It had been the policy for so many years that no one even quite
remembered what had sparked its creation. In fact, no one was sure it had
an exact creation, so much as an evolution of ideas. Fact had it that
there wasn't anyone who would dwell on this too long, because that would be
against the flow of things. Everyone went with the flow of things, which
was very specific for this time. There were many objects to consider, but
one of the more important things was that no one should think about the
past. The immediate past was quite all right; it was encouraged. That
was, of course, as long as you had an idea that you were thinking. For
certainly it would be impossible to not keep in the past at all, no one
would remember his or her own name or age or any thing of that sort. And
that was the other flow of things, to think.
As a child, they no longer taught you history-it was dull, and it would not benefit the body. Science was a completely different subject, as "the body" was not the body, thought of as the main section of an animal that normally contained many important organs. It was, rather, the entire group of people. That was a major theme of schooling; you must always benefit the body.
The body had indeed benefited you. It was the one who had come up with all of the wonderful machines that allowed you to be free. Free had a new definition as well, and that was simply that your schedule was loosened, permitting you to devote your attention to benefiting the body. The body would pay you for ideas, so long as they were good ones. Whether or not they were good was determined by the Brain, a corporation that hired people, determined by the government, who were good "thinkers". As you have realized, this was a major circle, but no one questioned the authority.
This had bothered some liberals. They didn't think it right that the masses had not a single open-minded leader, did not even begin to think about inquiring "Why?" at any given time when something did not make sense. The body had thought all of this out. They knew perfectly well that no one would question them from the beginning. It was in the design. You simply could not speak out; it was much too stupid of you to not understand the way things were from the beginning. And no one wanted to be stupid; it did not go with the flow. Liberals would attempt making the point that "the flow" made utterly no sense at all, and it was not something that should dominate a person's thought processes. But, the body asked why not? Why would you wish to be different? Didn't differences cause troubles back in the times before the body? Weren't differences to blame for all the bad things that had ever happened to you?
Then, it seemed only natural, the throngs of people would agree with the body. The body made sense; it was comfortable, it was easy.
The liberals were the smart ones, and would get smarter with every occurrence. They began to avoid these types of conversations; seeing that they were fruitless and would end the way they had begun. But the liberals continued to meet in secret recesses of the abandoned places now lost to man. Democracy had long since been forgotten, freedom of speech a term that people misinterpreted, using the new definition for free.
So was the world when Claudia Tomi began to think for herself.
As a child, they no longer taught you history-it was dull, and it would not benefit the body. Science was a completely different subject, as "the body" was not the body, thought of as the main section of an animal that normally contained many important organs. It was, rather, the entire group of people. That was a major theme of schooling; you must always benefit the body.
The body had indeed benefited you. It was the one who had come up with all of the wonderful machines that allowed you to be free. Free had a new definition as well, and that was simply that your schedule was loosened, permitting you to devote your attention to benefiting the body. The body would pay you for ideas, so long as they were good ones. Whether or not they were good was determined by the Brain, a corporation that hired people, determined by the government, who were good "thinkers". As you have realized, this was a major circle, but no one questioned the authority.
This had bothered some liberals. They didn't think it right that the masses had not a single open-minded leader, did not even begin to think about inquiring "Why?" at any given time when something did not make sense. The body had thought all of this out. They knew perfectly well that no one would question them from the beginning. It was in the design. You simply could not speak out; it was much too stupid of you to not understand the way things were from the beginning. And no one wanted to be stupid; it did not go with the flow. Liberals would attempt making the point that "the flow" made utterly no sense at all, and it was not something that should dominate a person's thought processes. But, the body asked why not? Why would you wish to be different? Didn't differences cause troubles back in the times before the body? Weren't differences to blame for all the bad things that had ever happened to you?
Then, it seemed only natural, the throngs of people would agree with the body. The body made sense; it was comfortable, it was easy.
The liberals were the smart ones, and would get smarter with every occurrence. They began to avoid these types of conversations; seeing that they were fruitless and would end the way they had begun. But the liberals continued to meet in secret recesses of the abandoned places now lost to man. Democracy had long since been forgotten, freedom of speech a term that people misinterpreted, using the new definition for free.
So was the world when Claudia Tomi began to think for herself.