The Prerogative of Fakery

The covenant of the producer of reality entertainment is

not justice

nor truth

nor integrity

nor courage.

*

The covenant of the producer of reality entertainment is

lies and fictions

dressed up as "honest" and "authentic" "truths" and "realities".

*

Importantly:

the producer of reality entertainment is not in the business of nonfiction.

Therefore

the producer of reality entertainment is not in the business of documentary.

Which is to say:

the producer of reality entertainment is not in the business of science or history or news or information, etc.

Indeed

the producer of reality entertainment is in the business of fakery.

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Sadly

the prerogative of such fakery is abundantly not exclusive.

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To the extent that all of us exploit lies and fictions to pretend to be "honest" and "authentic" across social media, for example,

the covenant of the producer of reality entertainment is

all of ours

as producers of social media

neither in the business of nonfiction nor the business of documentary.

*

Moreover

as producers of social media

the price we pay

the covenant, if you will, we make

with ourselves and each other is

nothing less than the erosion of honesty and authenticity.

*

Nay, the vow, if you will, we avow

to ourselves and each other is

nothing less than not giving a damn.

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Needless to say

it is therefore colossally unsurprising that shams of justice and truth and integrity and courage are donned like the emperor's new teflon by producers of reality entertainment and producers of social media

as honest and as authentic as fakers in the business of fakery.

See also the Ides of March and Memento Mori

M

The Great Claptrap, Again

There is a blindness in the face of hardship and misfortune and mortality that avows:

     the past is no begetter of now

     and hardship and misfortune and mortality therein

     the past is salvation of now!

There is a blindness that avows:

The Great Claptrap, Again

How is the past salvation of now?

*

If the past is salvation of now

what did our progenitors avow as salvation of now... decades ago? generations ago? centuries ago? millennia ago?

     The past?

*

Then

did our progenitors summarily avow:

     the past is no begetter of now

     the past is salvation of now?

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Then

after millennia and after centuries and after generations and after decades of avowing the past as salvation of now

     what begot now?

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(Moreover

what begot now of millennia ago? now of centuries ago? now of generations ago? now of decades ago?)

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If the past is no begetter of now

now

(much less now of millennia ago and now of centuries ago and now of generations ago and now of decades ago)

     what is?

     God?

*

If God begets now and hardship and misfortune and mortality therein

now

(and now of millennia ago and now of centuries ago and now of generations ago and now of decades ago)

while that which humankind begot in the past is no begetter of now (and hardship and misfortune and mortality therein); that which humankind begot in the past is salvation of now

     then God is apologism.

*

For how is this God, this consecration of blame shifting, this convenient deus ex fabricatio

     to blame

for now and hardship and misfortune and mortality therein

(much less now of millennia ago and now of centuries ago and now of generations ago and now of decades ago)

while the salvation of now and hardship and misfortune and mortality therein is the past

     (begot by we who beget no now)?

*

To see the salvation of now as the past

is to not see the unbroken road from the past to now.

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Though thousands of years have passed since our progenitors avowed: we are faultless; now and hardship and misfortune and mortality is God

to not see the unbroken road from the past to now is to avow decade after decade, generation after generation, century after century, millennia after millennia: we are apologists; now and hardship and misfortune and mortality is the broken road;

after all: the past is no begetter of now; the past is salvation of now!

*

Are we as jejune as our progenitors...? Millennia after millennia and century after century and generation after generation and decade after decade... ?

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(Notwithstanding

if the past is salvation of now

     what past is salvation?

For every past and every hardship and every misfortune and every mortality therein without exception was once

     now.)

*

Now after now after now after now after now

there is a blindness in the face of what's working as intended that avows:

     the great claptrap

again after again after again after again after again.

Addendum

I

There was never a time when vagrancy was encouraged. When mischief was praised. When disorderliness was welcome.

Censured and rebuked by societies and neighbors, the reason was this:

respect is the currency of civility and civility has stood the test of time.

Needless to say, while tendering respect is entitled to respect in return, tendering vagrancy and mischief and disorderliness is not tendering respect. It's rude.

Moreover, such deficit of respect merits redress and amend.

*

Not surprisingly

debtors of the currency of civility who are apologists

apologize not

and demand instead

entitlements and privileges from the very societies and neighbors to whom they owe redress and amend

with the fake righteousness of teflon.

*

Like civility, this deficit of integrity has stood the test of time.

*

II

There was never a time when moral washing was not encouraged and praised and welcome. For moral washing was how believers consecrated:

     God is apologism.

*

Though thousands of years have passed since the first consecration of God is apologism, the unbroken road of believers who are moral washers is well trod with the avowal:

to avow

temptation is God's purpose; transgression is God's will

is to avow

forgiveness and deliverance are entitlements and privileges

owed to we

who exploit the establishment of religion and the exercise thereof.

*

Not surprisingly

moral washers who consecrate moral washing

apologize not

and demand instead

entitlements and privileges from the very societies and neighbors to whom they owe reformation and restitution

with the fake piety of the emperor's new transparency.

