The Up-to-date Mutation

The post-war life in the Balkans... Are we developing countries and do we have freedom to make life choices?

The Up-To-Date Mutation

 

Nedim belongs to the small group of those who have enough courage to open up about main issues in their society. Under the Communist regime, intellectuals who at the same time were dissidents, were banned and their works did not pass the censorship process. If a poem, story, or a newspaper article included some elements (even if they were given between lines) of negative critics towards the political acme, it has been categorized as the kitsch.

Nowadays, intellectuals in Nedim's country are ignored by the political authorities. The people became less educated and they cannot make a difference between the real and the commercialized pieces of art, or literature any more. Hence, they are not able to figure out in-depth meaning of revolting articles that invite people to make some changes of their everyday, social reality. Thus, political bosses just put these kind of articles aside and keep on tailoring the everyday life of the oppressed nations.

Our main character is unemployed. In fact, he likes to say that he is blissfully jobless. He regularly publishes his short articles and, as expected, nobody gives a single comment on them. Nevertheless, he is happy because he is allowed to write what he wants, without any consequences.

Nedim is such kind of person that apologizes a lot to his friends, acquaintances as well as to all of those who are part of his microcosmic world. It appears that he usually is not guilty and he did not do something wrong, however, he wants to apologize for some tiny, irrelevant things. He thinks that to be sorry for something is one of the signs of politeness. Another is the gratitude. Nedim wants to express his gratitude to all those who do him any favor. Or, if they turn his asking for a favor down, he say 'thanks' to them because they provided him with their refusal. In one of his articles, our protagonist divided people into four categories, based on the combination of apologizing and gratitude patterns in their behavior.

The first group comprises those who have a habit of apologizing for something, but not of gratitude. Those people use to apologize because  they have low levels of self-esteem and are prone to depression. Furthermore, they have no energy and vigor to express gratitude because they are passive, introverted, and reserved.

The second category includes those who want to express gratitude to someone, but do not want to apologize for their behavior or words. The are, in fact, those who are self-confident and think of themselves as infallible. Their act of thankfulness is nothing else but their strategy of manipulating with others.

The third one encompasses people who are neither grateful nor familiar with apologizing. They are iron-handed, antisocial, cruel, and ruthless persons who are usually considered as political leaders.

The last category is a sort of a shelter for those who are pushed to the margins of society. They always feel guilty of something, despite the fact that they should be ashamed of nothing. To remind you, Nedim is a proud member of this group of his compatriots. This is because he feel that he has not done sufficient things and activities to help his fellows. Sometimes, he thinks about committing suicide. However, he always gives up because he realizes that he can be more useful for the humankind  alive rather than deceased.

Accordingly, he wants to put more effort into social activism. So he collected some of the brightest eggheads of his country and made a circle called 'A prosocial laboratory'. The prime mission of this informal association was enhancing awareness of contemporary issues and making solutions that can improve community as a whole.

As time passed by, the political and criminal underground impact on the media decreased and the respect for human rights was rocketed. This small circle became an influential political party. Unfortunately, this was a calm before the storm. Government leaders were working on a plot to overthrow 'A prosocial laboratory'. One day, their headquarters were set on fire. There was only one of the newspapers where a front-page headline was dedicated to this revolutionary group. Later, this newspaper was prohibited by the political authorities.  

The third era has come. The intellectuals are neither prohibited nor ignored. Actually, the government lets them live in delusion that they can change the world. After they stick to this belief for a particular period of time, the oligarchic leaders knock them down cold-bloodedly. If Nedim was alive, he would call it 'the return to the Communist regime with the aroma of the Capitalist hypocrisy'. This is like the virus which mutated and, in a meanwhile, became more dangerous for all humankind.

Selman Repišti,

March 20, 2016

Author's Note

Please, feel free to give me some feedback on the style, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, etc. Thank you in advance! S. R.

Reviews

[Stefano Segnan]

Suggestions:
Perhaps "(...) apologizes a lot to his friends", is more easier than how you wrote it.
One typo/grammar issue: "solutions that can improve community AS a whole".

Unusual style for a story, it looks like an experimenting style. The protagonist does not seem to have any relevance whatsoever, the story is not driven by Nedim, but by the line of thought. It resembles something between an essay and a story. These are not problems, it is just something different from the usual stories.
I am not sure if the description is really linked with the "story". It is more centered around freedom of expression rather than freedom to make life choices.

Opinions pertaining to the story:
As far as I know, the censorship in the ex-SFRJ was only radical in the first two decades after War World II, and as the years were passing, it slowly ceased to be. It was still present, but it wasn't as bothersome or severe as in other communist dictatorships.
The fourth group of people represent the spirit of these people. I was fascinated with how much the drama of "poor me" is present around here. It seems as the spirit of a whole society is the same.
I agree with the las paragraph. Though the reasons for this happening are more Spenglerian to me, I have to agree with you also.

You did a really good work picturing the essence on what is happening in these territories.

[Selman Repišti]

Thank you so much! These are very useful suggestions.