August 20th 2023
Lenin
A master of intrigue like me should be able to stand any kind of situation and keep the mind clear, the breath under control and the emotions should not influence any kind of decision. However, the summer heat is something I have never been accustomed to. In the plains of the Great Russia it can happen, during the months of July or August, that the peasants get even burnt by the intense rays of the sun. I am however no peasant and I have never been. On the contrary I have never taken in consideration the lower social classes, the ones who actually belong to the poorest of the poor. It is impossible to impose on this kind of people any kind of ideology. Most are finding themselves in such a condition because they do not tolerate, nor understand, the usual conventions among men, thus it is also impossible to force them in the direction established by a central committee. And yet, burnt by the star of the day, the most beautiful among the stars, my brain, that I respect so much, has become fuzzy and irrational as that of a common slave. I am wondering if I could bathe in the lake, among the mob covered with tattoos, whose aesthetic is hardly comprehensible to me, and dressed with the most informal and individualistic attire. I love my dark dress so much that I am tempted to go into the water without changing myself. The New Testament reminds that Jesus once walked on the water. I hope it is not a sign that I should convert.
The art dealer
Yesterday I declined a really good offer. It is a book, signed, containing a portfolio of Tillmans’ photos. “The new world”. A report conducted around twenty years ago along the streets of globalisation. The same phenomenon that has brought German photographers to be in the lead all around the planet. It is not Tillmans only, whose realism is sometimes disturbing. I am thinking about Boris Becker, not the tennis player, the Bum-Bum Becker so beloved in the Federal Republic. This Boris Becker portraits the urban streets and buildings of Germany. Salon published a splendid book a few years ago including one of his oeuvres. A street in Berlin, on the West side, with an old car, modern for that time, and a piece of a wall on the right side. I thought it was “the Wall” that inspired so many empty speeches by politicians and intellectuals. The most illogical, or despicable, being those long monologues setup by the leftists, who compare the US-Mexico border control to the one created by the geniuses of Moscow and East Berlin. Perhaps because in this mind, the Soviet Bloc had to protect himself against the horde of western refugees fleeing the drama of capitalism. In this case, those clandestine immigrants chose the wrong direction because, with the end of the cold war, it is the West to sustain a wave of socialism. A leftist-thought dictatorship that could become even worse during the years to come. Even if the red hand, and many like those who fought alongside my father, in Europe as well as in Africa, would try to oppose, I doubt that it will bring any tangible result. Only time can repair our society from the damage of politically correct hallucinations.
The consultant
As the training I had to endure did not produce the expected results, I am back on the project supported by a social advisor. She, provided that I could use the feminine pronoun without encountering any disciplinary sanction, should monitor that all my deeds, especially the content of the decks that I produce, are following the guidelines. That means my absolute faith in what the green, LGBT and socialist local cultural committees suggest. It is not so easy because the statements sometimes contradict each other. In the worst case I must totally ignore a subject because there is no possible compromise. Some of these critical and uncomfortable points are unfortunately relevant parts of my project, but it seems that compliance to the official faith of the ruling coalition is the most essential criteria of success. What are the actual goals of the initiative and whether the action suggested are even feasible, constitute a big question mark that persecutes me during my sleep. I was accustomed to producing good value for my well paid consultancy and trying to understand the client’s business to increase such a return of investment. It is not the case in this context. I cannot even speak about user experience, or focus on the needs of the final user, since I doubt that the common man walking around the street would even understand the aim of the city council. And in case he would be able to interpret the cryptical desire of the local government, I doubt he would be happy, unless totally brainwashed by such an extremism.
