In the city of the future ...
“In the city of the future, it is very hard to concentrate.” –Thom Yorke of Radiohead on the B-side Palo Alto
You can’t think of Camp Anaconda like a military base. If you think of it in a janissary Spartan manner, then you’ll be confused by certain amenities like two swimming pools, an 800-seat movie theater and a beauty salon that gives $7 pedicures.
No, Camp Anaconda is a city. It’s a city of about 30,000 people. It’s a city where there are no children, most people wear uniforms, and nearly everyone is armed to the teeth. Our building designs are simple and effective pre-fab architecture. We commune to centrally located eating hubs called D-FACs. We’ve reverted back to a feudalistic system of aristocracy (officers) and common laborers (enlisted). In short, it is the city of the future.
George Orwell imagined his dystopian city of the future in his book “1984,” in which an authoritarian government controlled the very thoughts of the populace. Jean-Luc Goddard named his city of the future “Alphaville” and had a super computer run the show.
Camp Anaconda is a lot like those, but not as scary. If their dystopias were boiling pots of water, Camp Anaconda would be a hot tub. It’s kind of nice for a bit, but I’ve been in too long and I’m getting pruney.
The creepy thought is what if the future does bring a powerful State that subjugates the People, but does it in such a way as to not inconvenience the masses. You couldn’t have freedom of religion, but you’d have free cable. You couldn’t have freedom of speech, but there’d be no real reason to complain. What if we like the city of the future?
So, what's life like in Iraq? It’s like 1984, except not so bad.
photo caption: Three of my fellow members of the perfect system in our City of the Future which we call Camp Anaconda. Engels Tejeda (center) is still skeptical while Spencer Case (left) and Traci Varrasso (right) have cleary been brainwashed as evidenced by their cheesy smiles. We were waiting to catch a glimpse of Jesse James and his hit cable TV show, Monster Garage. Being this close to a cable TV star is worth giving up certain freedoms.
You can’t think of Camp Anaconda like a military base. If you think of it in a janissary Spartan manner, then you’ll be confused by certain amenities like two swimming pools, an 800-seat movie theater and a beauty salon that gives $7 pedicures.
No, Camp Anaconda is a city. It’s a city of about 30,000 people. It’s a city where there are no children, most people wear uniforms, and nearly everyone is armed to the teeth. Our building designs are simple and effective pre-fab architecture. We commune to centrally located eating hubs called D-FACs. We’ve reverted back to a feudalistic system of aristocracy (officers) and common laborers (enlisted). In short, it is the city of the future.
George Orwell imagined his dystopian city of the future in his book “1984,” in which an authoritarian government controlled the very thoughts of the populace. Jean-Luc Goddard named his city of the future “Alphaville” and had a super computer run the show.
Camp Anaconda is a lot like those, but not as scary. If their dystopias were boiling pots of water, Camp Anaconda would be a hot tub. It’s kind of nice for a bit, but I’ve been in too long and I’m getting pruney.
The creepy thought is what if the future does bring a powerful State that subjugates the People, but does it in such a way as to not inconvenience the masses. You couldn’t have freedom of religion, but you’d have free cable. You couldn’t have freedom of speech, but there’d be no real reason to complain. What if we like the city of the future?
So, what's life like in Iraq? It’s like 1984, except not so bad.
photo caption: Three of my fellow members of the perfect system in our City of the Future which we call Camp Anaconda. Engels Tejeda (center) is still skeptical while Spencer Case (left) and Traci Varrasso (right) have cleary been brainwashed as evidenced by their cheesy smiles. We were waiting to catch a glimpse of Jesse James and his hit cable TV show, Monster Garage. Being this close to a cable TV star is worth giving up certain freedoms.
posted by Marshall Thompson at 1:20 PM
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