It seems within the murky world of what, who, when and how, there is another twist to the layering of the levels of society that have been set up. Not just separated into sections, careers, classes and paygrades, we are also in the thick of a grand theatre performance which has become of what we call every day life. Imagine playing Cluedo, and while you are trying to work out ‘who did it’, it turns out that Colonel Mustard was wearing a mask to appear as though it was Miss Scarlett, so you base your deductions and accusations based on what you think you know. Now, it seems that there are a few things being suggested as going on, about who is really in charge and often, who is actually on the screen in front of you as we are being deceived on many levels. I have already delved slightly in Characters of Illusion and Guess Who, where it comes to masks and acting, but there is more and it’s a strange one to unpick.

Clones – The idea that there are clones being made, and they walk among us is a theory that has rumbled on for more than an age, with whispers of subterranean humanoid species, of shapeshifters, changelings, and reptilians. And more recently, we have stories of clones – now, you might be mistaken for thinking I am talking conspiracies here, and some of the above does fall into that category, or just plain of science fiction. Or at least that was the cover for it, to allow it to become mainstream as an idea, so it could be ridiculed and overlooked. These days though, there is no shortage of ‘scientific’ literature about cloning, the facilities, the formulas, the subjects and the results, so very much a real thing and idea. What is not verified yet though, is the human side of it, and it may well be that it serves a purpose for us to think there is, but as with much, l consider both sides and what the point of it would be. But there are also ‘celebrity’ reveals of cloning apparently, articles and weird stories that pop up about how they were cloned, and groomed for the music business. And as we have seen a great many similar looking famous people, who can say for sure, at a minimum it looks like a really big fertility clinic was in use for the ones who were born into the industry. But they do say there are only seven different face shapes to go round, so I always presumed it was just normal genetics and probability – but perhaps not.

Town of twins – there is a town in the US, which just recently saw a graduation with no less than 23 sets of twins, from one school. Way higher than the national average, and most unusual they say, but just seen as a rare oddity and gets a small piece online. But to me, that would be worthy of attention as they are all in the same year it would seem, to graduate together, so all 23 sets born in the same year and attend the same school. Interesting, to me at least.

The Island (2005) – A film about cloning, where celebrity and famous people are growing themselves a spare in case they are in need further down the line. Of skin, or organ or anything that might need replacing that would be an instant match, as it is you. That film showed how it was just body parts they were wanted for, and when memories started forming within the clones brain, they termed it defective. But what if, that is indeed what happens, you can grow a copy, but the memories take some extra time to ‘grow’ or reform, or perhaps they can indeed download certain things into the brain, either like in the Island where they subject them to visual and audio conditioning, or could be like in certain films where they just plug in the info and download it.

Keyser Soze – this I feel was a reveal in more ways than one, because although it tied the film together nicely, the idea that someone may be playing someone else in ‘real life’ showed it well. Creating an entire personality and even disability in that case, to fool people. We have it too in real society, when people go undercover, whether it be reporters, law enforcement or whoever deliberately conceals their true identity to pretend something. And when they are removed under whatever context, they disappear and pop up again as someone else playing a new role, as the person who ‘died’ or went to prison perhaps, was only a cover character and a part they play, and that person doesn’t exist at all. So, when it comes to being held accountable (which doesn’t happen anyway), it can look like they are, but that is just how it appears, but if they don’t really exist, then how can they be guilty of anything? Certain high profile cases or people, where it seems like something was off, or it was strangely made public in a farcical way and were made into a spectacle, those type of cases. And the most shocking ones, well, I even have my suspicions about those, I guess speculated upon in A State of Mind, and Fear, and what advantage it then posed to ‘scare the shit’ out of people, or horrify them and whip them into a frenzy, then implementing new laws and safety measures because of it, or at least creating a certain mindset in the target group.

And within that world of make-believe, which seems to have spread even further, there are prosthetics, body doubles, lookalikes and all sorts of illusionary techniques and tactics to deceive the viewer. Propaganda, behaviour departments, social engineers and so on, to lay the foundations for something, then to roll it out and wait for the result to move it to the next phase. But that extra layer that has spread further and has seemingly infiltrated real life, are they entirely human? Are they copies, clones or actors? Placed for purpose when needed, to emote a response from people, to give them something to identify with, to idolise and distract them, all carefully crafted to appear as it is meant to. Even the response is sometimes crafted to appear as though people reacted a certain way, to steer the masses in a collective feeling, or at least make people think it did. Whatever is really going on, and if there really is a monstrous dark sub-plot happening in what we thought was real life, I’m not so sure. But the more that comes out and gets revealed about what other ‘humans’ get up to and how they think, I’m really starting to wonder…

(c) K Wicks