Remember if you will, ladies and gentlemen, existence in the years—let’s say—2010 to 2018. The fear that we had. The insecurity as a person, as a populace, the worries about no longer being needed, no longer having any space. No purpose, as dwelling in a hovel ate up nearly the entire laboriously earned collective pay from various jobs. When cities were rendered unsafe by the homeless and aggressive gangs of immigrants. Citizens were attacked daily, robbed, raped, because the newcomers didn’t conceive of themselves as part of the populace, because there wasn’t any authority they needed to fear, and it had been a time of violence, inflicted physically and verbally by frustrated men. Whom the world no longer understood—and now? They leave their flats in the morning, hold their chips up to a scanner, and ride on quiet electric buses and trains to job reenactments or to VR spaces. They assemble products or imagine they do, they’re fulfilled, and during lunch an atmosphere of friendly mutual consideration prevails. Then there’s shopping to be done, quickly and smoothly, and premade food. Humans love fat and sugar. It makes them tired and satisfied. And then one can really shop. Or take in a movie, a movie, a movie, something with zombies. The voice-activated virtual assistant reads a goodnight story. It’s lovely. The people. The majority. Who don’t do anything wrong and have good hearts. Nobody hectors anymore, no vulgar words online, no instigative articles or performances. Art serves to edify, the West End is full of it.

Selected by

MADAME CECILIE

TRAINING CERTIFICATES: security guard, army service, honorably discharged

HEALTH STATUS: 1a

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS: various

Who is head of the censorship board, which always existed, though in earlier times it had extracted, outside the public eye, an artwork or two from the marketplace as threatening to youth or glorifying violence.

Today for the good of the people and in order to protect against public nuisances, every piece of music, book, play, every dance and every film is inspected and checked for subversive incitement. Which means. Things that—are critical of the government. Glamorize homosexual themes. Same for abortion. Art that doesn’t treat women as peripheral characters. Or art that refers to the imminent exchange of the populace. Or could refer. Yeah, well, a broad topic with lots of latitude. It’s been a good long while since theaters stopped being subsidized. Museums have been relieved of disturbing works. And so on. Art is finally accessible to all, especially intellectually.

It serves to edify, to distract.