2084: Orwell Was an Optimist (ePub)

It's not so far off as you suppose.

In our looming future, marketing has finally turned the tables. Once upon a time their appeals were shaped to a target audience. In 2084 Americans strive for the mentality that ads hand down. Commercials are the favored part of any show, fieldtrips to the mall teach kids how to shop, and the RealiTV complex keeps everyone suitably distracted.

It's an election year and the Presidential Sweepstakes offers voters a chance to win a bundle. Hit president and former all-pro quarterback Dick Durgan appears a shoo-in but ad maven Michael Raker uses his wiles to back the ultimate stunt candidate.

In a society that aspires for glorious middle, useless academics and elitist intellectuals have been farmed out as park-dwelling sweepers compelled to keep our streets spic-n-span. Raker props before the country a cantankerous bookworm known simply as The Professor. The ornery little man sounds the alarm that Rome is burning. The public can't get enough of his wacky rants.

Issues plaguing today's America are turned to eleven and overflow onto the floor. 2084 is an ad for the overgrowth of advertising, a book about the death of books, a playful warning on the perils of ignored warnings, and an epilogue on our fix-it-later fiscal policies. All conveyed in visual terms to mimic the nonstop internet video that subdivides our attention. Buckle in and feel your jowls draw back as you fly through the hyper-next ADD world waiting just beyond tomorrow.