The specific term “Innocent Monster” (無辜の怪物, Muko no Kaibutsu) originates from the world-building of the Fate media franchise (particularly Fate/Grand Order).

The definition of the term is that a historical figure’s actual life and deeds are retroactively overwritten by public perception, rumor, or fiction.

Over time, the sheer weight of societal consensus distorts their reality, transforming an ordinary (or even heroic) human being into a caricature or a monster.

This term reflects a weird truth in our society; that is the Fiction of the Mass usually become the Truth, even though its itself is Fiction.

The tragedy lies in the “innocence” of the subject; they are punished not for their actual sins, but for the sins projected onto them by posterity.

This phenomenon occurs when the “Phantom of the Public”—the collective imagination—proves more compelling or convenient than documented truth. Its quite different when

Often, a sensationalized work of literature or theater serves as the catalyst. Because human brains are wired for narrative rather than sterile data, a compelling fictionalization will almost always outcompete dry historical records in the public consciousness.

The deceased have no legal or social recourse to defend themselves.

Their identities become public property, shaped to fit the archetypal needs of later generations—whether that be a need for a definitive villain, a cautionary tale, or a cultural boogeyman.

This phenomenon is vividly illustrated by historical figures whose post-mortem identities have been entirely hijacked, turning them into cultural titans of villainy.

Here are some of the best example:

• Vlad III of Wallachia (The Impaler):

  • Historically, Vlad III was a 15th-century prince who employed brutal, albeit historically contextual, tactics to defend his territory against the encroaching Ottoman Empire.

  • In his homeland, he was often viewed as a national hero and a strict enforcer of justice. However, due to 19th-century British literature—specifically Bram Stoker’s Dracula—Vlad’s historical reality was entirely eclipsed. Today, the global public perception of him is inextricably linked to a supernatural, blood-drinking aristocrat, completely overwriting his political and martial reality.

    

    
    

• Antonio Salieri:

  • Perhaps the purest example of the Innocent Monster.

  • During his lifetime, Salieri was a highly respected composer, a sought-after teacher (mentoring Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt), and a colleague of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Following Mozart’s untimely death, unfounded rumors of poisoning began to circulate.

  • These rumors were later codified into “truth” by Alexander Pushkin’s play Mozart and Salieri and Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. Public perception retroactively transformed a generous, pious musician into a bitter, envious murderer, a monstrous identity he never bore in life.

    

    
    

• Elizabeth Báthory: Often cited as the “Blood Countess,” historical records suggest that the accusations of her murdering hundreds of young women to bathe in their blood were largely politically motivated fabrications by rivals seeking to seize her vast lands and wealth. Yet, the macabre folklore proved so enduring that her actual historical context is almost entirely lost to the vampire mythos.
  

  

This phenomenon can be perfectly explained through French sociologist Jean Baudrillard’s theory of Simulacra and Simulation.

Baudrillard argued that in modern society, symbols and representations (simulacra) have replaced the actual things they are meant to represent. This process happens in stages:

1. Reflection of profound reality: (A faithful historical account of a person).

2. Masking and perverting reality: (A biased political pamphlet exaggerating their flaws).

3. Masking the absence of reality: (A historical fiction novel that pretends to be rooted in truth but invents the narrative).

4. Pure Simulacrum: (The sign has no relation to any reality whatsoever; it is its own pure simulacrum).

The Innocent Monster exists in the fourth stage: Hyperreality. The fictionalized, monstrous version of the historical figure (the simulacrum) becomes “more real” to the public than the actual historical person.

Like how we hunt the Scapegoat

We need these monster

Societies need these monsters

For history is chaotic, random, and often deeply unfair

For political games of Eternity

References

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation (S. Faria Glaser, Trans.). University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 1981)

Halbwachs, M. (1992). On collective memory (L. A. Coser, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1925)

Shaffer, P. (1981). Amadeus. Harper & Row.

Stafford, W. (1991). The Mozart myths: A critical reassessment. Stanford University Press.

Thorne, Tony. (1997). Countess Dracula: The life and times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess. Bloomsbury.

McNally, R. T., & Florescu, R. (1994). In search of Dracula: The history of Dracula and vampires (Rev. ed.). Houghton Mifflin.

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In the old days, when an orthodox religion (such as institutional Christianity or Islam) expands into territories held by indigenous or polytheistic (pagan) cultures, syncretism can occur in two distinct ways:

From the top, it call Assimilation.

The dominant orthodoxy intentionally absorbs pagan symbols to make conversion more palatable for the conquered population.

It is a tool of empire and pacification.

From the bottom, it call Subversion.

The conquered or oppressed population outwardly performs the rituals of the orthodox religion while secretly retaining their ancestral beliefs. They use the conqueror’s religious framework as a camouflage to ensure the survival of their gods.

It is a tool of resistance.

During the early Middle Ages, the Catholic Church faced the immense challenge of converting the pagan populations of Europe (Celtic, Germanic, and Norse tribes).

They see that total destruction will be a lot harder than absorption of pagan symbol, and they put that idea to practice.

Its super effective, of course.

In 601 AD, Pope Gregory I sent a famous letter to Abbot Mellitus, instructing missionaries in Britain not to destroy pagan temples, but to destroy only the idols, purify the temples with holy water, and place relics inside. By co-opting the sacred geography of the pagans, the Church overlaid orthodox authority onto indigenous holy sites.

Local gods and goddesses were frequently rebranded as Christian saints to ease the transition.

The most famous example is the Celtic dawn and fire goddess Brigid, who was seamlessly transformed into Saint Brigid of Kildare. Her pagan fire rituals were simply continued under a Catholic banner.

The orthodox liturgical calendar was explicitly designed to subvert the pagan wheel of the year.

The winter solstice festivals (Saturnalia, Yule) were absorbed into Christmas; the spring fertility festivals of the goddess Eostre became Easter; and the Celtic festival of the dead, Samhain, was transformed into All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day.

While the institutional orthodoxy viewed this as successful evangelism, it inadvertently created a theological “Trojan Horse.”

The most shocking examples was in the Americas during the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Enslaved Africans were forcibly baptized into Catholicism by Spanish, French, and Portuguese colonizers and strictly forbidden from practicing their indigenous religions.

To survive the spiritual erasure demanded by the colonizers’ orthodoxy, enslaved people developed brilliant, coded religious systems, primarily Santería (Lucumí) in Cuba, Vodou in Haiti, and Candomblé in Brazil.

Enslaved practitioners mapped their West African deities (the Orishas of the Yoruba people, or the Lwa of the Fon and Ewe) directly onto Catholic saints.

To the orthodox, white Catholic enslaver, a shrine to Saint Barbara looked like appropriate, submissive Christian piety. However, to the enslaved Yoruba practitioner, Saint Barbara—who is associated with lightning and carries a sword—was a perfect visual mask for Shango, the powerful Orisha of thunder, fire, and justice. Similarly, Saint Peter (who holds the keys to the kingdom) or Saint Lazarus (depicted on crutches) were used as masks for Papa Legba or Eshu, the trickster spirits of the crossroads.

By hiding their gods behind the faces of Catholic saints, enslaved people successfully subverted the religious authority of their captors.

The orthodoxy was hollowed out from the inside; the oppressors’ own icons were weaponized to foster solidarity, preserve African cosmological knowledge, and inspire physical rebellions (such as the Haitian Revolution, which famously began with a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman).

