Branding Irons

I feel like I'm watching a war that never seems to end. People with branding irons and pitchforks rioting the streets, shouting for equality, for justice, for peace, but in the same breath are attacking innocent people. Those unlucky enough to be caught nearby can either join out of fear or feel the wrath and pressure of the crowd. Hot iron burning into their skin, overused words melting and becoming one with their flesh forever. They don't care about abuse, they don't care about helping others, they just want to mark you and blame you and call that their cause. They're burning inside, their emotions melting what's left of them, so in turn, they hope maybe the scorched iron will bring some sort of closure to the heat as if it could leak out their mouths from the hateful words they spew and cool their rage. They're all the same, becoming copies of each other as if the magma boiling inside their hearts somehow melted together. The individuality, the true peace, the kindness, the compassion, the sympathy, the understanding, it has all been swallowed away into a black hole they claim is "justice served."