Bureaucracy by Otium, Cthulu
Bureaucracy by Otium, Cthulu
Biometrics and statistics abstract away human beings to data sets,
arrays of numbers as complete as a census, as varied as a phone book,
as compelling as a genome, as personal as an autopsy,
the big iron of the business machines
doing the only thing they know to do with numbers:
crunch them.
A neighborhood can be reduced to a ledger,
and when a ledger ceases to be of use,
after being retained for seven years for legal purposes,
it can be shelved,
shredded,
or burned.
Until which time please do not fold, spindle or mutilate the pages.
Subtracting, dividing, rounding down,
discarding remainders of sliced salami in the garbage collection,
the data can be massaged same as a flank steak can be tenderized
both possible with a punched card reader
in the pursuit of predictable patterns
in the Jaquelard loom weave of society.
We are taught to find and stand by our similarities,
to celebrate what is shared
but are measured,
defined by this engine only by our differences,
by the degree of our deviation from the mean,
so as to establish who needs to be flagged for a random bag inspection.
The contents of our hearts cannot be measured,
only our pulse rate and blood pressure level
our thoughts are our private refuge,
but heres what people who watched what you just watched, watched next --
and here are other books they bought.
By the way, have you returned that album to the library yet?
Please stand by for an important message:
GPS records indicate that you have been monitored in an unlawful
assembly of greater than three persons:
click here for directions to the nearest rendition facility.
Click here for an alternate route!
Click here to report a traffic delay.
Before you go,
could you please rate your experience on a scale of one to five?
Thank you .
Please note that this interview may be monitored for training purposes.