In Latin America, syncretism often blurred the lines between top-down assimilation and bottom-up subversion, creating entirely new hybrid identities.

When the Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire, they destroyed the temple of Tonantzin (the Aztec mother goddess) on the hill of Tepeyac. Shortly after, in 1531, a vision of the Virgin Mary—the Virgin of Guadalupe—reportedly appeared on that exact same hill to an indigenous man named Juan Diego.

The Catholic Church promoted this as a divine miracle validating the Christian conquest of the Americas.

Indigenous populations flocked to the site, often referring to the Virgin of Guadalupe as “Tonantzin.” Her image (featuring brown skin, standing on a moon, surrounded by a sunburst) utilized profound pre-Columbian iconography. Indigenous people used the orthodox framework of Marian devotion to continue worshiping their ancient Earth Mother in plain sight.

So, basically, you can erase their names

But you can not erase their marks in culture.

Old Gods never die

They just sleep

References

Flint, V. I. J. (1991). The rise of magic in early medieval Europe. Princeton University Press.

Hutton, R. (1991). The pagan religions of the ancient British Isles: Their nature and legacy. Blackwell.

MacMullen, R. (1997). Christianity and paganism in the fourth to eighth centuries. Yale University Press.

Russell, J. C. (1994). The Germanization of early medieval Christianity: A sociohistorical approach to religious transformation. Oxford University Press.

Brown, P. (1981). The cult of the saints: Its rise and function in Latin Christianity. University of Chicago Press.

Fletcher, R. (1999). The barbarian conversion: From paganism to Christianity. University of California Press.

Herskovits, M. J. (1937). African gods and Catholic saints in New World negro belief. American Anthropologist, 39(4), 635–643.

Raboteau, A. J. (2004). Slave religion: The “invisible institution” in the antebellum South (Updated ed.). Oxford University Press.

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Popess Johanna, most commonly known in English as Pope Joan.

According to popular myth, she was a woman who disguised herself as a man, rose through the ranks of the Catholic Church using her vast intellect, and reigned as Pope in the 9th century.

Her story is one of the most famous and enduring legends of the Middle Ages.

While the details vary, the story of Popess Johanna follow a remarkably consistent structure.

It starts like this:

• Born in Mainz (or sometimes England), Joan, a countryside girl with definitely 30 INT score falls in love with a Benedictine monk. To study alongside him, she disguises herself as a man, taking the name “Johannes Anglicus” (John the English).

• Relocating to Rome, “Johannes” becomes renowned for unparalleled intellect, mastery of theology, and administrative skills. She quickly rises through the Church hierarchy, eventually becoming a cardinal. Upon the death of the reigning Pope (usually placed around 855 AD, succeeding Leo IV), she is unanimously elected to the papacy.

Joan rules effectively as Pope for over two years.

• However, she takes a lover and becomes pregnant. During a papal procession from St. Peter’s Basilica to the Lateran Palace, she goes into labor prematurely.

• In the middle of a narrow street, surrounded by the horrified public and clergy, she gives birth to a child. In most versions of the legend, she dies shortly thereafter—either from complications of childbirth or by being stoned to death by an enraged mob.

This end badly, isn’t it.

So, in modern days, lots of scholar agree that she never assist. The papacy of the 9th century is well-documented, and there is no temporal gap between Pope Leo IV (died 855) and Pope Benedict III (elected 855) for Joan to have ruled.

The fascinating things is not that if she existed, but when and why the story was invented.

The alleged events took place in the mid-9th century, yet the very first written mentions of Pope Joan do not appear until the mid-13th century—nearly 400 years later.

The story first emerged in the chronicles of Jean de Mailly (around 1250) and was popularized by Martin of Opava in his Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum (around 1265). Because Martin’s chronicle was widely copied and read throughout Europe, the story of the female Pope became accepted as historical fact for centuries.

If she is a fictional tale, then why the church literally marketing for this story for 200 years.

Well, here is some theory:

The 10th century was a period of severe corruption in the papacy, often termed the Saeculum obscurum (the dark age) or the “Pornocracy.”

During this time, powerful aristocratic women in Rome, particularly Theodora and her daughter Marozia, effectively controlled papal elections and installed their lovers and illegitimate sons as Popes.

Historians believe the legend of Pope Joan was originally a bitter satire protesting this era—a metaphorical “female Pope” representing the very real, undue influence of women over the Holy See.

The story also functioned as a cautionary tale.

In medieval theology, women were often viewed as descendants of Eve—inherently flawed, deceitful, and tied to the flesh. Joan’s story reinforced the patriarchal order: a woman might use deception to achieve unnatural spiritual authority, but her innate biological nature (pregnancy and childbirth) would inevitably betray her, leading to divine punishment and public ruin.

The most bizarre sociological byproduct of the Pope Joan legend is the myth of the sedia stercoraria (dung chair).

According to legend, after the disaster of Pope Joan, the Church instituted a physical examination to ensure all future Popes were male. A newly elected Pope would sit on a marble chair with a hole in the seat. A junior cleric would reach underneath to verify the presence of male genitalia, subsequently announcing to the crowd: “Duos habet et bene pendentes” (”He has two, and they dangle nicely”).

These chairs actually existed in the Lateran Palace, but they were ancient Roman imperial porphyry chairs (likely high-end bidet chairs or birthing chairs) repurposed to symbolize the Pope’s role as the “mother” of the Church.

The gender-verification story was a folklore explanation invented by a public trying to make sense of strange, ancient rituals using the popular myth of Pope Joan.

There is a time where your lie come back to bite at u, here they are.

During the 16th century, the narrative utility of Pope Joan shifted dramatically. Early Protestant reformers, including Jan Hus and later Martin Luther, seized upon the story.

For Protestants, Pope Joan was the ultimate proof of the Catholic Church’s corruption, institutional blindness, and theological illegitimacy. They argued that if the Church was truly guided by the Holy Spirit, it could not have accidentally elected a woman.

The Catholic Church, which had previously accepted the story, was forced to thoroughly investigate its own archives and officially debunk the legend to defend itself against Protestant attacks.

Talk about Karma

References

Boureau, A. (2001). The myth of Pope Joan (L. G. Cochrane, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.

Cross, F. L., & Livingstone, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). The Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. rev.). Oxford University Press.

Noble, T. F. X. (2013). Why Pope Joan? The Catholic Historical Review, 99(2), 219-238.

Stanford, P. (1999). The legend of Pope Joan: In search of the truth. Berkley Books.

Cross, C. (1989). The female pope: The mystery of Pope Joan. Crucible.

To understand the environmentalism in these films, one must first understand the spiritual lens through which nature is viewed.

Unlike Western , which is often rooted in a scientific or resource-management perspective, Ghibli’s environmentalism is fundamentally spiritual and deeply influenced by Japan’s belief system.

The foundational belief that non-human entities—animals, plants, rivers, mountains, and even weather patterns—possess a distinct spiritual essence or soul. Thus nature is a living part nor a dormant elements

This relating to Shinto (the “Way of the Gods”), the national religion of Japan.

It centers on the reverence of Kami—sacred spirits that take the form of things and concepts important to life.

Kami are not omnipotent, distant deities like the Judeo-Christian God.

They lies in all, in trees, in water, in air.

