This story is by Christos Zervas (aka Kristian Ryggesen) and was part of our 2017 Summer Writing Contest. You can find all the Summer Writing Contest stories here.
Alec Livanos is the Greek-American press officer of the US government and the only person aware of the Chinese premier’s secret: He can read people’s minds! Alec has decided to deliver this information to the media in about an hour, yet still tries to find the best way of doing it.
His goal? To turn the Chinese elections around.
****
Mel Gibson was such a wanna-be for me. He could read women’s minds! “What a blessing”, I used to say. And now, life proves me wrong. It can easily turn into a curse… for the rest…
When fiction meats reality & reality turns fictional, you realize that fiction does not exist. It’s nothing but reality’s extension. Just like hair extensions! And then, nobody believes your hair is short or which their real length is. Just like fake news.
—
On my way here, I already experienced this twice. And I should have expected that. First, we had the US elections. Then, the UK elections. Now, the Chinese. Some Greek expressions fit so good here. Damn!
‘Don’t pretend to be Chinese’, ‘It’s all Chinese to me’. I know; but we cannot blame our own language. We need something equally difficult though… right? Oh well, that’s the problem! He knows very well what he’s doing. Not only he can read people’s minds, but he’s also good in the aftermath. Nothing is Greek to him. And that’s the worst thing.
If this man gets re-elected, he will finally join forces with Donald Trump, Theresa May & other lunatics. It will be the end of the world, as we know it. We will reach the point of no sense. “China has a great wall and no Mexicans” will be logical, “Sell the Acropolis to pay your debts” will be literal, “I have a rape meeting at 16:15” will be liberal!
—
Two options: “Play with your rules or play with my rules!” – Play… This dilemma sounds that fake it’s real. Like when you are far-left, but you end up rather right. The mass media has dominated a world, where Hamlet’s real question is: “To #Brexit or not to #Brexit?”. We all get comfortable in front of a flat cage to be the couch hero of our time. We all believe we are so social media savvy that cleverness is out of fashion. We seek easy answers, epic endings and then, we just don’t care to bother.
News is people’s dope. That’s how we got divided into real & fake news lovers. And those, have even changed roles & meanings! Virtual is the new black and social media replaced what we – correspondents, journalists & analysts of the mass media – should have done the right way.
Fuck, it’s getting late. And the press conference is exactly in an hour. That’s the most difficult information, I have ever handled. And I thought that bragging about the EU been the premier league of selfishly addicted, was confusing! Makes sense…
What would Jonathan Pie have said to Tim, off-air? That’s an interesting approach. Yet again, we have no idea how many would like to listen, what they wouldn’t like to listen. Because first, you have to listen. Oh crap. Did we reach that far?
He knows very well what he’s doing. His huge majority will establish the authoritarian & everlasting era of “you get what you want to listen, while I turn your future into past”. Yes… let’s move off! Let’s forward backwards. Back to the future. I need this fuckin’ car! Marty oh Marty, where are you?
—
Ok, 57 minutes left. None announcement yet. I need ownership… ownership… to take responsibilities… to make decisions… Right now, I’m the only official US governmental officer, who knows what the hell is going on. I am the whole American government. I am the president.
Ok, let’s take it the other way round. I want people in China to believe this piece of information. That their current prime minister is reading their minds, in order to manipulate them and become what Erdogan always wanted. Because this, will lead to a war with #BruxHell. And a WWIII.
What is this one thing, the Chinese care about the most? Learning maths? Eating rice? Taking pictures? Ok. Let’s be honest. It must be the ‘know-how’ learning process. What if they knew they can learn how to read their own peer’s minds? What the Chinese would think? And how would he react?
To be able to guess what others will think and to be able to know what others think, it’s not the same thing. It’s being proactive Vs reactive. It’s me against us and over others. The need to get down others to feel superior. Then? Do we get a competitive playground? Upset elections maybe? I don’t care. I’ve never been afraid of the light. Just scared of the dark. And this is my truth. Tell me yours! If you dare.
—
Ok, 51 minutes to go… Let’s get a pint of beer and write down this shit. I also need to get well-dressed for such a fight.
To be continued…
Leave a Reply