*

Like apologues, this deficit of honesty has stood the test of time.

*

III

Now after now

we the fake righteous and we the fake pious

who heil makers on the take

owe no redress, no amend, no reformation, no restitution

to societies and neighbors who denounce deficits of integrity and honesty

again after again.

*

IV

Though thousands of years have passed since the first exhortation to Carnival

do we indulge ourselves for Shrovetide

as if joy is the point?

Then

do we abstain from joy for Lententide?

As if acts of indulgence and acts of abstention

signal virtue

like fair weather cocks flapping like flags on flagpoles.

*

V

To not see claptrap working exactly as intended is to not see willful blindness and covenants thereof stand the test of time

millennia after millennia and century after century and generation after generation and decade after decade and

now.

M

The Not See Who Blinked

Gather round... and let me tell you a story... of course, one you've heard before... after all, there are no new stories... only old stories, retold to new yous who never tire of believing the hero is always you and the villain is always not and the story is always new...

The Not See Who Blinked

Somewhere, where flagpoles are manifestos and holiday lights are proclamations, there live a people who believe a lie.

A lie so treacherous... that, were I to lay bare this truth without first laying bare a truth less black... you'd contemptuously judge me: false, I say, false!

For somewhere is everywhere... and my somewhere is as yours as yours is mine.

*

What is it like... to be you? To see but not see.

You see... coming and going. I see... a drug dealer whose poison for sale is counterfeit ejaculation... a paedophile whose side hustle is gigolo for hire... a Gatsby whose morality is as hollow as likes and followers... 

You see... harmlessness and innocence. I see... bonfires nursed by envy and fear... attended by the like minded whose commodious frenemieship fuel campaigns and embolden warfare...

You see... life grabbed by the horns and passing by. I see... a trafficker whose plus one is none the wiser prostitute... an embezzler whose transparency boycott is the do gooder's crusade of integrity evasion... a sadist whose pleasure's price is snuff and conspiratorial scheme... a Dorian Gray whose indulgence is unrequited by gold and frankincense and myrrh... a slaver whose torture tender is shelter and family as god blessed as whipping posts...

You see... the witness of your own eyes hand in hand with your own mind... and you see your coming and your going, your harmlessness and your innocence, your life grabbed by the horns and passing by, your witness... and you believe: to be is to see...

* 

I am no surrogate or illusion, no mouthpiece or unreal. Indeed that I am all too nakedly real is how I know:

To be what you are not... to be instead what you present... is surrogacy.

Presented thus, such you is a surrogate of the you you are, a mouthpiece as unreal as an illusion.

To see then... is to see coming and going as surrogacy; harmlessness and innocence as illusion; life and you.

*

But. I am a people coming and going. I live and breathe as the good Lord intended. For I hustle the good honest hustle and I fight the good honest fight. No criminal whose fortune is illegitimate am I.

Why isn't it you who bleeds as black as sin?

Me too. I am a people neighboring and sainting. My manifesto and my proclamation is most harmless and most innocent. No collaborator of ill will am I.

Why isn't it you whose envy and fear bear witness and testimony that lie?

And I. I am a people carpeing and dieming. Grateful am I for hale and love and haven and fate. How dare you malign me without proof of my wrong!

Why isn't it you who is false and treacherous?

*

Why am I not the villain?

It's simple really:

I am not the villain for the same reason you are not the hero.

*

Somewhere, where there live a people who live a lie... a package arrives. It promises easy riches for the hustler and shameless exploitation for the hustled. It is the American dream in brown paper packaging tied up with string. What isn't harmless about a song and a dream and a dance of poison roulette?

Also... a message arrives. How saintly il santo who neighbors endings fluid. And happy? Well, who's to say that which is welcome with denomination near worthless is felice? Notwithstanding, a receptacle for dog shit is hardly an honor urbane and authentic for ricordi di dio. Tsk tsk.

Also... an attendance roll is swelling. Oh the olives; the cheeses; the wines. So mount; so intimacy;  so généreux. To envy the mythic money tree that lavishes such pomp such soirée with such wealthlessness such namelessness is but human. Though le secret of global positioning systems and photo editing software and the technological like is boner killingly candide.

Somewhere, where there live a people who live a lie... a doubting Thomas is a corporate fairy tale, a household parable, nay, a purposed axiom. Because a doubting doubter who believes doubt's witness is a believer in the witness of doubt's own eyes hand in hand with doubt's own mind.

*  

I receive no packages; no messages; no attendees. It is therefore impossible for me to be the drug dealer; the gigolo; the Gatsby. It further follows that the wealth I possess is unlikely to be illegitimate given my overt absence of association with each and every exertion of undeniable illegitimacy within my immediacy.

(Likewise, I neither solicit nor acquire the facile worship and company of children naive and duplicitous; it is therefore unlikely for me to be the paedophile, much less the paedophile alter egoing as the giver of fucks.)

Moreover, my residence is unadorned with flagpoles and holiday lights; I am therefore not manifestoing or proclamating.

