artofneed

Twitter critics who suddenly found this show have been asking, ‘why write a horror podcast about Democracy?’ Well, Jan. 6, 2021 was a pretty horrifying event. I bet it scared you too. It caused me to think, “what if we lose democracy, like the Romans did? Is this the beginning of the end? How can I bring attention to the incredibly scary comparisons between the Late Republic period in Rome and the decline in American Democracy now?”

Answer? “Write a Horror, of course”

As the tagline of DEMOCRACY JONES Podcast says, “There is nothing scarier than a military coup.”

Here are some of the justifications: If the founders of US Democracy turned to the Roman Republic as an example, why wouldn’t we turn to its fall as an example to AVOID the collapse of US Democracy? DEMOCRACY JONES Podcast does.

By comparing the Late Republic period of Rome with near-future American Democracy, DEMOCRACY JONES Podcast seeks to disseminate awareness of the things that brought Democracy to its knees in Rome and what is happening today in the US.

The horrors the citizenry experienced while losing the Roman Republic were real. The society essentially split in two and the people were forced to choose a side. But there are very clear consequences involved in a zero sum game. If you choose the right side, you become a part of the new government’s totalitarian control. If you choose the wrong side, you die or go into exile. Lost are the great, although imperfect, benefits citizens enjoy in a democracy. Even if the new government claims to be democratic, it’s lost its legitimacy. Look to the example of Roman General Marius’s very partisan purges and reforms of the government after he took control, and the opposing Roman General Sulla’s equally partisan actions after he swept through and undid all of Marius’s reforms.

As most Anthropologists will tell you about the collapse of complex societies, it is hardly ever one thing that spells ruin. The Republic of Rome was no different. And although we have made great technological breakthroughs since then, we are still just as susceptible.

By telling this story, and having the audience witness the crossing of the threshold from Democracy to a coup in a small American town, I hope that we can begin to come together, Conservatives and Liberals, so that we can figure this out before it is too late.

“Above all else, the Roman Republic teaches the citizens of its modern descendants the incredible dangers that come along with condoning political obstruction and courting political violence. Roman history could not more clearly show that, when citizens look away as their leaders engage in these corrosive behaviors, their republic is in mortal danger.”
~Edward J. Watts, Mortal Republic

contact: artofneed@gmail.com

Kendall Reviews has taken up DEMOCRACY JONES Podcast as a favorite and gave it a very positive review. Unfortunately I am unable to share it, so I copy/pasted it below. Please visit their link HERE to view the whole thing.

Blending the historical fall of Late Republic Rome, American politics, science fiction, horror, and satire is the mind-bending fiction series Democracy Jones. Set in the year 2040, a violent coup rips the United States apart, leaving millions either killed or uprooted. Survivors, including a pregnant Haisley Jones, fight together to revive democracy.

If you enjoy biting social commentary and the sharp wit of satire, Democracy Jones needs to be on your playlist. Along with an uncanny resemblance to current global political attitudes and an examination of deep division between right- and left-wing parties, you’ll find creepy turkey vultures, scenes reminiscent of Mad Max, and a neural chip programmed to sound exactly like Maya Angelou.

Written and narrated by the very talented Eamon Loingsigh, this serialized story is not only thought-provoking but also highly entertaining. I recommend beginning with the “Teaser” episode, then “Opening Crawl” (noted as the trailer on Spotify), and then proceed to the numbered episodes. Alternatively, you could start with the episode titled “It’s Not Too Late” where Eamon talks about the inspiration behind the story and his real-life hopes to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Currently the series is in Act 1 of 4, so it’s a great time to catch up on past episodes, plus with an average runtime of less than 20 minutes it’s easy to listen to each installment without interruption. You can find Democracy Jones on most podcast platforms or listen directly on the Art of Need website artofneed.com

JA Sullivan wrote this review. Come see her blog HERE.

contact: artofneed@gmail.com

A Parnassian is an archetype of the middle/upper middle class, even elites, who had an uneventful, sheltered childhood and received a respectable education who nonetheless believe they are entitled to have something eventful, relevant or important to add to the literary canon. Every generation in the book industry has a very large Parnassian clique who dominate discussion concerning what is, or is not relevant, yet are often remembered in hindsight as stifling or censoring the writers who come to embody their generation’s writing posthumously due to their conflict with the Parnassians. 

The Parnassian poets, where the term Parnassianism derives, were a group of mid-to-late 19th Century bourgeois writers with connections to the French monarchy. They defined French poetry for a while by excluding the likes of Arthur Rimbaud, who famously agitated against their mundane, impassive values and came to epitomize the type of breakthrough poetry the Parnassians could never have imagined the public would embrace. Parnassians instead inspire great poetry via revolt against their established vision. The Parnassians were known for, “stories which the Madame could read whilst her maid was putting on her stockings, or which the Monsieur could devour when, hat on head and cane in hand, he waits till the Madame has buttoned the last button of her gloves.”*

Through the generations Parnassians have been known for their careerist value system when it comes to writing and maintain a loose semblance of power over the writing community through hot takes on social media, editorial or professorships and their presence in the industry’s establishments of public relations, marketing, publishing, reviews etc. Parnassians treat writing as if it were any other capitalist venture, and view their “product” as a brand. Much of their power over the writing community is obtained or retained by their outing of supposed inappropriate writers or topics, and loyalty to the industry’s categorization of writing by genres. The smug, exclusionary tactics they use are often exercised by means of ignoring the pleas of ambitious writers, who they see as attempting to replace their status in the writing community. To cover up their obvious capitalist, corporate-friendly establishmentarian value system, Parnassians often identify as bohemian, liberal-free thinkers.

~Eamon Loingsigh

*R.E. Prothero on Parnassian poet Theodore de Banville The Nineteenth Century (1891):
External Link: https://litkicks.com/revoltonmountparnassus/