ABSTRACT
ADMITTEDLY, I WENT TO THE JULY 20 “LISTENING TO THE CITY” MEETING AT THE JAVITS CENTER WITH VISIONS OF MYSELF AS THAT WOMAN IN THE LEGENDARY MACINTOSH COMMERCIAL, RUNNING THROUGH AN AUDTIORIUM OF PASSIVE PLEBS TO HURL HER HAMMER AT THE MONSTER SCREEN ON WHICH BIG BROTHER BLUE WAS PROCLAIMING WHAT A FINE AND ORDERLY PLACE THE ORWELLIAN WORLD WAS. The set-up seemed to confirm my worst fears for the event: 5,000 people randomly assigned to 500 tables, watching speakers and images on giant video screens, each of us equipped with a remote control key pad for “voting,” every table with a volunteer “facilitator” (ours a German from Toronto), and with a laptop on which to communicate with a team of compilers who would determine opinion trends across the room.
