Literature a tool for Change

“Literature becomes important in arousing emotions and invoking and stressing some morality or even inculcating some attitude in the reader.”

It can be an effective tool for change.

“Why is literature so powerful as a tool for change? It is because literature is in a very reflective nature, brings about social-political awareness and guides morality of the society by repudiating societal wrongs and upholding what is right. …

Aristotle asserts that more philosophical than history in that whereas history deals with the past, literature deals with what might happen; the general probable – useful to sociologists, historians and philosophers. It is universally accepted that cognitive value in drama and novels is psychological – the human element makes it thus. Other utilities include preservation and creating continuity in the ways of life of societies.”

From: http://thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/-/28441-try-reading-for-a-change

SpyWriter Jack King, Author of:
WikiJustice www.amzn.to/t3zd8Z
The Black Vault www.amzn.to/Na7QRO
The Fifth Internationale www.amzn.to/snl4w1
And announcing:

http://www.SpyWriter.com

Truth or Myth: Politics and Novels don’t mix

Interviewer: The question of combining politics and fiction has engaged a good many critics, often drawing from them the notion that it’s very difficult to mix the two. 

John Dos Passos: Well, I don’t know. Recently, I’ve been calling my novels contemporary chronicles, which seems to fit them rather better. They have a strong political bent because after all—although it isn’t the only thing—politics in our time has pushed people around more than anything else. I don’t see why dealing with politics should harm a writer at all. Despite what he said about politics in the novel being “the pistol shot at the opera,” Stendhal also wrote contemporary chronicles. Or look at Thucydides. I don’t think his history was at all damaged by the fact that he was a political writer. A lot of very good writing has been more or less involved in politics, although it’s always a dangerous territory. It’s better for some people to keep out unless they’re willing to learn how to observe. It is the occupation of a special kind of writer. His investigation—using blocks of raw experience—must be balanced. Sartre in his straight, plain reporting was wonderful. I can’t read him now. A writer in this field should be both engaged and disengaged. He must have passion and concern and anger—but he must keep his emotions at arm’s length in his work. If he doesn’t, he’s simply a propagandist, and what he offers is a “preachment.”

More: http://www.ibna.ir/vdciv3azwt1awz2.ilct.html

SpyWriter Jack King || “A new King of thrillers on the horizon” || Author of Political Thrillers || http://www.SpyWriter.com

Politics and religion divide, literature unites

“Politics or religion cannot unite, they only divide people. Only literature can act as a binding force… language may be regional but literature is universal. Language is not a barrier, it is our strength” … Books are “treasure houses of words … literature ignites culture. A writer begins the book and the reader finishes it. I think all books are left incomplete, as a writer takes the reader into the subject and leaves him to draw his own conclusion”…

… whereas politics and religion offer divisive demagoguery.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vijayawada/only-literature-unites-people-pratibha-ray/article4265211.ece

SpyWriter Jack King Official WebPage, Facebook, and Twitter

Politicians who don’t read fiction are dangerous to society

We read fewer novels.

“It’s not that the quality of fiction has gone downhill. It hasn’t …

Our attitude towards entertainment has changed, as has what we expect from a book. That’s too bad, because we’re missing something when we don’t read fiction. To have politicians who don’t read novels is particularly serious.

A good book is a window into how we as humans act and think. It makes us consider our own lives and those of people around us. Good writers introduce us to characters who, if they existed, would be unknowable by their local politicians. It’s an indirect way of learning about our world.

A non-fiction book can educate us about the newest science on climate change or homelessness or psychology. But if you pick up a (non-fiction) book by a psychologist named Daniel Kahneman, you’ll read that humans learn about abstract concepts and statistics better when they’re told a story, rather than handed a stack of facts and figures.”

More: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/touch/story.html?id=7431241

Politicians! Get to know and understand the peoples of the world before you decide to bomb them. Read!

Presidents are chosen, but not elected. The Black Vault. http://www.SPYWRITER.com

Western writers becoming irrelevant

“I have a sense of people thinking it (literature) is less important,” he told Reuters on Friday in a wide-ranging interview at Waterstone’s book store in central London.  
“If you look at America, for instance, there is a generation older than mine in which writers like Susan Sontag and Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal would have a significant public voice on issues of the day. Now there’s virtually no writers.  

“Instead you have movie stars, so if you are George Clooney or Angelina Jolie then you do have the ability to speak about public issues … and people will listen in a way they would once listen to Mailer and Sontag. That’s a change.”  

He added that in authoritarian countries the situation was different, and literature had held on to some of its power.  

“In those places literature continues to be important as you can see by the steps taken against writers,” he said, counting China among them.”

More: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/276085/lifestyle/literature/rushdie-says-writers-are-losing-their-influence-in-the-west

WikiJustice: WikiLeaks meets Jack London’s The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. http://www.SPYWRITER.com

The Black Vault

THE BLACK VAULT is any spy agency’s most prized possession – those dirty and unaccountable funds that provide operational freedom outside of governmental scrutiny. They fund black operations – the stuff too dirty for any government to admit to.

How is the black vault funded, and what purpose does it serve?

