gate, as soon as they put their foot on the ground. Instead of a welcoming committee meeting them, they automatically form a line and stand or sit on a few chairs in that large room, adjacent to a few bathrooms. Deportees are condemned to life in this island by a special court decree. Some years ago, a bill was passed through the Congress, which was signed by the first female president. Accordingly, those considered outcast have been shipped to this island. Definition of outcast was not specifically mentioned in the law and it was left to various judges’ interpretations to decide the fate of the person who should be removed from the US soil forever. There was decided not to have any visiting by relatives and friends as the condemned person had to live the rest of his or her natural life in the island.
People are of course different from each other, and every person has a different level of intelligence, knowledge, expertise, as well as any other unique traits. However, one likes to live in a group, which can be a family, a farm, a community, or any group that one is proud of being a part of. Every once in a while a very different or a totally unique person is borne into the society. Some scientists or some inventors may be ahead of their times, whom we call visionaries. They act and think differently. we attribute such traits as "thinking ahead of their times". We do not put them in insane asylum, even if they act very peculiar. They are basically outcasts; however, we envisage them as nobles and we wish to be like them! There are other outcasts whom we consider just weird or different, and we label them as manic, autistic, bipolar, schizophrenic, depressed, and such titles, while we try to make them think and act like us. This group of outcast used to be led to insane asylums and special clinics. Due to lack of funding, such people were sent to jails, or they were left in streets as homeless. Another group of outcasts are those who do not believe in the social structure of the society and try to change it violently. At their height, they either become revolutionaries, or politicians, or common criminals. Some may even move up to lead a nation at their pinnacle, such as Napoleon, Hitler, Alexander, and basically leaders of all imperial powers. Most of the people in this group (with the exception of common criminals) are of course not outcasts, and as with the first group mentioned above, they become symbols and idols for youngsters, and look up to them. The rest are societal outcasts, and the Congress considered them unfit for the society. The best way to deal with them, therefore, was to toss them to an inhabited island, and let them fend for themselves!
The white building was the first building constructed in this
island by US authorities, when they decided to deport undesirable citizens,
whether convicts or otherwise unfavorable. The very first group of people new arrivals meet are the last deportees to the island before the new arrivals. This is in fact the welcoming
committee, who know firsthand why the new group arrived and how they should
lead their way through the island and get oriented with the rest. They are like a bridge
between the old and the new inhabitants. The whole island is a single town or city,
called Sophi City, under the jurisdiction of a branch of the US government.
This organization watches the island and scans the minute movement in the
island through satellites. It is not for the well being of the islanders, but to
ensure that no subversive action is ever undertaken, which may threaten the
mainland. Although it has been objected by many member countries of the United
Nations, it is still exercised not heeding to human rights organizations. Basically, anyone
convicted of certain crimes, a homeless, an undesirable in any shape or
form, may be considered as unfit to live in states and territories, in or outside of jails. In this fashion, the country is left to those who enjoy a
rich life of wealth and abundance, and those who do not benefit such luxury, but accept to work in order to serve
them. Anyone who cannot fit in any of these two categories is considered
mentally incapacitated, and will end up living in Sophi City. A person who
commits a crime is also considered to have a mind inferior to others, and
prone to crime. A congregation of psychologists and politicians devised a plan
to segregate anyone who is diagnosed as a mental patient (regardless of the
disease, whether schizophrenia or any kind of depression) from normal
people, in a large asylum as large as a city, “Sophi City”. It is ironic
to use this title for people branded as insane or casted out from the society
for a different reason. In fact, the name was suggested by one of the senators
as an anecdote (or perhaps insult), and gradually it became the official name.
It may be useful to note that “Sophist” was similarly referred to a group of
Greek philosophers also known as “The Seven Sages”. Sophists were named as such
in order to differentiate them from others, whom we may consider a collection of
outcast from their own society because of the way they thought. In fact,
someone who thinks in a way different from the majority (whether insane or sage) does not consider himself on the wrong side of the evolution, but others do. However,
one may think that if authorities did not enforce this claim in minds of
inhabitants of the island that they were the insane ones, they would certainly think
of the authorities as a bunch of lunatics! People use those two terms, Sophi City or the Loony Island, interchangeably.
To Be Continued
