Infomocracy 34-40 Main Menu

Infomocracy

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In this early section of the text of Malka Older’s Infomocracy, we see Mishima, an Information employee who oversees election security operations and combats misinformation campaigns by rogue actors who attempt to either manipulate or attack the integrity (or lack of integrity) of the micro-democracy election system. Mishima views her role as safeguarding the election process against propaganda and electioneering designed to either manipulate the system or slander it. Thus, she returns from a voter motivation party in Buenos Aires with a mission to find out who is responsible for the inflammatory messages she witnessed there, which she views as a threat to the democratic process. She intends to hold the culprits responsible for this illegal activity.
                After evaluating the usual suspects (various regional parties and also larger ones like Heritage), who stand to potentially gain from the message, she quickly rules them out since they don’t stand much to gain or couldn’t have designed such a message. She considers Domaine, who is known as an anti-election radical, but can’t prove his involvement. Next, she reviews a number of video feeds on the Information network with a degree of omnipotence that resembles the character Ozymandias from The Watchmen.
                Given that the election is fast approaching, there are many news stories breaking at that moment, all of which tie to some degree to the election campaign. She even checks her home centenal in Tokyo, where the SonyMitsubishi party has enjoyed dominance for many years. She seems to have access to a wide array of media sources on her system, which is not surprising given that she works for Information, a company which essentially supplies the world with news 24/7, and also not surprising because she is a well-trained professional with the skills and access to uncover anything nefarious at work. She notes the comparative positions of the party platforms and when she examines Liberty, she begins to suspect for the first time that perhaps something illicit may be going on within this seemingly benign party.
                The scene then shifts at the beginning of Chapter three to Domaine in Addis Ababa. It becomes quite clear that Domaine is an opponent of the system who is actively trying to bring down the micro-democratic system and that he was responsible for the message in burning letters that Mishima was so concerned about. He meets with Shamus, a graphic designer from Ireland, descended from African grandparents. Though Shamus does not share Domaine’s views, he nevertheless helped him by producing the burning anti-government message because Domaine pays him well.
                Shamus came to Africa because of the first global election twenty years prior. This apparently produced a wave of loosened immigration, as governments largely scrambled to open borders and accept in potential supporters. These actions had unintended consequences, similar to gerrymandering (which the book refers to as mandergerrying), which supportive population groups clustered around the centenals of the governments they support, eroding support for other governments in the centenals that surround them. Domaine is dedicated to his goals and sees himself as just as conscientious as Mishima and operative for the various campaigns. Both Mishima and Domaine are persistent characters who will play a large role in the events that unfold after this.