“In the past, the CIA has been implicated in numerous scandals involving drug and weapons trafficking. From Vietnam and Iran to Latin America, the agency has repeatedly been caught importing narcotics and exporting arms for shadowy and subversive purposes.”

“Citing an unnamed CIA source, a Washington Times article theorizes that U.S. officials were actively aiding organizations such as the Sinaloa cartel with guns and immunity in an effort to stymie Los Zetas. That’s because, according to the piece, the powerful and brutal criminal Zetas syndicate has the potential to overthrow the government of Mexico — and might be planning to do so.”

Source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/north-america-mainmenu-36/8599-reports-cia-working-with-mexican-drug-cartels

What are black operations? What is the Black Vault? How is The Black Vault used? This, and more, in Jack King’s new thriller novel: THE BLACK VAULT

The black vault

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Writers and Politics

“The best place for a writer is to remain on the fringes of society so as to keep a clear head, maintain alertness and avoid becoming another victim of the political propaganda apparatus…

Any political ideology serves politics … while it is impossible for writers to separate themselves entirely from society, they should avoid meddling in politics.

Literature and arts … should be a wakeful observation of the world and present the doubts one has about the world, not to negate it…

However, this is not to “entirely deny the value of having a person from literary circles in government … the example of Andre Malraux, who made a great contribution to culture and the humanities when he was French minister of cultural affairs.”

from: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/06/09/2003534901

Stendhal had a different take:

“Politics in a work of literature is like a gunshot at a symphony, it adds an element of thugness and simplicity, and yet we cannot ignore it. Although for many reasons we would prefer to remain silent about some of the subjects discussed herein, unfortunately we must talk about these nasty things.”

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The book for the Occupy Movement and the 99%

A book that was published in 1943, but… “One chapter in particular might have been written in 2012, not 1943. Its title: “Political Action for the 99%.”

“Many of us have become cynical where politics is concerned. Corruption, class legislation and political irresponsibility no longer move us to indignation. Instead, we shrug our shoulders, as if to say, ‘What can you expect?’ This attitude threatens the whole democratic fabric of our country.

‘The people’s will must be made effective’

“Let there be no mistake: the political life of the country will be controlled, if not by the people, then by the vested interests. Indifference on our part is precisely the guarantee that special privilege will continue to rule. The people’s will must be made effective. To achieve this end, they must gain control of economic and political power.”

From: http://thetyee.ca/Books/2012/01/06/Prophets-Of-The-Occupiers/

Prefer a novel? Here’s one, published in 2012, for the Occupy Movement, the 99percenters, and whistleblowers: WikiJustice.

Writers as political instruments

“In order to introduce our literature to the world, we should first set our ideology, since nothing can change world beliefs as literature does.

Unfortunately most writers do not take effort in studying our contemporary history… All superior novels of the world are ideology-oriented.

Revolutionary literature [is] the subgenre of political literature and … in the west, the effect of fiction on political and intellectual movements is measured and we see that before American invasion to Iraq, a number of novels had been written on the possibility of the event. They actually train their political writers and put them through valid and even ultra-confidential information.

In order to create revolution literature, we should first train researching writers who probe into the historical ground, causes and effects of revolution.”

http://www.ibna.ir/vdciv3az3t1aru2.ilct.html

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What hacker-activists have in common with secret services

WIKIJUSTICE
AVAILABLE NOW

“WikiLeaks raises the question as to what hackers have in common with secret services, since an elective affinity between the two is unmistakable. The love-hate relationship goes back to the very beginning of computing. One does not have to be a fan of German media theorist Friedrich Kittler or, for that matter, conspiracy theories, to acknowledge that the computer was born out of the military-industrial complex. From Alan Turing’s deciphering of the Nazi Enigma code up to the role played by the first computers in the invention of the atomic bomb, from the cybernetics movement up to the Pentagon’s involvement in the creation of the Internet – the articulation between computational information and the military-industrial complex is well established. Computer scientists and programmers have shaped the information revolution and the culture of openness; but at the same time they have also developed encryption (“crypto”), closing access to data for the non-initiated. What some see as “citizen journalism” others call “info war”.

WikiLeaks is also an organization deeply shaped by 1980s hacker culture, combined with the political values of techno-libertarianism that emerged in the 1990s. The fact that WikiLeaks was founded – and to a large extent is still run – by hard-core geeks is essential to understanding its values and moves. Unfortunately, this comes together with a good dose of the less savoury aspects of hacker culture. Not that idealism, the desire to contribute to making the world a better place, could be denied to WikiLeaks: on the contrary. But this brand of idealism (or, if you prefer, anarchism) is paired with a preference for conspiracies, an elitist attitude and a cult of secrecy (never mind condescension). This is not conducive to collaboration with like-minded people and groups, who are relegated to being the simple consumers of WikiLeaks output. The missionary zeal to enlighten the idiotic masses and “expose” the lies of government, the military and corporations is reminiscent of the well-known (or infamous) media-culture paradigm from the 1950s.”
MORE: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2010-12-07-lovinkriemens-en.html

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