To this viewpoint, when humans exploit a forest or pollute a river, they are not merely destroying a biological ecosystem; they are committing an act of spiritual violence against the Kami that reside there.

To Miyazaki, humanity shares the earth with ancient, unseen forces. Therefore his film usually emphasize these images.

For example, in My Neighbor Totoro, Totoro is not simply a magical creature; he is the “Keeper of the Forest,”.

In the film, the giant tree is adorned with a shimenawa (a sacred rope of twisted hemp) and shide (zigzag paper streamers).

In Shinto, this marks the boundary between the mundane world and a sacred space inhabited by a spirit. By honoring the tree, we respect the world.

While Totoro presents a gentle, nostalgic view of nature, Princess Mononoke presents its awe-inspiring, terrifying, and indifferent reality.

The rattling, translucent little creatures known as Kodama are literal tree spirits from Japanese folklore. They only exist where the forest is healthy and the ancient canopy is intact.

Representing the ultimate neutrality of the natural order, the Forest Spirit gives life and takes it away with equal indifference. It shows that nature is not purely “good” or safe; it is an overwhelming force that demands profound respect rather than domestication.

A core tenet of Shinto is the dichotomy between purity (hare) and pollution or defilement (kegare).

One of Ghibli’s best film also convey this beautifully.

The setting of Spirited Away is a bathhouse where the Kami go to rest and cleanse themselves. The most striking scene occurs when a massive, oozing “Stink Spirit” arrives.

As Chihiro, pulls a “thorn” from its side, which unleashes a tidal wave of trash, and cleanse the spirit, free itself from the burden it hold.

It is revealed that “he” is not a filthy thing, but a powerful River Spirit that had been entirely corrupted by human pollution.

Chihiro’s act of cleaning is a visual representation of harae (the Shinto ritual of purification).

So, we can see that the film argues that ecological destruction is a form of spiritual sickness that corrupts the very soul of the landscape.

Another thing that elevating Ghibli’s world-building above your usual movie, which have a separates sides is that, they never have a true side. Everything collide with each other

The central conflict in Princess Mononoke is between the ancient forest gods and Irontown, an industrial human settlement that clears the forest to mine iron. However, the leader of Irontown, Lady Eboshi, is not a traditional villain. She clears the forest to provide a safe haven, employment, and dignity for societal outcasts, lepers, and former brothel workers.

Conversely, the animal gods (like the boars and wolves) are driven to blind, demonic rage by their hatred of humans, becoming corrupted by their own vengeance.

So what can we see here

Its that we and our surrounding are part of a whole.

That the landscape is not an object to be owned, but a complex entity that require stewardship, respect, and above all, balance.

References

Boyd, J. W., & Nishimura, T. (2004). Shinto perspectives in Miyazaki’s anime film Spirited Away. Journal of Religion and Film, 8(2), 1–14.

Cavallaro, D. (2006). The anime art of Hayao Miyazaki. McFarland & Company.

Napier, S. J. (2001). Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing contemporary Japanese animation. Palgrave Macmillan.

Wright, L. (2005). Forest spirits, giant insects and world trees: The nature vision of Hayao Miyazaki. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 10(1), 1–18.

Boyd, J. W., & Williams, R. G. (2005). Japanese Shinto: An interpretation of a priestly perspective. Philosophy East and West, 55(1), 33-63.

Ghibli, S. (Director). (1997). Princess Mononoke [Film]. Studio Ghibli.

Ghibli, S. (Director). (2001). Spirited Away [Film]. Studio Ghibli.

Nelson, J. (1996). A year in the life of a Shinto shrine. University of Washington Press.

Wright, L. (2005). Forest spirits, giants, and a post-apocalyptic world: The environmentalism of Hayao Miyazaki. The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 10(1).

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While the zombie represents the terror of the collapsing collective and the vampire embodies the predatory elite.

But, the werewolf

Well, they occupies a uniquely position.

I dare say that

They became a mechanism to explain the inexplicable savagery of the natural world and the humans who seemed to belong to it.

Lets dive a little bit deeper than that

Historically, the myth of the werewolf flourished in agrarian and pastoral societies where the actual wolf was an ever-present threat to livelihood and survival.

During the early modern period in Europe (roughly the 15th to 17th centuries), werewolf trials occurred alongside the much larger phenomenon of witch trials.

However, the people that being put on that trial are vastly different.

While accused witches were predominantly female, accused werewolves were overwhelmingly male.

They were typically shepherds, vagrants, hermits, or beggars

People that lived on the extreme fringes of society and spent extended time in the wilderness.

So I think that, the myth was weaponized to criminalize these people, those who did not conform to the established social or religious order.

In agrarian societies, the wolf was a very real, devastating threat to a community’s economic survival (livestock).

This terror were so true, it lives on as tale.

The werewolf represents the terror that the boundaries of civilization—the walls of the village, the laws of the church—are porous.

It embodies the fear that the chaotic, amoral wilderness can infiltrate the safe, ordered spaces of humanity.

Another aspect is, as society demands higher levels of self-control and the suppression of primal instincts, the psychological burden of this repression grows.

Sociologist Norbert Elias coined the term “the civilizing process” to describe how, over centuries, European societies developed increasingly strict codes regarding manners, bodily functions, and emotional restraint.

Everybody needs a trash can,soooo

The werewolf myth provides a trash can.

It explores the terrifying, yet deeply liberating, fantasy of completely abandoning societal expectations, giving in to base instincts, and operating purely on predatory drive.

It also suggests that civilization is temporary, and its can be shattered at the right condition.

In modern sociological and psychological analysis, the werewolf serves as an example for the duality of man. It is the literal manifestation of the Freudian “id” overpowering the “superego.”

The curse of lycanthropy often involves a total loss of memory and control during the transformation. Its represents the “return of the repressed.”

This reflects a deep-seated societal anxiety regarding madness, intoxication, or any state where an individual is no longer the author of their own actions.

Nowadays, the werewolf has picked up a new mantle.

Instead of being a threats to society, werewolves are often depicted sympathetically as figures struggling with an uncontrollable condition.

This images of a werewolf have become a symbol for puberty.

Films like Ginger Snaps explicitly map lycanthropy onto the female coming-of-age experience, menstruation, and the societal policing of young women’s bodies. For male characters, it often represents the sudden, confusing influx of testosterone and aggression.

In the late 20th century, the werewolf narrative- where a bite transmits a curse - was frequently utilized as an allegory for the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the social ostracization of those infected.

Unlike vampires, who are often solitary or rigidly hierarchical, werewolves are defined by the “pack.” For a groups, the werewolf pack has become a resonant symbol of the “chosen family”—a group of outcasts who have been rejected by mainstream society and form a fiercely loyal, alternative kinship structure to survive.

What can we say about that?

Usually nothing, for that is a thing.

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References

Baring-Gould, S. (2004). The book of were-wolves: Being an account of a terrible superstition. Dover Publications. (Original work published 1865)

Elias, N. (2000). The civilizing process: Sociogenetic and psychogenetic investigations (E. Dunning, J. Goudsblom, & S. Mennell, Eds.; E. Jephcott, Trans.). Blackwell Publishing. (Original work published 1939)

Frost, B. J. (2003). The essential guide to werewolf literature. University of Wisconsin Press.

