“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.”–Lord of the Flies

There’s something horrible lurking within the shadows of Wednesday evenings, 8/7 central on CBS, this fall. Tucked away in the ruins of network television and New Mexico is the ghost town of Bonanza City. It is here, in this deserted shell of civilization, that 40 children will spend 40 days with no adults. This is Kid Nation.

In America alone, there exist 20 million kids ages 8-15. They spend $150 billion a year on everything from Xbox to Levi’s jeans. These kids have been raised on Hannah Montana and Mountain Dew. Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron are royalty. High School Musical is worshipped.

The horror … the horror.

In episode one of Kid Nation, the children crash land their school bus in the desert of New Mexico. The youngest child Jimmy, an 8 year old curly-haired realist, realizes that he is hopelessly alone. He muses that he’s going to “die out here, because there’s nothing.” I wish he were wrong.

The children are met by host Jonathan, a man who seems to tread the line between Internet predator and your best friend. He introduces the town council, led by brave 12-year-old Boy Scout Mike. Mike wears glasses, a cowboy hat, and an air of both confidence and kindness.

From here, the kids journey to Bonanza City, where they set up their society and begin life anew as pioneers of a new nation, a Kid Nation.

American philosopher Will Durant said that “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.”

All is not well in Kid Nation. On their trek to Bonanza City, faithful leader Mike is confronted by the epitome of vileness – Greg. Greg is a 15-year-old self-proclaimed cool kid, who wears braces and a snow cap, both signs of maturity. The villain of the story accuses Mike of throwing out orders, but not doing anything himself. The kids are forced to watch as Mike tries unsuccessfully to pull a wagon, and is publicly humiliated.

At breakfast the next day, all hell breaks out when some kids eat more pancakes than others. The little children, among them our little Jimmy, are left starving. This transgression initiates the first town hall meeting. While our friend Mike tries to control the mob of children, Greg marches to stage and pushes him. Before all civility is destroyed, future-surfer and prophet Michael reminds everyone that they are all there not to quarrel, but to prove that kids can create a society on their own.

At the same time, on the side of the town hall, sits little Jimmy sobbing into his lap. He cries “I think I’m too young to do this, I want to be older.” The next day, Jimmy leaves Kid Nation, never to return again.

The CBS show tickles the haunting notion that when stripped from society, a child will no longer adhere to the rules that governed their lives, but resort to savagery. They will act on dark, raw emotion and instinct and society will disintegrate.

I would like to think that if I were placed in the middle of Kid Nation, I would strive to get along with the other kids, and work for the creation of a new, noble Bonanza City. But who’s to say that I wouldn’t devolve into a tyrant, and form a vicious gang that dances by the fire and rips apart Michael, the future-surfer and prophet, limb from limb?

To predict what will happen, let’s look at the conclusion of the episode. Faced with the choice of choosing more outhouses or a television set as a reward, the kids chose the bathrooms. It seems as though reason has overcome their savage urges. If the children really are the future, maybe there is hope for this world. Or maybe they don’t get the Disney Channel in Bonanza City.