features

	20/6/2003
	Miles Merrill (THE PROGRAM)

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."- PKD. In Chicago, a massive African-American man with a scar down the side of his face has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. His name is Wesley Willis. He speaks in TV jingles and marketing slogans. Wesley used to live on the street. Now he heads a rock band in front of surging throngs; singing songs like "Jesus Is The Answer". The crowds love him and fear him but he�s on that socially acceptable outlet - the stage - he can act as crazy as personal safety will allow. Contemporary culture�s deepest fear is to suffer from insanity. Bi-polar, psychosis, neurotic, schizophrenia - common buzz-words. We aren�t so afraid of the Halloween serial killers or big brother. We are afraid of ourselves, of our own capacity for madness and the ostracism that follows. The moment between thinking and acting is the border between sane and not.

Can you imagine a better outlet for a paranoid schizophrenic than a sci-fi writer? Conspiracy theories, alternate realities, hallucinations� Perhaps we need to re-assess our psychological labels,  because this amphetamine-addled writer has the mainstream consciousness approval stamp. Philip K. Dick has been devoured by cinema box offices ever since he died.

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