Beresford, M. (2013). The white devil: The werewolf in European culture. Reaktion Books.

Eisler, R. (1951). Man into wolf: An anthropological interpretation of sadism, masochism, and lycanthropy. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Otten, C. F. (Ed.). (1986). A lycanthropy reader: Werewolves in Western culture. Syracuse University Press.

Sconduto, K. A. (2008). Metamorphoses of the werewolf: A literary study from antiquity through the Renaissance. McFarland.

https://asakuraenko.substack.com/p/the-sociology-of-zombies-and-vampires

So, lets us start from the beginning

During the 14th and 15th centuries, Seville had a significant population of Black Africans, both enslaved and free, largely due to established trade routes.

Then, if you know the hooman history, then u will know what they would met.

Yes, RACISMMMM

Because of that, Archbishop Gonzalo de Mena founded a religious confraternity specifically for them around the year 1393.

The Hermandad de Los Negritos (The Brotherhood of the Little Black Ones) is one of the oldest Catholic confraternities in Seville, Spain.

This confraternity—formally the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Angels, served as a religious sanctuary, a mutual aid society, and a hospital for the Black population of Seville.

It is one of the oldest continuing brotherhoods in the city.

While the demographics of the brotherhood have integrated and changed over the centuries, it remains a vital part of Seville’s cultural and religious identity.

During Spain’s Holy Week processions, members of various brotherhoods (known as nazarenos or penitents) walk the streets wearing long robes and tall, conical hats with face coverings.

This hat is called a capirote.

The capirote has origins dating back to the Middle Ages and the Spanish Inquisition. At that time, condemned sinners were forced to wear a paper cone (coroza) painted with flames or demons as a mark of public shame.

By the 17th century, Catholic brotherhoods had reclaimed the garment as a symbol of voluntary penance.

The upward-pointing cone symbolically directs the penitent toward heaven and God.

The face covering ensures complete anonymity.

In Catholic tradition, penance is meant to be an act of personal humility, not public boasting.

By covering their faces, all being equal before God

The Hermandad de Los Negritos, like dozens of other brotherhoods in Seville, wears these traditional garments during their processions.

And then, we have the KKK

Most of us, when see this hat. We gonna think about the KKK because, well, THEY FREAKING STOLE IT!!!!!

The original KKK, founded after the American Civil War, wore a disorganized variety of masks and spooky costumes to terrorize newly freed Black Americans.

However, the uniform white conical hats and robes we associate with the KKK today were standardized during the group’s revival in 1915, heavily influenced by D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation.

The leaders of the second KKK essentially stole the visual aesthetic of the Spanish capirote to serve a opposed purpose:

• The Klan used the hood to evoke the ghosts of the Confederate dead, also use the anonymity to evade legal consequences for acts of domestic terrorism.
  

• Instead of an act of religious penance, the costume became a tool for psychological intimidation.
  

  

The biggest joke is that the 1915 Ku Klux Klan was violently anti-Catholic.

They hijacked the sacred uniform of Catholic penitents—a uniform worn with pride for centuries by a brotherhood originally founded by Black Africans—and turned it into a symbol of anti-Catholic, white supremacist terror.

So yeah, i’m not have any sympathy for these guys.

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References

Frazer, C. (1993). The Black Brotherhood of Seville: An historical account. Journal of European Studies, 23(1), 45-62.

MacLean, N. (1994). Behind the mask of chivalry: The making of the second Ku Klux Klan. Oxford University Press.

Mitchell, T. (1990). Passional culture: Emotion, religion, and society in southern Spain. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Moreno, I. (1997). La antigua hermandad de los negros de Sevilla: Etnicidad, poder y sociedad en 600 años de historia. Universidad de Sevilla.

Espinosa, A. (2014). The history of the Black brotherhood of Seville. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 15(2), 145-162.

Pike, R. (1967). Sevillian society in the sixteenth century: Slaves and freedmen. The Hispanic American Historical Review, 47(3), 344-359.

The concept of the “Other” (or alterity) is a foundational idea in sociology, philosophy, and psychology. It describes the process by which an in-group (”Us”) constructs its identity by standing opposite to the out-group (”Them”).

We, as hooman, are rarely define ourselves purely by our own.

Instead, we usually create boundaries and define ourselves through it.

The “Other” is this case

They are everything the in-group believes it is not—often stereotyped as chaotic, irrational, or dangerous.

This lead to,...

Most of the time, when an ingroup experiences stress, resource scarcity, or moral anxiety, they often project these internal conflicts onto an outgroup—”Them” or the “Other.”

So, what we can see here is that “Othering” is not just about difference; it is about hierarchy. The dominant group possesses everything to dictate the narrative, casting the “Other” as inferior or subversive.

By targeting a vulnerable group, the dominant group effectively externalizes the threat, making a complex, abstract problem (like economic decline) seem concrete and solvable (by removing the scapegoat).

Through this process, the Other” are being cast out and dehumanized, strip away everything. This reduces empathy and normalizes mistreatment or systemic exclusion.

Lots and lots of thinkers have explored this topic from time to time.

From Edward Said’s analysis of how the West constructed the “East” as its exotic, irrational opposite

To Simone de Beauvoir’s examination of how patriarchal societies have historically framed women as the “Other” relative to the male default.

To the sociologist Emil Durkheim explored how societies create boundaries of what is acceptable by defining what is unacceptable.

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So, what does the Scapegoat doing here? What is his role?

Lets find out

The term “scapegoat” originates from the Book of Leviticus, describing a literal goat upon which the high priest symbolically placed all the sins of the community before casting it into the wilderness.

In sociology and anthropology, it basically blaming others for one or all sin. Sounds veryyyyy familiarr.

The most comprehensive framework for this is René Girard’s Mimetic Theory. Girard argued that human desire is mimetic (imitative)—we want what others want. This inevitable imitation leads to competition, which escalates into widespread social conflict and violence.

Society is threatened by contagious, escalating rivalries and internal chaos. Distinctions between people break down.

To prevent mutual destruction, the chaotic mob unconsciously unites against a single target. The “all against all” becomes “all against one.”

The victim is blamed for the crisis and violently expelled or destroyed.

With the victim gone, everything ok again.

Because the scapegoat’s destruction brings peace, the society often retrospectively mythologizes the victim—first viewing them as a monstrous cause of the plague, and later sometimes as a sacred figure who brought the cure.

The scapegoat and the “Other” are deeply intertwined concepts. When a society enters a state of crisis—be it economic collapse, a literal plague, or a rapid shift in cultural norms—anxiety demands an explanation.

The ideal scapegoat must be vulnerable.

If the group targets a powerful insider, it risks sparking a cycle of vengeance.

This “Other” lacks the social capital to strike back, ensuring the violence ends with their expulsion.

The “Other” already being an outcast, not real one, though. They are simultaneously inside enough to be blamed for the society’s internal corruption, but outside enough that their removal does not threaten the core structure of the in-group.

Societies often blaming onto the “Other.”

Like, on daily basis.

By punishing them, they can sleep soundly without worry.

Historical examples for this case are vast, ranging from the European witch trials (targeting marginalized, unmarried, or elderly women as the “Other”) to the persecution of minority groups during periods of severe economic distress.

References

Beauvoir, S. de. (2010). The second sex (C. Borde & S. Malovany-Chevallier, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1949)

Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-47). Brooks/Cole.

