While wandering aimlessly in the cold dark lonely void
A voice calls out beckoning to join them
A warm, welcoming refuge promises to accept
And all within are quick to approve the new arrival
Plastic smiles greet the nascent recruit
Whose eyes are full of hope and happiness
Having found a bastion of belonging
Where superficiality is initially served to the unvetted
But since assimilation is the goal and rejection the risk
Suppositions slowly slink into the pleasantries
To try the tribal truth on the malleable member
Whose initial reactions are secretly judged
Adoration is the first victim of a furrowed brow
Dare the critical become the ostracized
And while the elder associate attempts to appease
The threat is averted by accepting the innocuous idea
But as the group devours, the dogma digs deeper
Layer by layer leaving little of the landscape left
Replacing the unique with the canonical
Until the individual is indistinguishable from the institution
