Works/Ignore
From Eccentric Flower
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/ignore[Transcript from portion of National Nightly Newsfeed, 4 November 2020] Synthea TURING: We have confirmed that Charles Cort is the new President. Cort has been officially confirmed as receiving 86 percent of the national popular vote. GRAPHIC: TURING: Presidential candidate Jackie MacAdam has demanded an investigation of the vote: [MacAdam clip] MACADAM: For the last two years, I have crossed this country talking to its citizens, learning their thoughts, gauging their moods and their positions. I feel I have a reasonably firm grasp of the current character of the populace. I refuse to believe that populace could elect someone whose views are as repugnant to them as Charles Cort's. TURING: President-elect Cort made the following remarks at his campaign headquarters five minutes ago: [Cort clip] CORT: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen - [gestures for silence] Thank you. Tonight we stand at the edge of a new beginning. A new beginning for a nation that has forgotten itself. A nation that has grown indulgent, fat, even - if I may say it - obscene. TURING: Cort did not give any specifics of his upcoming policies, but his candidate platform called for greater government moderation of electronic resources, reductions in personal liberties, and a near-total ban on reality alteration and augmentation devices ....
"You see? He believes it." Joe Bishop rubbed his eyes, which hadn't stopped itching for four days. "So?" Julia Clark replied. "Cort probably lost it when someone told him the truth about Santa Claus." "I think this is for real, Jules. I want you to -" "No, Bishop. I am not going to gather man-on-the-street for you. Election's over; the good guys lost." "Look, if it's true -" "Even if it's true, he still won! We're fucked regardless. What, you're going to go before the Elections Commission and say, 'By the by, Cort won because most of America doesn't know the election happened, so throw it all out'? They'll throw you out." "See! You think it's possible!" Julia sighed. "How have you been doing this for twenty years and still have any optimism?" "I just want a little more, that's all. Come on. One day's worth of street roll." "You do it." "They won't talk to me, you know that. You -" "This is blatant exploitation of my physical appearance and I'm going to report you to the harrassment office." "Sure. Just report me after you get the street roll?"
Julia tried once again to scratch her back in the exact spot her arms couldn't reach from any direction. Latex always made her sweat buckets. She reached again for the towel just off-camera, but stopped herself as a prospect approached. Judging from his build and his stride he was one of the worst kind of twinks. He broke stride, almost stopped, as he came within range. She knew what he was seeing - his glasses suddenly recalculating WHOA HOT FEMALE DON'T BLUR THIS ONE. Now, quick, while he was still focused on latex and breasts and hadn't noticed the microphone and camera rig. "Excuse me, sir, I'm with the NNN, could I ask you a quick question?" His disappointment that 1) there was a head attached to the breasts and 2) that it was actually trying to speak to him was obvious, but somewhere in his distant past someone must have spent five minutes trying to give him some manners; he didn't walk away, which was as close to acquiescence as she was going to get. "I'd just like to ask, if you don't mind saying, who you voted for in Tuesday's election?" "Election?" A few seconds to consider. "Oh, yeah, I guess there was? I muted all that stuff couple of years ago. Bunch of assholes, you ask me." "Thank you, sir!" Big ditz smile. She refused to do the whole bimbo bit, but there was supposed to be some payoff. "That it?" "That's all, sir. Thanks very much for your help!" Off he lurched again into the world of digital blur. This was the longest she had been on public streets in two years, since the last time Bishop had conned her into one of these gigs. She wasn't sure she was going to make it through the day, watching the crowds pass and dodge each other, seldom touching, never colliding, never actually seeing, their opaque glasses concealing each private world. A woman approached with no glasses, goggles, or visor. She gave Julia a contemptuous full-body scan. "Pardon me, ma'am -" "I don't think so," the woman said. "I'd just like to know who you voted for on Tuesday." "Cort, naturally, not that it's any of NNN's business." The woman began to stomp off, then turned around. "I hope he does something about public indecency." Julia rubbed her eyes while the camera was watching the woman disappear down the street.
"So I'm right." Bishop reclined in his chair and interlaced his fingers behind his head. "You can turn down the smug. But, yeah, it looks like you're right. I got four for MacAdam. Everybody else who voted at all voted Cort. Not one of them used AR. For all the rest, the election just didn't happen. Oh, yeah, and I got three who I guess had me muted; they didn't see me at all." "Sign of popularity." "More like they're set to mute anything with an NNN logo. You won't give me enough screen time to make enemies. So now what?" "Film at eleven! They're writing the script for Synthea right now. It'll be in the feed cycle in about twenty minutes." "And that's it? Just another story?" Bishop squinted at her. "You had other ideas?" "I don't know - it just ... this is so wrong. Maybe Cort has a point. It sounds great that everybody can make the reality they want, ignore the parts that piss them off - and then we get so something like this happens. Shouldn't we at least go to the Elections Commission with this?" "Nah. You were right the other day. Rumor has it they're about to sue MacAdam for slander." Julia sighed. "So he gets to win." "He did win. Like you said. The people who were crazy enough to care voted for him. Everyone who wasn't a nutjob stayed home. It's the same problem we've had for the last seventy years. AR just made it more obvious."
[Transcript from portion of National Nightly Newsfeed, 11 November 2020] Synthea TURING: Earlier today, President-elect Charles Cort announced that one of his first measures as President will be to attempt to ban the use of Augmented Reality eyewear except within certain locations, such as the user's own home. [Cort clip] CORT: We cannot begin to cure the malaise that has affected this nation when three-fourths of the nation refuses to exist within it. We must force these people to admit they live in the same universe as the rest of us before we can make this universe a better place for everyone. Copyright © April 2011. Do not distribute or reproduce. |