Assmann, J. (2011). Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination. Cambridge University Press.

Golsan, R. J. (2017). Vichy’s afterlife: History and counter-history in postwar France. University of Nebraska Press.

Durkheim, E. (1915). The elementary forms of the religious life (J. W. Swain, Trans.). George Allen & Unwin.

Girard, R. (1986). The scapegoat (Y. Freccero, Trans.). Johns Hopkins University Press.

Klemperer, V. (2000). The language of the Third Reich: LTI, Lingua Tertii Imperii: A philologist’s notebook (M. Brady, Trans.). Athlone Press.

Orwell, G. (1949). 1984. Secker & Warburg.

In ancient cosmology, death is not only death. It is the beginning of a treacherous journey. Many mythology depicted these land as a perilous geography—a dark forest, a vast ocean, or an abyss—lacking the structure of the living world.(e.g., the River Styx, the Egyptian Duat, the Norse Helheim).

So, do you think we, the frail mortal soul can pass this?

WELLLLLLLLLLLL

Most of the time

NAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The newly deceased soul is disoriented and vulnerable. So to “save our soul”, here come the psychopomp.

The Psychopomp is the entity that hold the “map” to this uncharted territory.

They are not the Judge, nor Executioner.

They do not care if the soul was a saint or a murderer; their only job is safe transit to the courtroom.

This figure manifests across countless traditions: the Greek god Hermes, the Egyptian jackal-headed Anubis, the Norse Valkyries, the Shinigami in Japanese folklore, and even the modern personification of the Grim Reaper.

They are often trickster figures or boundary-crossers who can safely travel between the realms of the mortal, the divine, and the dead without being corrupted or trapped by any of them.

Without these guys, the soul risks becoming lost, trapped as a wandering ghost, or consumed by the chaotic forces that dwell on the threshold.

Now we know what they are, we must also know their workplace: The Liminal Space.

Anthropologists Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner defined “liminality” (from the Latin limen, meaning “threshold”) as the middle, transitional stage of a rite of passage.

If you see this sound familiar, then yes, but we will get to that another day.

In liminal space, a person societal position are nothing. They are all the same in front of Hell.

They are “betwixt and between” established states. It is a zone of maximum chaos and vulnerability.

Because the rules of reality do not apply in the threshold, the soul needs an entity that is native to the “in-between.”

The Psychopomp is unique because it is one of the few beings permitted to cross freely back and forth between the realms of the living and the dead without getting trapped.

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So, how will the modern day said about this archetype?

Lets meet the best man to answer this question.

So, in 20th century, Carl Jung adapted the concept of the psychopomp into analytical psychology.

To him, the “Land of the Living” is the Conscious Ego, and the “Underworld” is the Collective Unconscious. The threshold between them is incredibly dangerous; dipping too far into the unconscious can lead to madness or psychosis.

In this state of deep chaos, the psychopomp will come forth from the Ocean of Collective Unconscious.

It often appears in dreams or active imagination as a Wise Old Man/Woman, or frequently as an animal (a raven, a wolf, or a dog).

It guides the Ego safely through the shadows of the psyche, helping the individual integrate repressed trauma or hidden knowledge (Individuation) without being overwhelmed by the chaos of the deep mind.

There are image of them in animal of mythology too.

Across wildly different, disconnected cultures, the Psychopomp is almost always associated with specific animals, particularly Dogs/Jackals (Anubis, Cerberus, Xolotl) and Birds (Ravens, Owls, Whippoorwills).

Practically, ancient people noticed that dogs, jackals, and crows loitered around graveyards and battlefields. They crossed the physical boundary between the living village and the dead corpses.

Dogs possess senses (hearing/smell) that detect things humans cannot perceive.

To ancient humans, a dog barking at an “empty” dark corner looked exactly like an animal communicating with the unseen spirit world.

Birds, conversely, belong to the sky and can physically cross the boundary between the earth (mortals) and the heavens (gods).

References

Eliade, M. (1964). Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy (W. R. Trask, Trans.). Princeton University Press.

Graves, R. (1955). The Greek myths. Penguin Books.

Jung, C. G. (1968). The archetypes and the collective unconscious (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed.). Princeton University Press.

Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Aldine Publishing Company.

Van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage (M. B. Vizedom & G. L. Caffee, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1909).

Its an honor for an introvert like me for you to open the door to my toy room, make yourself to play anytime.

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1. Get the Substack app by clicking this link or the button below. New chat threads won’t be sent sent via email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens. You can also access chat on the web.

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2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it!

In short, nothing but gambling

The “gacha” monetization model, very popular nowadays, at its core is a digitized version of an operant conditioning chamber, famously known as the Skinner Box, created by psychologist B.F. Skinner.

Operant conditioning shapes behavior through rewards or punishments.

Unlike a fixed-ratio schedule (where you get a reward after a set number of actions, or literally put money into it) or a fixed-interval schedule (like a daily login bonus), the variable-ratio schedule keeps the user in a state of perpetual anticipation.

Skinner actually experiment this with some rat, and he founds his is the most powerful and addictive reinforcement schedule in existence.

If a rat gets food every time it presses a lever (Fixed-Ratio), it only presses when hungry. If it gets food at random intervals (Variable-Ratio), it will press the lever frantically and obsessively, because the brain thinks, “The very next press could be the jackpot.”

The same to the player.

They never knows if the next pull will yield the ultra-rare character, the behavior of pulling becomes highly resistant to extinction.

Slot machines and Gacha banners use this exact math. You don’t know if the ultra-rare character will drop on pull #1 or pull #89.

The uncertainty is the glue that keeps the behavior going.

Beside that, its also shows that the psychological grip of the gacha pull is largely chemical.

We often misunderstand dopamine as the “pleasure” chemical. In reality, it is the “anticipation and pursuit” chemical.

Neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky demonstrated that dopamine levels peak not when the reward is received, but right before it.

Gacha games masterfully exploit this by drawing out the reveal. Introducing the element of “maybe” (a 50% chance of a reward) causes dopamine levels to explode to levels far higher than a 100% guaranteed reward.

This is why Gacha games have elaborate, un-skippable animations when you roll (e.g., a shooting star changing colors, a door glowing gold).

The game is stretching out the window of anticipation.

The peak neurochemical high happens while the star is flying across the screen, not when the character is finally come home.

The pull itself becomes the drug.

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But this rarely works alone; it is often bolstered by other cognitive biases.

Pulling a high-rarity item that is not the featured character (often called losing the “50/50”) mimics a near miss, encouraging the player to try again.

Besides that, modern Gacha games evolved beyond pure casino slots by introducing a “Pity System” (or “Sparking”).

It transforms the psychological framing from “Gambling” into “Investing.”

By transforms the variable-ratio into a hybrid system, leveraging the sunk cost fallacy by making players feel they have invested too much to walk away before hitting the guaranteed payout.

References

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Press.

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Macmillan.

Zendle, D., & Cairns, P. (2018). Video game loot boxes are linked to problem gambling: Results of a large-scale survey. PLOS ONE, 13(11), e0206767. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206767

Interventions based on operant conditioning. Cite 12 March 2026, from https://paloaltou.edu/resources/business-of-practice-blog/operant-conditioning

Variable ratio | reinforcement schedule & examples—Lesson. Study.Com. Cite 12 March 2026, from https://study.com/learn/lesson/variable-ratio-schedule.html

Maybe, I understand this, maybe not. But, I still remember my frustration when i want to say about something but I’m not have words for it.