As for bonfires and campaigns and warfare, quite simply, I neither harbor nor seek the frenemieship or envy and fear requisite of mongering collectives of hostility.

Furthermore, I neither engage nor pursue the commoditization of my association, period. I am therefore an improbable participant in venal alliances that greed for riches and virtues and statuses in exchange for the illusion of comraderieship and surrogacy of community. (At my expense, I'm certain.)

As for et cetera and et cetera... is the witness of my own eyes hand and hand with my own mind no less the proof of the truth than the witness of your own eyes hand and hand with your own mind?

For I see and I believe: I am is I see.

*

Or... is doubt's own eyes hand in hand with doubt's own mind the witness of the doubting doubter who believes the not see

you

somewhere, where there live a people who are a lie?

Epilogue

What is the lie the people believe? The lie so treacherous, so black?

*

It's simple really:

Somewhere, where there live a people who are a people as yours as yours are mine, there live a people of not sees who lie to themselves and each other and avow:

I. I stand for the whipping posts and the god blessed and the family and the shelter and the tender and the torture and the slaver and the myrrh and the frankincense and the gold and the unrequited and the indulgence and the Dorian Gray and the scheme and the conspiratorial and the snuff and the price and the pleasure and the sadist and the evasion and the integrity and the crusade and the do gooder and the boycott and the embezzler and the prostitute and the wiser and the none and the trafficker and the warfare and the campaigns and the frenemieship and the commodious and the like minded and the fear and the envy and the nursed and the bonfire and the followers and the likes and the hollow and the morality and the Gatsby and the for hire and the gigolo and the side hustle and the paedophile and the ejaculation and the counterfeit and the for sale and the poison and the drug dealer to be unspared Judgment Just.

For I. I see the not see and the not see is not I. For I. I crucify not the Truth. For I. I sit not upon Unjudgment Unjust. For I. I will Happy Christmas unto

All.

then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free

John 8:32 (at Biblehub) from John 8 (at Biblehub)

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Author's Annotation

My use of overlapping parts of speech is deliberate and intentional. For example: I see... a slaver whose torture tender is shelter and family as god blessed as whipping posts... employs tender as a noun, verb, and adjective.

My use of multiple meanings is also deliberate and intentional. For example: And happy? Well, who's to say that which is welcome with denomination near worthless is felice? employs denomination in its nominative, monetary, and religious senses.

Moreover, my use of multiple meanings includes nuances of usage. For example: So is it surprising... the currency of a counting chicken is the eyes and the mind of doubt's people? employs currency with respect to domains, including social currency, political currency, currency of consumer confidence, currency of public opinion, etc.; and currency with respect to power, including "selling power" currency, "buying power" currency, "staying power" currency, "parlaying power" currency, etc.

While typos are banes of all published works, my use of "original" words is deliberate and intentional. For example: And I. I am a people carpeing and dieming. splits the aphorism carpe diem into verbs, adjectives, and nouns. (See overlapping parts of speech above. Likewise, multiple meanings.)

For the sake of brevity, only a particle of that which is, is explored herein. Note as that which is evidentiary blurs into that which is voyeur, my election of selectivity is deliberate and intentional. For example: I see... an embezzler whose transparency boycott is the do gooder's crusade of integrity evasion... a sadist whose pleasure's price is snuff and conspiratorial scheme... a Dorian Gray whose indulgence is unrequited by gold and frankincense and myrrh... is also:

I see... an embezzler whose security hysteria is the fake cross of the to blame... a sadist who hard ons for stonings feral and public... a Dorian Gray whose mercenary disguise is care...

Which is to say, The Not See Who Blinked is by no means an exercise exhaustive or exclusive.

Likewise, this "addendum", including prefacing quote, annotation, and note.

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Author's Note

When you see Meal Ticket (Ballad of Buster Scruggs)... what do you see?

I see a people who drive fistfuls of tender at a counting chicken. So is it surprising, where there live a people, a people as yours as yours is mine... the currency of a counting chicken is the eyes and the mind of doubt's people?

When you see Black Museum (Black Mirror)... what do you see?

I see a people for whom a counting chicken is not enough. So is it surprising, where there live a people, a people as yours as yours is mine... pleasure's price, pain's price, nay life's price is doubt's measure?

*

Somewhere, not a particle different than everywhere, there live a people who believe... the chicken is apocrypha, convenient artifice. Not I, say such people. Not the fruit of I toil, say such people. Not the voice of I free, say such people.

And there live a people who believe... the museum is figment, obvious prop. Never I, say such people. Never the reap of I sow, say such people. Never the power of I free, say such people.

So is it surprising... a doubting doubter who believes doubt's witness... who is a believer in the witness of doubt's own eyes hand in hand with doubt's own mind... is a corporate fairy tale, a household parable, nay, a purposed axiom... somewhere, not a particle different than everywhere, where there live a people who believe?

*

If... to know the truth is to be set free, then know this:

stones, drenched in fistfuls of measure, driven with deliberation and intention, in the name of manifestos and proclamations...

are no more harmless or innocent than to not see is heroic.

M