The opening to Thom Paine

Well it sounds something odd. It reminds me of of Dexter from the TV show would talk cynically about everything from the voice overs. The character feels like he's better then everyone, but comparing himself as the "modern brain" and from the beginning has a smoking problem. That story of the little boy and the dog, makes the child seem like a soon to be serial killer by the way he talked about how he "...laughed and laughed..." when he saw the dog get electrocuted from the live water in the puddle that he was drinking from.