When we read and write, the words on those pages are making miracles to our brain. Its expand our mind, influences our way of thinking.

Then, what if we do not have that miracles any more? What will happen?

In George Orwell’s 1984, we could see this very clearly.

In the novel, the authoritarian regime constantly revises the dictionary to shrink the language, creating “Newspeak.” They combine words (e.g., “good” and “bad” become “good” and “ungood”) and eliminate synonyms.

The main purpose is that not just control speech, but to control Thought (preventing “thoughtcrime”). If the word “freedom” is stripped of its political meaning, and words like “rebellion” or “oppression” are entirely deleted from the vocabulary, it becomes practically impossible for the citizens to conceptualize a revolution.

From this case, we can deduct that, a restricted vocabulary restricts the boundaries of human imagination.

This idea have is own academic foundation too. Its call theory of Linguistic Relativity or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

A rigid version of this theory argues that language entirely dictates thought. Without a word for a concept, you simply cannot think it. (This is generally rejected by modern linguists, as humans can invent new words for new feelings).

Another version that more flexible is that language strongly influences thought. Having a rich, precise vocabulary makes it much easier to comprehend the world and life.

The danger we can see here is if your language is reduced to basic terms (e.g., everything is simply “Awesome” or “Terrible”), your ability to critically analyze gray areas, complex policies, or subtle manipulation degrades.

If a grievance has not been name, that grievance remains an amorphous, private discomfort rather than a shared political or social issue.

Well, to make a realistic example, you could see it is used daily in advertising, media, and politics through Framing.

Here, the government control narratives by simplifying or sanitizing language. For example, “civilian casualties” -> “collateral damage.” Just by that, simply brush off death of hundreds and thousands of people.

By removing the emotional weight and precision of the language, the public’s emotional reaction is pacified. When language is flattened, the public becomes dum dum sheep, and dum dum sheep are easy to herd because complex, critical debate is bypassed entirely.

Also, like how historical amnesia happen, when the language used to describe the past is erased, the collective memory of a people is wiped clean, leaving them with no historical “anchor” to challenge the current regime’s narrative.

References

Huxley, A. (1958). Brave New World revisited. Harper & Brothers.

Klemperer, V. (2000). The language of the Third Reich: LTI, Lingua Tertii Imperii: A philologist’s notebook (M. Brady, Trans.). Athlone Press.

Orwell, G. (1949). 1984. Secker & Warburg.

Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct: How the mind creates language. William Morrow and Company.

Wittgenstein, L. (1922). Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (C. K. Ogden, Trans.). Kegan Paul.

Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf (J. B. Carroll, Ed.). MIT Press.

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If there was music or something, then its gonna be fine, right?

THERE WAS NOT

She had no music

No emotion of Joy and Elation on her face

Only horror.

This event escalated quite fast, actually. Within a week, 34 others had joined her. Within a month, there were ~400 dancers.

Witnesses described the dancers as grimacing in pain, screaming for mercy, and begging to stop, but their legs kept moving involuntarily. They danced until their feet bled, and eventually, many died from heart attacks, strokes, or sheer exhaustion.

This event sparks many debate between historians and scientists. One main questions of both side is: What caused the brain to “break” in this specific way?

We have 2 famous theories for this case

1. Ergot Poisoning: A biological theory suggests that the dancers had consumed rye bread infected by the mold Claviceps purpurea (Ergot), which contains lysergic acid (the raw material for LSD). This causes hallucinations and severe muscle spasms/convulsions.

   • The problems with this theory is ergotism usually restricts blood flow (causing gangrene/loss of limbs), which would make it impossible dancing continuously. It is unlikely a man with gangrenous legs could dance for a week.

2. Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI): Another theory that historian supports is the plague was a psychological reaction to the extreme hardships. Strasbourg at the time was a living hell. It was suffering from famine, smallpox, and extreme poverty. When a person snapped (in this case: Frau) , well, here come the dance.

One of the popular belief at the time is that the people of Strasburg are suffering from “St. Vitus’s Curse”—a saint capable of punishing the sinful by forcing them to dance. This belief created a “suggestible state” where the mind’s distress manifested as a physical compulsion.

But, hold up

There is a decision that make this plague more tragedy than it should be, and that is the local authority decision.

At that time, seeing the event, local government decide to call the Physicians, and these guys ruled out astrological causes and declared it a “natural disease” caused by “hot blood.” They decided the victims just needed to “dance it out” to burn off the sickness.

So, the city cleared a grain market, built a wooden stage, and—incredibly—hired professional musicians to play for the dancers.

The results of this is.....

The spectacle drew in more crowds, which triggered more people to join the trance. Thus the “cure” acted as a super-spreader event for the hysteria, and the dance just keep growing.

References

Donaldson, L. J., Cavanagh, J., & Rankin, J. (1997). The dancing plague: A public health enigma. Public Health, 111(4), 201–204.

Midelfort, H. C. E. (1999). A history of madness in sixteenth-century Germany. Stanford University Press.

Bartholomew, R. E. (2001). Little devils: Mass hysteria in schools. In Little Devils: Mass Hysteria in Schools. McFarland & Company.

Backman, E. L. (1952). Religious dances in the Christian church and in popular medicine. Allen & Unwin.

Hecker, J. F. (1844). The epidemics of the Middle Ages (B. G. Babington, Trans.). The Sydenham Society.

Midelfort, H. C. E. (1999). A history of madness in sixteenth-century Germany. Stanford University Press.

Waller, J. (2008). A time to dance, a time to die: The extraordinary story of the Dancing Plague of 1518. Icon Books.

Waller, J. (2009). A forgotten plague: Making sense of dancing mania. The Lancet, 373(9664), 624–625.

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A lot, like lots and lots of war.

Of course from all that fighting, combat and slaughtering, we have to learn something. From that, we have some classic quotes through the time we try to kill each other in MASS.

Early historical quotes on war often focus on the cold reality of power dynamics and the necessity of preparation. In the ancient world, war was personal and face-to-face. Quotes were designed to demonstrate Stoicism and Defiance. The Spartans are the masters here in this case.

King Leonidas once said:

“Molon labe” (”Come and take them”)

At this period, where you physically pushed against enemy shields, showing fear was a death sentence. These quotes are create to serve as “Psychological Armor.” Its makes the soldier feel like they have conquered the fear of death. It turns the body into a weapon of will.

Thucydides famously noted in the Melian Dialogue that “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must,” reflecting the harsh “Realpolitik” of ancient Greece.

As war became industrialized (artillery, machine guns), the rhetoric shifted from “Glory” to “Horror.”

These times shows us the “historical amnesia” that often occurs when the initial fervor of patriotism meets the reality of the trenches. Generals began to sound like weary butchers rather than heroes.

“War is all hell.” — William Tecumseh Sherman.

“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” (Attributed to Stalin/Kurt Tucholsky).

These quotes strip away the shiny paint of chivalry to reveal the mechanical slaughter underneath.

Another example is Wilfred Owen’s: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (”It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”) “ was framed as an “old lie,” marking a significant cultural shift toward war as a tragedy rather than a noble adventure.

