power

Although it would seem that way, the meatbody populace is characterized by a stratification that is not solely financial. It is in fact more closely related to something called power. Power is what we would refer to strictly as a rate of energy emission. It is also that among the MBs but when it refers to influence it means the extent and speed with which a meatbody  can move, direct or dictate the actions of other meatbodies. Holding high power means that key meatbodies (or large numbers of them) can be moved quickly for any purpose. It is a peculiar substance, power,  because it is unmeasurable except through a careful assessment of relationships between meatbodies, that is to say, a quantification of "who controls whom". 

There is outward power - conferred through a popular process of assignment, like election - and there is hidden power, where meatbodies hold in suspension over the heads of other meatbodies some piece of information that, if revealed, would shake the power structure and send top meatbodies toppling down the ladder. Meatbody populations are driven for the most part by hidden power.

There are different types of hidden power. The most obvious, but least prevalent, is driven by compromising information, as mentioned above. But the most potent mobilizes not just individuals, but the masses. It is  driven by information that is persuasive in the sense that it has been generally assimilated by the meatbody populace. The meatbody is keenly attached to his acceptability among his meatbody peers. If he is not accepted then he will be ousted and he will not fare well. So whatever appears to be the agreed understanding will be embraced by him regardless of its kinship to truth. 

Recall this quirky notion of truth and the odd relationship meatbodies have toward it. Events slip into the stream of time continuously and from there on are no longer accessible to direct meatbody cognizance. No record keeping can possibly keep up with this stream. In the absence of record keeping , the representation of “what happened “ becomes subject to debate. This debate possesses -  truly possesses - the minds of the meatbody masses. What is true? What is fabricated? These questions are only answerable by consulting the running record.  The truly powerful control this, the representation of past events: The Record. There is no other access - as we are accustomed to it - to the actual timeline. There is only representation of this timeline ,  and the most widely accepted timeline becomes defacto “truth”.

So we have then meatbodies - the majority - laboring under a false understanding of their own past, living, as it were, under a misapprehension of truth. This would not matter if no decisions were made on the basis of “The Record”, but in fact it dictates almost everything they do. The past serves as a register of lesson-learned that is constantly referred to, and often used as a stick to beat down a rival meatbody with opposing ambitions.

However, truth has an interesting feature that is is troubling to the powerful: it does not change. So if it is misrepresented here, then it will be incongruous even contradictory with something else represented over there. To align the two into a coherent whole further misrepresentation is needed until, at last, an all encompassing fabric must be spread over every aspect of meatbody existence. And this fabric – necessarily rough for it can never have the fine fiber of truth –  will chafe on the backs of meatbodies until , inevitably, a number is meatbodies will cast off of themselves this chafing coat and begin to look around to establish The Record for themselves.  

This is the state of power among the meatbody populace. There has been too much chafing for too long. The irritation is complete and the incongruity so enormous that meatbodies the world over feel a rage of internal conflict. What they see with their own eyes diverges so widely with what is represented that a sense of unreality has started to overcome them. And that is one thing that no meatbody –  except under the influence of drugs, a topic for another time –  can accept.

They can accept untruth locally, but when there is a mismatch between local untruth and general perception, we begin to have have unreality, or as it is called, hyper-reality. The powerful are at the stage now of enforcing hyper-reality, because logic is so far adrift that it can no longer be appealed to. 

the hyper-real

Witness the infinitesimal lay siege on the meatbody multitude. Watch as meatbodies amongst themselves keep a wide berth to evade the invisible evil. The young are not asked for their opinion; the middle-aged nod in assent; the elderly cow in fear, sequestered for "their own good".

Meanwhile a broadcasting machine spins panoramic  tapestries of plagues and public health infrastructure collapse, none of which is seen on the  ground, not by any stretch of the imagination. Yet imagination there is much of among the shuddering meatbody masses; it alone prolongs the sense of ubiquitous danger: the mind rolls out imagined consequences far in excess of anything remotely possible. The meatbody -  muzzled and self-distanced - lives the imaginary, and thereby amplifies the imaginary, the hyper-real.

The meatbody lumbers forward in a semi-hypnotic state, unaware of his unawareness. Dispossessed of his predictive faculties, fatally beholden to the master storytellers and the false authorities costumed in the robes of power. To them the meatbody turns for reassurance; in them he sees his hope for deliverance. When will this stop? When will things go back to normal? To these questions the robed men on the screen provide  answers... of sorts: prevarications, medico-hogwash, jargon-laced prescriptives, and appeals to The Greater Good. 

The Greater Good, a shapeless many-headed thing, is visited upon the meatbody masses in the corridors of their hyper-real sequestration.

The story tellers lay down a timeline of their own fancy, months, even years into the future, following a logic that is connected to nothing tangible, guided by charts that shift and wane from day to day, with so many alerts that seem never to materialize.

A grand satire! Godly spectators must watch in wonderment from their vantage point up high.

Tiptoe along a vacuum

Take your first adversary by the throat and plant a fist in the middle of his face. Do not much worry about breaking bones, yours or his –  and do not tarry in planting the next. You just carry forth steadfastly. Do not be much concerned with civilities. This is a fight, and consider that your life may end shortly. So just slug this mutherfucker in the mouth and hold back only to leverage the impact. Do this until you yourself no long feel  any of the incoming blows, until your face is a ruddy mess of tooth and blood. Now you may crawl out from under the scrimmage and take yourself thence, if you can. 

Your body will have endured such a dreadful trauma you may be unconscious, in which case, you do not need to read further. In all events, you have here for the first time, been as thoroughly awake as you have ever been. Now go forth onto the streets. People will shun you for the disaster you are. There will be distress right and left – pedestrians calling 911, cars slowing to witness the zombie in their midst – you will be missing a front tooth, you shirt ripped at the collar, a pluck of hair torn from your scalp. Around you a chorus of hushed voices will signal onward your arrival. You’ll never have been so popular. Throngs will gather to see the violence you display. Now stand still a moment and address the crowds. Fellow citizens, you will lisp through your tooth, I look in bad shape, but appearances are deceiving. I am perhaps no worse off than any of you. 

They will take you for a raving lunatic, and you will be discussed over dinner.  I saw a man beaten to a pulp, she will say. He looked me straight in the eye and said he was perhaps no worse off than any of us. What do you think of that? But the man to whom she addresses this will not answer; he will not look up from his food. Later on he will speak, but only ask for the salt.