Blind.Faith 2.0.50. Tomasz Tatum

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СКАЧАТЬ for it, unsolicited junk advertising literally flooded every household in Libertyville@Esperantia–and probably every other one on the worldmonde.Planet, hidden away in lots of the other places of whose existence he knew little or nothing.

      Located in the stairwell on the landing one floor higher, positioned directly above Ch.ase’ flat, was the entrance door to the attic. The rental agreement he had signed what might well have been a gazillion years ago expressly stipulated that both parties were entitled equally to its utilization. To his recollection, though, neither of them had ever made any real pretense of doing so. It was therefore a logical consequence that the door affording access to the attic had remained securely padlocked with a very substantial lock for as long as Ch.ase had been living here and, judging by its industrial age appearance, very likely even long before this. The lock was an old but formidable model, looking as though it was primarily suitable for use on steamships, fossil-fuel powered oversized harvesting machinery or for securely locking cages–containing frenzied hordes of angry gorillas, rabid pit bull terriers or other similarly dispositioned beasts–with one quick twist of a key.

      As for a key, Ch.ase was clueless as to whether one still existed and if so, who might be in possession of it. But since he had never had any real interest in using the attic anyway, it never occurred to him to invest the effort to find out.

      And, besides, it was entirely possible that, deep within, he had now, in the meantime, perhaps grown apprehensive of being questioned by someone, by anyone, over why he would suddenly want to open the door after so many long years of disuse.

      Or disinterest.

      In any event, Ch.ase considered it extremely unlikely that anyone was going to take him terribly seriously if he were ever to voice his suspicion that the attic over his apartment was full of birds.

      Ch.ase was sure that he knew the system.status pretty well.

      “I’m no fool,” he muttered to himself as he headed for the toilet, fumbling with his fly and thinking fleetingly about the birds again.

      Eating, crapping and minding the food chain. Maybe the birds weren’t quite as stupid as he initially thought.

WE BE ONE NOW

      Almost overnight, it seemed the entire worldmonde.Planet had virtually reorganized itself and, as one might expect in the aftermath of any such helter-skelter situation, it had resulted in an incredibly enormous amount of confusion and, at least from the perspective of those hapless souls less than enthralled by this new development, yet another sorry state of affairs to be lamented as loudly as possible.

      What had actually happened was, on the face of it, quite simple. Major portions of the civilized worldmonde.Planet as everyone had known it had, for any one of any number of reasons, elected to transform their respective societies by fast-forwarding at something approaching breakneck pace for fear of finding themselves shut out of the many blessings of modernity if they continued to drag their feet while so many others welcomed the liberating spirit of progress without reservation. The cumulative result of such an endeavor was bound to initially be what resembled a huge incomprehensible mess to a significant number of the worldmonde.Planet’s somewhat less enlightened–or privileged–citizens. Seen after the fact, this whirlwind culmination of the globalization.bliss process had asserted itself in the manifestation of a relatively sudden cultural and economic revolution that was not entirely unlike the big bang theory regularly purveyed by legions of ostensibly educated heretics to describe the origins of the universe. The Clash of Civilizations and Crash of Currencies phase of history appeared to have finally sputtered to a halt and had in the meantime given way to largely rhetorical skirmishes staged to obscure an uncomfortable truth: that not many people were willing to admit or even consider the logical tendency of economies of scale to quickly run out of steam when they elect to tailor them to fit the needs of rapidly shrinking entities.

      As a result of this minor oversight, and within the span of just a few short years, immense numbers of people found themselves plunged into unbelievably deep crises of identity and otherwise. Almost everything that people had managed to take for granted in the former, and very conventional, political order of the traditional worldmonde.Planet was, with one fell swoop, suddenly murky and awash or no longer valid at all. Who was now going to uphold those icons and idiosyncrasies, prides and prejudices which had given such cohesion and comfort to so many societies for such long periods of historical time? What would become of all of the ordering principles that had enabled some nations, some races, or some faiths to loom large or to sometimes prevail over others? Or which at least successfully deluded them into sleeping quietly in the smug assumption that they were doing so.

      The worldmonde.Planet had become so damned confusing. It was full of friends now.

      In theory, this was a fantastic development.

      But few people were really willing and able to consider the wider ramifications of such a superficially positive development upon that club of nations and societies that derived some or all of their identity through the perception that they were hapless underdogs. That there were some who actually fared quite well or, if this wasn’t exactly the truth, at least derived some well-earned comfort from the fact that they were hopeless basket cases, capable of surviving the onslaught of a civilization whose ideals cloaked some incestuous uniformity only if they succeeded in distilling their own exclusive witches’ brew of cohesive elitist identity. There were some societies, or segments thereof, that took pride in the fact that they were subject to persecution or even eradication if they allowed their vigilance to drop for even a fleeting instant. Or that they were simply the wretched victims of insults, injuries and injustice forced upon them by the hands of others who were bent on dominating or even destroying their most deeply ingrained values.

      Some people who were otherwise probably quite astute were apparently not willing to fathom the extent of the problem while no small number of others simply had little or no interest in coming to terms with it. And, for whatever reasons, even as many people eagerly embraced this change without the slightest hint of reservation, a vast number of people were still equally determined to simply sit it out and wait for a return to what they had grown accustomed to regarding as normalcy.

      But like it or not, nearly everyone had gone global in recent times, whether deliberately or not. Ironically, even those doggedly against this development embraced globalization.bliss eagerly, recognizing it to be the most expedient way to organize the resistance.

      And, in hindsight, it truly did seem as though a global revolution had happened overnight. The old worldmonde.Planet order, based on its various constellations of nation-states, quickly and permanently evaporated as it became clear to all that the concept of the custom-tailored so-called domain.state was here to stay.

      With easily discernible identities then suddenly in short supply, it was hardly surprising that a sharp rise in ideology soon made itself evident.

      The real irony behind this development was that this tendency was accelerated, or even largely made possible, through the emergence of an obviously irredeemable, but tantalizing, promise of collective virtual identity: those erdenburgers who suddenly perceived themselves adrift in a worldmonde.Planet suddenly fragmented through its rush to unification through globalization.bliss once more had ideals toward which they could strive when they were not too distracted through work or busy with shopping or just idling before the telly.tube.

      And they could employ the virtues of this very same globalization.bliss to make their dream of cultural downsizing efficient as well as fun and enjoyable. Technological advances meant that it was no longer necessary to watch helplessly as good, solid, virtuous identities were swamped by those surging tides which were said to be nudging the whole of humanity toward an ideal vaguely defined as a universal, worldwide community of enlightened, and ostensibly democratic, consumerism–unified in spirit СКАЧАТЬ