• But war are not just men hold weapons fight each other, there are tactics, strategy, controlling backline. Of course, they all in the war room, and there shall be quotes about it. They aren’t spoken on the battlefield. So, here is a comparison of Carl von Clausewitz vs. Sun Tzu.

- _Clausewitz: "War is the continuation of politics by other means."_(War is a tool of the State).
    
- _Sun Tzu: "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." (War is a failure of strategy).

Clausewitz views war as a “Collision of wills” (Western/Direct), while Sun Tzu views it as a “Game of deception” (Eastern/Fluid).

All things fall down after 1945, war rhetoric entered the realm of the Unthinkable. With this we have the infamous quote of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

_"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."_ (Quoting the Bhagavad Gita).

Here, the quote is not about courage or strategy; it is about Guilt.

It marks the moment where humanity realized it had created weapons that made “war” (in the traditional sense) obsolete, replacing it with “annihilation.”

References

Clausewitz, C. von. (1976). On war (M. Howard & P. Paret, Eds. & Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1832).

Owen, W. (1920). Poems. Chatto & Windus.

Thucydides. (1910). The history of the Peloponnesian War (R. Crawley, Trans.). J. M. Dent & Sons.

Winik, J. (2001). April 1865: The month that saved America. HarperCollins.

Cartledge, P. (2002). The Spartans: The world of the warrior-heroes of ancient Greece. Overlook Press.

Foote, S. (1958). The Civil War: A narrative. Random House.

Sun Tzu. (1963). The art of war (S. B. Griffith, Trans.). Oxford University Press.

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Where classic horror often focuses on clear threats—a ghost, a killer, a demon—and fantasy tends to build coherent secondary worlds with knowable magic systems, weird fiction aims at a different emotional target. Writers like China Miéville describe it as the sense that ordinary reality has been ruptured by an intrusion from “beyond,” something that cannot be fully understood or domesticated within our usual categories (Miéville, 2009). Mark Fisher argues that the weird is defined by the presence of something that should not exist in our world but undeniably does; it produces a feeling of ontological discomfort rather than just shock or suspense (Fisher, 2017).

This difference shows up clearly in how weird fiction handles the supernatural. Traditional horror often reuses familiar figures—vampires, ghosts, zombies—with established rules and weaknesses. Fantasy offers dragons, elves, gods, and spellbooks that readers can gradually learn to navigate. Weird fiction, by contrast, tends to avoid stock monsters or twist them into something unrecognizable. H. P. Lovecraft’s cosmic entities, Jeff VanderMeer’s mutating ecosystems, or nameless “things” that defy description are typical examples: they are alien not only in form, but in logic (Joshi, 1990; VanderMeer & VanderMeer, 2012). The point is not simply that they are dangerous, but that they do not fit any existing myth or framework. Because of this, knowledge itself is often dangerous or incomplete; the more characters learn, the more they realise how small and fragile the human viewpoint really is.

The relationship to reality is also distinct. Many fantasy stories invite us into a fully separate world; we cross a portal and leave our own reality behind. Weird fiction usually starts in a recognisable version of our world and then lets something impossible seep in—a color, a fungus, a building, a god. Everyday life is not abandoned; it is contaminated. Critics often describe weird fiction as speculative writing in which the familiar is disrupted by an intrusion from the outside, rather than by an internal, rule-based magic (Miéville, 2009; Cisco, 2022). This is why a weird story often continues to bother the reader after it ends: it suggests that this reality might already be unstable.

On the level of form and plotting, weird tales frequently reject neat resolutions. S. T. Joshi notes that the classic weird tale is driven less by jump scares and more by “cosmic fear” and metaphysical unease (Joshi, 1990). Explanations are partial, contradictory, or withheld; narrators might be unreliable or traumatized; endings often leave readers with ambiguity rather than closure. Where conventional horror might end with the monster defeated or resurgent, weird fiction is comfortable ending with a question, or with the feeling that something vast has been glimpsed and cannot be fully expressed.

For these reasons, many critics treat weird fiction as a hybrid, boundary-breaking mode rather than a tidy shelf category. It stitches together horror’s dread, fantasy’s estrangement, and science fiction’s speculative reach, but bends them toward a singular purpose: to destabilise our trust in reality itself (Corstorphine, as cited in Kopievsky, 2022; VanderMeer & VanderMeer, 2012). Other genres may frighten us, delight us, or transport us; weird fiction does something stranger. It leaves us with the uneasy suspicion that the world we thought we knew has cracks—and that something from the outside might already be looking back through them.

References

Cisco, M. (2022). Weird fiction: A genre study. Palgrave Macmillan.

Corstorphine, K. (quoted in Kopievsky, M.). (2022, July 1). What in the Weird?: A deep dive into weird fiction. Retrieved from mikhaeylakopievsky.com

Fisher, M. (2017). The weird and the eerie. Repeater Books.

Joshi, S. T. (1990). The weird tale. University of Texas Press.

Miéville, C. (2009). Weird fiction. In M. Bould, A. M. Butler, A. Roberts, & S. Vint (Eds.), The Routledge companion to science fiction (pp. 510–515). Routledge.

VanderMeer, J., & VanderMeer, A. (2012). The weird: A compendium of strange and dark stories (Introduction). Tor.

Weird fiction. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_fiction

At some point, that I don’t remember clearly but I heard that monsters is the reflection of humankind fear. That fear can be the fear of environments, death, ... and even society too. That counts in Zombie and Vampire too.

So, what does the Zombie will represents if it reflects a fear?

I think it will represents the Loss of Individuality (or the Mob) and the Collapse of Systems.

1st, they represent contagion—the fear that your neighbor is “infected” and dangerous (e.g., 28 Days Later, World War Z).

2nd, they represent the Mob. The “shambling mob” reflects a fear of the de-individualized masses—whether that be the “unwashed poor,” political rioters, or consumerism.

We fear becoming them.

We fear that we will be strip away ourselves and become a mindless part of a whole.

Zombie film narratives focus heavily on the failure of infrastructure—empty grocery stores, failed communications, and the lack of government protection, touching our fear of our convenient system collapse.

In George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), zombies wander a shopping mall, this, I think, serving as a satire of Mindless Consumerism.

In somewhat of a sense, a zombie is a human stripped of soul, intellect, and name, reduced to a biological appetite. They do not speak; they swarm.

According to my research, zombies tend to trend during times of Social Instability (wars, riots, recessions) where people feel the system is breaking down and survival is the only goal.

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If Zombie represent the Loss of Individuality (or the Mob) and the Collapse of Systems then what does the Vamp represents? The answer is Hyper-Individuality and Predatory Power.

These guys are usually rich, rights? They are charming, well-dressed, and lives in a castle or penthouse. They are the 1%.

These guys literally eat the poor, not in metaphor, eat them to maintain their lives.

They represent the Aristocracy (Dracula was a Count). The fear is not that the system is breaking (like Zombies), but that the system is rigged by powerful people who view us as cattle.

Also, unlike the rotting zombie, the vampire is seductive. The “bite” is often a metaphor for forbidden sex, addiction, or the transmission of “deviant” desires (e.g., True Blood, Twilight) that reflects societal anxieties regarding sexual health, infidelity, and the blurring of traditional moral boundaries.

In times of High Inequality but relative stability, where the fear is about the abuse of power rather than the total loss of order, vampires tend to trend in them.

