Face

There was one soldier that died in the last war. In a final antiwar effort, many media conglomerates came together and displayed his face on television for the world to see. It was not a news broadcast, just a face, all day and all night with no audio. Pay-per-view: face; HBO: face; just a man’s face: a face to end all wars.

It was from a snapshot that had been taken with a camera phone at a party for no particular reason: a man, Caucasian-looking, with dark hair, a hint of stubble on his cheeks and neck, and a Mona Lisa smile.

            Social media was inundated with face. Almost everyone changed their profile pictures, save those few unwilling or unable to do so. Artistic renderings filled galleries, museums and the web. The face meme became the most Googled query on the Internet for months. T-shirts were printed, in excess of one billion, by thousands of clothing manufacturers with only the face upon them. Entire fashion lines came out exalting face: multicolored prints upon pajama pants, Snuggies, hats, suits, even shoes.

            As a sympathetic effort, advertisers came to support the face movement: businesses continued to pay, but withdrew slogans and copyrights. No one tried to own the face on the billboards or the posters in lights in Times Square. Everyone seemed to agree that one life was enough.

            Afterward, commerce resumed while the face continued a more silent reign; books were written as stations broadcasts resumed, one-by-one, face-less regular scheduled programming. The face phenomenon had changed the course of media, making some men rich and other men less rich. Movie studios began productions about face and YouTube’d and Vimeo’d trailers for the following years’ releases about peace the face brought. Preachers preached gospel of face, face masks were worn for Halloween, and face became permanent artistic fixtures in metropolitan areas around the globe.

            Soon came Face and Face Incorporated, Face Global, and Face for Peace. Face in the Middle East proved less successful for terrorist groups and radical militias, but the impact of One Face Government movement swept all nations and effectively, permanently ended fighting.

            After several years, Face had become a legend unto itself. Rumors began circulating in international conversations, web articles, and books that Face was a plan perpetrated by an elite set of individuals that control all of the world’s wealth. Another rumor surfaced that the face never really existed, but was a made up rendering by a computer hacker who began the movement for advertising companies. Some concluded that Banksy had created Face. But, for most, the truth prevailed that Face had, in fact, been on the front lines of a just-beginning war set in motion by faceless powers. This was exhibited as the first paragraph on Roberto Sanchez’ Wikipedia page.