NOVEMBER STORY REVEAL
Wartime Misinformation
Hey, gang!
Welcome to a new component of
that I call Story Reveal. Yesterday I released a short story called Ousted (loosely inspired by the October 3, 2023 ousting of Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker in historic a vote) —
— as part of my initiative to release one short story a month based on something in the news or general zeitgeist.
Now that it’s out there for the world to judge, it’s time to move on to the month at hand. Here’s what I’ll be focused on in the coming weeks for a November story titled Data Collector:
THEME: Wartime Misinformation
INSPIRATION:
October 30, 2023 — via The New York Times
A.I. Muddies Israel-Hamas War in Unexpected Way (Link)
Fakes related to the conflict have been limited and largely unconvincing, but their presence has people doubting real evidence.
Wish me luck.
Join In!
Feel free to use theme for your own writing inspiration this month! If you do — share it with me in the comments!
OR…
Comment with your own original three sentence story with the theme, and I’ll share some of my favorites in an upcoming post.
OR!..
Share one of your favorite books, stories, or films that already use the them.
What I’m trying to say is—let’s talk and have fun!
Speaking Of…
And speaking of conversations, near the end of my recent interview with
at , we dove into the topic of one of the greatest sci-fi stories about wartime misinformation — Starship Troopers! Here’s a snippet:Andrew: (3:46PM) I thought about joining the military when I sensed Brown was going to discard me (3:46PM) I’d mentioned this to [REDACTED], a brilliant Palestinian author, and she was so disappointed in me that she never spoke to me again. Tim: (3:48PM) It feels like a deal with the devil in many ways (3:50PM) I just rewatched Starship Troopers the other day. It’s amazing that movie even exists. I forgot how pointed it is in highlighting propaganda tactics, but there are also really senseless moments where characters explain why they joined — for the money, the education, the healthcare, etc (3:50PM) Sincere* (3:50PM) Not senseless Andrew: (3:51PM) it’s such a brilliant film adaptation. in so many ways it exceeds the novel in brilliance (3:51PM) I think Rico is actually filipino in the book. But there’s a reason they case Casper Van Dien (3:52PM) cast* (3:52PM) his old boy aryan looks
Tim: (3:53PM) I’ll have to read it. I’m juuust starting to get into Robert Heinlein (3:53PM) The scene where he gets whipped by a black man—shoulda been the whole trailer right there Andrew: (3:54PM) lol (3:55PM) at every turn the director is trying to get us to sympathize with the fascists—and after a while, you really do feel that humanity’s victory is our victory against the hordes. Tim: (3:58PM) But the acting is so over the top that I think it winks at us as adults. However, as a kid, I was just having fun with the characters — which is much more frightening in hindsight (3:58PM) Also, the movie is the first time I saw boobs in a theater (3:58PM) Big moment (3:58PM) For cinema, and for me Andrew: (3:58PM) I was deadass just thinking about that [Tim gives this an iPhone "HaHa"] (3:59PM) I don’t know if it was my first time. But I have a very clear image of her breasts in my head Tim: (4:01PM) Yeah, and I was more enamored by the nudity than the fact that these were co-ed soldiers showering together and not being overtly sexual about it Andrew: (4:03PM) it’s funny how the film went over so many ppl’s heads because they received it on one level (pulp sci-fi) and missed it on that other level (satire) (4:04PM) i still love that movie. so much fun. great coming of age story (4:10PM) and exemplary of why we still find institutions of power and domination so alluring (4:10PM) emblematic* Tim: (4:29PM) Do you have any projections of the future the arts and technology? Are you particularly fearful of A.I.? Andrew: (4:44PM) I can’t imagine the future of arts and tech. Sadly I don’t much care to. I suspect, whatever it will be, it already is, and looks a lot like the past (in a strange, glancing way). I should be afraid of AI, but I don’t feel it high among the things that give me anxiety. Maybe I’m already too burnt out too care. But I know I should be. (4:45PM) I stopped teaching just before ChapGPT started being used widely and I sometimes wonder how I’d be forced to deal with a student who thought themselves cute enough to BS their way through a poetry workshop using AI generated poems. (4:45PM) It feels like a lot of contrivance
Read the full convo here if you’re so inclined…