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Fake News, Based on a True Story

December 27, 2017

feelings, Gothic, ignorance, literature, reason, social media, society, writing

Why Are There Fake News?

There’s a question that has suddenly become relevant. But just because the question has acquired momentum, it doesn’t mean fake news is a new thing. It’s all about narrative, affect, and control. Here’s a piece of fake news that’s already a couple of thousand years old: “God comes to earth in the body of his own son [sic], he is crucified, he is resurrected [by his own self, presumably?] and everyone is suddenly absolved [from the fact that a woman supposedly once ate a goddamn apple].

As a narrative, this fake news has a linear progression, but with plenty of intertextuality, which enhances its appeal. Crucially, it also has a personal-experience perspective. It’s not just about some random nameless character in a galaxy far-far away, but about you – yes, you, you sinner! As a result, it has great affective power, and is therefore effective in its mission: To exercise control over the populace.

The Discovered-Manuscript Trope of Gothic Fiction

Whoa, I hear you say. What kind of a leap was that? How did we get from fake news to Gothic fiction? Bare with me, and you’ll see.

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Being an “Idiot” and Civil Responsibility

December 19, 2017

Society

citizen, democracy, idiocy, ignorance, reason, responsibility

The words “idiot” and “idiocy” originate from the ancient Greek word ιδιώτης (“idiotes”), which has sadly lost its meaning in modern Greek. Nowadays, it means “a private employee” (i.e. in contrast to a public employee). But in ancient Greek, its meaning was far more intriguing: it meant someone so self-centered and absorbed with private matters, that he neglected the duties of citizenship: to discuss, vote, and participate in matters of public interest.

idiocy democracy — The grandeur of Athens materialized also because its citizens were not “idiots”

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The Age of Treason

November 22, 2017

Writing

creativity, education, reason

I am a writer – a writer in the age of treason. That’s the word I would choose if I had to pick only one to best describe me professionally (whatever that means nowadays). I write novels of all kinds or genres, from speculative science fiction to supernatural horror and from soul-searching literary fiction to (yes, once even that) romantic dramas.

I am also an academic, specializing in Gothic and horror fiction (parenthetically, it is incredible how much more effortless it is to write 250 pages of fiction compared to the same number of a doctoral dissertation; don’t try this at home, kids). So, writing has “always” been something I’ve been drawn to.

Hence, writing here is really nothing different than what I am already doing, but perhaps in a more stream-of-consciousness, flexible kind of way. To a certain extent, fictional writing can be free (particularly if we’re talking about literary fiction). But it also has certain constraints which I am trying to bypass here. There is more, however.

The Age of Treason: Stupid Loudmouths and Intelligent Sufferers

The title of this first post is The Age of Treason. Forgive the shamelessly obvious pun, but sometimes I can’t help but feel that something is rotten in our world, now, in the year 2017.

No, no, I’m not talking about the usual aspects – there have always been wars, suffering, injustice, and pain. Furthermore, there have always been stupid loudmouths and intelligent but, alas, silent sufferers. What bothers me the most is how the stupid have become even louder and the wise even more marginalized. How is that connected to writing, you will ask.

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