Dreams of the future

I dream a nightmare. A world where no one cares. A place where private and public is a secret because no one gives a shit.

I dream of paedophiles being elected to the White House and of people being shot on the street by privatised secret security forces.

I see cities without paparazzi to judge the pornographic behaviours of Hollywood celebrities and people free from worrying about the images of their past.

A nightmare of hidden government agencies overthrowing other governments, torturing citizens on the front page of the New York times or live on a special broadcast on the internet. Of ghost organizations planning terrorist attacks just to give meaning to their lives.

Millions of people watching private human suffering in the privacy of their homes at nine o’clock on CNN with the safe distance of satellites insensitive to private genocides or famines.

A world of total privatization where pain is never pain unless it is owned by someone and someone is profiting from it.

The private perfection of decisions taken at business meetings on behalf of millions of new unemployed whose shame will be broadcasted for some more advertising dollars.

I dream of private wars waged on the desert in front of the public-blind eye. A world of leaders doing as they please in the privacy of their press conferences rooms. Neighbours never saying hello and never smelling the stench of the dead bodies next door.

I dream a nightmare of immortal human clones begging for their right to die… but no one will pay attention to them. No one will care. No one will give a shit. I can't wake up.

Carlos Peralta - December 2004