SADDER THAN FICTION
2024-11-16
On a number of occasions over the first two decades of this century I've
attempted to write a particular short story with a science fiction/alternate
history feel. Now, I've given up on it, and that's... fine.
FICTION
The story's taken several forms over the years, but the theme's always been
the same: a crazy narrative spun by an isolated society turns out, incredibly,
to be true. But ultimately the people who discover that fact choose to keep it
a secret because the flawed lie they live in is preferable to the instability
and chaos that they fear could result. It taps into ideas about conspiracy
theories, hidden worlds, and the choices we make when we have to choose
between living authentically or living comfortably.
IMG Screenshot from Obsidian, showing a Writing folder containing Suicide of a Time Traveller, Compression, Everybody Remembers That Show, and (selected) The Korean Incident.
In its most-concrete form, the story covered the political aftermath of the
capture by the DPRK of a fishing boat that (allegedly) drifted into North
Korean waters (Like this incident in 2009, perhaps, although there are lots of
similar examples before and since.). The North Korea of the story represents
the country at its most isolationist and mysterious, and the captured trawler
crew are surprised to experience at Pyongyang a socialist utopia supported by
futuristic technology. It turns out that North Korea's in-universe propaganda
is true: they really are an advanced self-reliant nation whose message of
peace is being distorted by Western imperialist leaders. Insofar as the truth
is known in the West, it's suppressed for fear that the Korean model
represents a democratic, post-scarcity future that threatens to undermine the
power of the oligarchs of the world.
When the boat and those aboard it are repatriated with the assumption that
they will act as ambassadors to the outside world, the crew are subjected to
interrogations and cajoling by their home nations. They mustn't talk about
what they saw North of the 38th parallel, they're told, with threats of
imprisonment and violence if they do and financial inducements offered for
their compliance. But in the end, the most-effective message for getting the
wayward fisherfolk on side is their realisation that the world isn't ready for
the truth. In a dialogue between the imprisoned seafarers, they agree that
they should take the bribes and return quietly to their families, not for
their own sake but because they believe that telling their story would lead to
a terrible war between two equally-matched parties: a small nation armed with
futuristic sci-fi weapons, on one side, and the might of the nuclear
superpowers of the rest of the world.
IMG As the sun sets behind growing clouds, a small fishing vessel flying a red flag glides across a moderately-smooth ocean.
As a final twist, it's revealed that the captain of the vessel was actually a
spy, aware of the truth the entire time, who allowed the boat to go off-course
with an aim of gathering information on the North Korean situation. The story
finishes with the captain, having been instrumental in persuading their crew
not to share what they saw, wavering in their confidence, and possibly being
implied to be the author of the story.
Re-reading my notes and drafted content, I've got to admit that it's got a
certain feel of... Dr. Strangelove discovers Wakanda? Or maybe more like the
Pueblo incident set in the world of They Live. (In my notes somewhere I've got
a concept that I never explored for the story which was that North Korea is
under the control of a benevolent alien species trying to uplift humanity,
while much of the rest of the developed world is under the influence of a
malicious alien species who're using their position to push humans to
terraform Earth into something more-suited to their needs. So maybe like The
Forge of God but with a climate change message? I never really worked on this
idea though because it felt like I was weaving too many concepts into one tiny
narrative.) It might've been fun to finish, someday, but now it's not.
SADDER
That nod to Dr. Strangelove is apt, because my aim was to write something
which looked farcically at the nature of political competition on a global
scale, in a world in which the zaniest possible conspiracy theory turned out
to be true. Strangelove used the existence of a Project Sundial-style doomsday
device as the surprise truth; I was using the idea that DPRK propaganda might
actually be more-honest than the narratives of its rivals (Both are
bonkers-crazy ideas, but Project Sundial is, sadly, more-believable:
Kurzgesagt did a fun video about it recently.).
IMG George C. Scott playing General Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove.
In my off-and-on-again long-running effort to pen the story, I last made any
real effort back in around 2015-2016. Since then, the entire concept hasn't
been funny any more. Today, the story would be less farce than lampoonery, and
not in a good way.
When I first envisaged the concept of the story, researching conspiracy
theories meant laughing at Flat Earthers and picking holes in the arguments of
the proponents of a "moon landing hoax". For the most part, conspiracy
theories seemed ridiculous, but not dangerous (Obviously I know there are
exceptions and I'm speaking from a position of privilege. For a long while,
for example, conspiracy theories relating to holocaust denialism have caused
real harm to people. And of course there's for a long while been actual damage
caused by folks who (loudly) subscribe to false beliefs about HIV, or 9/11, or
Sandy Hook, and countless others.). But somewhere along the way from then to
now, conspiracy theories started becoming more... mainstream?
IMG Woman wearing a tinfoil hat, thinking "if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably... part of Bill Gates' secret drone army, delivering microchips for the Reptilians to put into our vaccines!"
And that made the story... not fun, any more. Convicted felon Donald Trump
loves to claim that a deep state cabal of leftists and big tech companies are
suppressing his voice. Or that immigrants are eating pets. Or that the
announcement of Osama bin Laden's death was timed carefully so that people
would watch news about that rather than Trump's show Celebrity Apprentice
(This is the kind of conspiracy theory that should be funny: idiot who bitches
about claimed birthplace of president annoys that president enough that he
times a battle with a wanted terrorist, so that the terrorist's death will
coincide with the timeslot of the idiot's TV programme. But somehow, the way
that politics has gone lately, especially in the USA, means that it's not
funny any more. Easily-disprovable conspiracy theories were amusing when they
were the territory of crazy fringe groups; once they get tens of thousands of
(armed, militant) believers, they go from being an amusement to being a
dangerous cult.).
It turns out that my comedy villain - the leader of the "free" world who
leverages enormous power to lie to and manipulate everybody - isn't a laughing
matter any more.
Perhaps I should try my hand at writing bleak, dystopian fiction instead.
LINKS
HTML Obsidian
HTML BBC News article from 2009 about a South Korean fishing vessel that was intercepted by North Korea after it drifted off-course.
HTML IMDb page for Dr. Strangelove
HTML Wikipedia article about Wakanda, fictional country from Black Panther and other Marvel stories
HTML Wikipedia article about the Pueblo incident
HTML IMDb page about They live
HTML Wikipedia article about The Forge of God
HTML Wikipedia article about Project Sundial
HTML Kurzgesagt video about Project Sundial
HTML Memebase article about the "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" meme
HTML NPR podcast/article about the increasing number of people who subscribe to conspiracy theories.
HTML CNN article about convicted felon Donald Trump claiming the left are manipulating the media against him
HTML CNBC article about convicted felon Donald Trump's claim, during a debate with Kamala Harris, that Haitian immigrants were eating American's pets
HTML LiveScience article about the conspiracy theory that President Obama orchestrated the timing of the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death to interfere with the broadcast of convicted felon Donald Trump's show Celebrity Apprentice, allegedly as revenge for Trump's involvement in the whole "birther" bullshit