It was a quiet, peaceful, predictable time. All the songs were about love, and peace, the soy eggs on the breakfast table and 176 shades of lavender. The news spoke of growth, the glory of the nations and endless, invisible victories. Time was devoted to communal reflection on publicly accepted (and officially endorsed and corrected) opinions. Art was abstract, fluffy and properly integrated into the market. Everyone knew their exact value, as determined by the "Citizen Points" system, daily tasks and privileges, as assigned and earned through that system. And the big numbers generated by the economy buoyed the general optimism of the era, which in turn bulled the market, which in turn buoyed the big numbers- it was a healthy, reciprocal cycle.
No-one really liked each other, but everyone somehow got along- of course, people had long ceased to talk to each other directly. Such unmediated communication had beed deemed harmful, unsafe and untrustworthy by the majority consensus vote of 2023*- in which 35% of voters had participated, with commercial personal entities making up the difference! The language filters made it almost impossible to be confronted with an opinion that deviated, even semantically, from the established discourse.
This was, of course, not to say that citizens were not free to dissent, on the contrary, it was encouraged to regularly raise awareness for minority and social causes, as long as it was endorsed by a representative celebrity. Even better if it was in the current Marketing Materials- buy your ticket to the Sténle holodemo today! 10% of the price will be trickled down to selected worthy representatives of your cause of choice. "Consumer options range from the ever-popular Minority Inclusion SCENTEDSOAPGUNS! to ultimately important Media Literacy UNILLAMAS and Regulated Biodiversity KITTENSCRUFFLES! No further interaction on your part required to uplift the equally but less privileged."**
* no-one knew exactly what the number 2023 signified.
** from the Marketing Materials circulated on 207, STE. The dating system was adjusted to reflect the sunsetting of an old norm of counting and startup of the era of Subjective Time. No longer was any individual bound by the oppressive shackles of an imposed system of time measurement, finally achieving harmony with personal concepts of time, reflecting the value of every unit of citizens' time. Any reference to the end-of-lived era were carefully recontextualised and adapted to reflect the new insight and understanding.
This feels relevant: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43198404
This feels relevant: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43198404
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