The Town With No Neighbors

In a town called "Prosperity," the lawns were always green

The folks all went to church on Sunday, kept their porches clean

They knew their neighbors' kids' names, they knew their neighbors' dogs

They all agreed on everything, like perfect little cogs

Then a stranger came to town one day, or maybe just a post

On the internet, that told 'em what they ought to fear the most

It wasn't drought, it wasn't blight, it wasn't takin' jobs

It was the "others" at the gate, the "unrelenting mobs."

And the fences got a little higher

The smiles got a little tighter

And the quiet, friendly voices

Started learning how to fight.

Oh, the poison in the paper

The venom on the screen

It turned a town of neighbors

Into something cold and mean.

First, they came for people that nobody really knew

The family in the rental house, the ones that just moved through

And folks said, "Well, it's sad, but they were never one of us"

And went back to their dinners on the local transit bus

Then they came for the librarian, for a book she wouldn't burn

And the town got quiet, "It is none of my concern"

And then they came for teachers who were teachin' "too much truth"

And the paranoia feasted on the frightened, angry youth.

And the fences got a little higher

The smiles got a little tighter

And the quiet, friendly voices

Started learning how to fight.

Oh, the poison in the paper

The venom on the screen

It turned a town of neighbors

Into something cold and mean.

Now the town is "Prosperity," the lawns are dead and brown

There's not a single "other" left to ever push around

The houses are all empty, the windows are all dark

They burned the bridge, they burned the books, they burned the little park

'Cause the "enemy" they hunted, the "sickness" they all feared

Was the shadow of each other, when the "other" disappeared.

And the fences are the highest

The smiles are the tightest

And the cold and lonely voices

Have forgotten how to fight.

Oh, the poison in the paper

The venom on the screen

It turned a town of neighbors

Into something cold and mean.