Jamie, 2002.
© Copyright Libitina 2006.

We cede to a conscious visibility,
To a power that lies in our uncertainty,
Seduced by the gifts with which it’s sold,
We let our forms be captured a thousand-fold,
‘Til the recorded self is more real than the soul,
It lives its own life, so easy to control-
Our fears are fed by the plutocratic hand,
A self-serving, life-destroying sleight of hand.

What is freedom if we cannot choose?
What is liberty if we’re held by chains?
What is equality if we’re all the same?
It’s time to break the lens.

Under this asymmetric gaze we wilt,
‘Safe’ and ‘free’ bearers of societal guilt,
Observed, inspected, spied upon
By the cold gaze of the Panopticon.

Knowing we play the game of watcher and observed,
Is this the future past sacrifice has earned?
Personal and democratic rights eroded,
We stand by, complicit, while we are recoded,
To form a fleshless self to predict our behaviour,
Ignoring root problems, yet hailing this our saviour-
Our fears are fed by the plutocratic hand,
A self-serving, life-destroying sleight of hand.

What is freedom if we cannot choose?
What is liberty if we’re held by chains?
What is equality if we’re all the same?
It’s time to break the lens.

Under this asymmetric gaze we wilt,
‘Safe’ and ‘free’ bearers of societal guilt,
Observed, inspected, spied upon
By the cold gaze of the Panopticon.

Under the blanket stare of the capitalist state,
Watching over us with neither love nor hate,
Our virtual lives circulate beyond our control,
Distorted, a conception that is not truly whole,
We submit our lives to the gaze of the machine,
All-seeing, viewing us from beyond the screen-
Our fears are fed by the plutocratic hand,
A self-serving, life-destroying sleight of hand.

What is freedom if we cannot choose?
What is liberty if we’re held by chains?
What is equality if we’re all the same?
It’s time to break the lens.

Under this asymmetric gaze we wilt,
‘Safe’ and ‘free’ bearers of societal guilt,
Observed, inspected, spied upon
By the cold gaze of the Panopticon.