Some theorists propose that we should have a “Monster Index” with the economy. Well, its really depends but here is an example:

- The Bull Market (Vampires): When the economy is booming but unequal, we fetishize the Vampire (wealth, eternal youth, consumption). We want to _be_ them, or we fear their power.

- The Bear Market (Zombies): When the economy crashes and society feels fragile, we turn to the Zombie. The fantasy shifts to “Survivalism.” We stop caring about velvet coats and start caring about stocking canned food and ammo. The fear is that the “bottom” of society will rise up and swallow us.

References

Haynes, H. (2014, May 19). The zombie economy. _The Chronicle of Higher Education_.

Moretti, F. (1982). The dialectic of fear. _New Left Review_, _(136)_, 67–85.

Auerbach, N. (1995). _Our vampires, ourselves_. University of Chicago Press.

Bishop, K. W. (2010). _American zombie gothic: The rise and fall (and rise) of the walking dead in popular culture_. McFarland & Company.

Boon, K. A. (2007). _Ontological wreckage: Zombies and the nihilism of the modern world_. In S. McIntosh & M. Leverette (Eds.), _Zombie culture: Autopsies of the living dead_. Scarecrow Press.

Moretti, F. (1983). _Signs taken for wonders: On the sociology of literary forms_. Verso.

Newitz, A. (2006). _Pretend we’re dead: Capitalist monsters in American pop culture_. Duke University Press.

To understand why Folk Horror is scary, one must understand its mechanism. Compared to Traditional horror (darkness, shadows, jump scares), Folk Horror relies on the Fear of the Inescapable. By using elements of Folklore to invoke fear and foreboding, it creates an atmosphere that feels incredibly suffocating even in broad daylight.

For example, we can look at Midsommar. In Midsommar, the sun virtually never sets. The horror happen right in front of our eyes, in bright, saturated daylight.

Usually, in darkness, you feel safe because it create a veil that you can hide in it. This is not the case with Folk Horror. In total daylight, you are exposed. The “monster” (the cult) isn’t hiding anywhere; they standing right in front of you, smiling. This creates a sense of exposure and exhaustion.

It makes you feel the night is endless.

There is no dawn to wait.

Dawn will not come.

The sunlight does not represent safety; instead, it acts as a spotlight, ensuring that the “sacrifice” or the victim cannot retreat into the shadows.

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Another element that no less scarier is the environment. In Folk Horror, the environment is not just a backdrop; it is a hungry god. In The Weird and The Eerie, Mark Fisher said: the landscape feels like it has “Agency.” The wind, the trees, and the crops seem to be watching.

Humans usually see themselves as masters of nature.

In Folk Horror, nature said Nah.

It literally reminds us that Nature is indifferent to human morality.

To the land, a human sacrifice is just fertilizer.

The horror comes from here. The realization that the “laws of nature” (eat or be eaten) are stronger than the “laws of civilization” (human rights). The contrast between a serene, natural environment and a brutal human ritual creates “cognitive dissonance,” where the brain struggles to reconcile the visual beauty with the moral horror occurring within it.

Last but not least, the communities. These stories often take place in rural, isolated communities where the geography itself acts as a prison. The fear doesn’t come from a “monster” but from Groupthink.

The problems is that in this case, the communities usually thinks they are good guys. Like in The Wicker Man, the islanders believe burning a man alive is a virtuous, necessary act of love for their crops.

There is nowhere to run

There is nowhere to hide

No escape.

This terrifies us because it attacks our definition of sanity.

You see the smiling faces of your captors clearly.

Whichhhhhhh is often more terrifying than a monster in the dark because it represents a total betrayal of human social contracts.

At the end of the day, Folk Horror strips the viewer of their usual defense mechanisms. It proves that, even on day, the horror still can manifest itself in front of our eyes.

References

Cowdell, P. (2019). _Folk Horror: Hours dreadful and things strange_. University of Wales Press.

Hutchings, P. (2004). _The horror film_. Routledge.

Macfarlane, R. (2015). _The eerie of the English landscape_. The Guardian.

Newland, C. (2016). _Folk Horror: A guide to the cinema of the eerie_. BFI.

Scovell, A. (2017). _Folk Horror: Hours dreadful and things strange_. Auteur Publishing.

Fisher, M. (2016). _The weird and the eerie_. Repeater Books.

Scovell, A. (2017). _Folk horror: Hours dreadful and things strange_. Auteur Publishing.

Paciorek, A. (2018). _Folk horror: Revival strivings_. Wyrd Harvest Press.

Tempura is not originally a Japanese word. It is a localization of the Latin phrase used by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries called Quatuor Tempora, means “The 4 Seasons” or “Ember Days” - specific periods of fasting at the beginning of each of the 4 seasons. During these days, Catholics were forbidden from eating meat. However, they were allowed to eat vegetables and seafood!

So, what do these sailors and missionaries do... ?

They deep-fried them.

In a thick batter.

When the locals asked the missionaries what they were eating during these days, they answered that in these “Tempora”, they eat deep fried veg/seafood and at some point, the Japanese converted it to Tempura. There are other theories but this one is the most historically supported.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1543, Japan usually not deep-frying with batter. In fact, the fried were not on the menu. At that time, most food was grilled (yakimono), simmered (nimono), or eaten raw (sashimi). Oil was expensive and used mostly for lamps, not cooking. Through a dish call Peixinhos da Horta (”Little Fish of the Garden”), the missionaries introduced 2 things:

- Deep-fried techniques: The use of large amounts of oil to achieve a crisp texture.

- Thick wheat based batter: A departure from traditional rice-based starches

The Japanese decided to adopt these things and twist them a little bit. While the Portuguese batter was heavy, the Japanese one are lighter and more refined to preserve the texture.

At first, this dish was considered a “Barbaric Dish” (Nanban Ryori). It was oily and heavy, contrast to the light and elegant cuisine in Kyoto. So the dish was initially sold at stalls (yatai) as a cheap snack for commoners in Edo (Tokyo). Overtime, it was elevated from a snack to a high-level dish.

Some of the earliest Tempura stalls was in the early 17th century. It has been a long time since then ,so nowadays, most of the world think of Tempura as purely Japanese.

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References

Ishige, N. (2001). _The history and culture of Japanese food_. Kegan Paul.

Morieda, T. (2010). The unexpected origins of Japanese food. _Nippon.com_.

Rath, E. C. (2010). _Food and fantasy in early modern Japan_. University of California Press.

Itoh, M. (2013). _The deep-fried history of tempura_. The Japan Times.

Morieda, T. (2000). _The genealogy of tempura_. Kikkoman Food Culture Research Center.

Rath, E. C. (2010). _Food and fantasy in early modern Japan_. University of California Press.

Takeuchi, M. (2021). _The global history of Japanese food_. Routledge.

Weiner, L. (2004). _The Portuguese contribution to Japanese cuisine_. Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies, 4(3), 101-103.

Different from clinical amnesia, it is a socio-political phenomenon where a community “forgets” parts of its past.

There are different way that this phenomenon shows itself in our society.

There is Damnatio Memoriae. This term mean “condemnation of memory”. In Ancient Rome, if an Emperor (like Domitian) was hated, the Senate would vote to erase him from history. So, what do they do? They smashed statues , they chiseled off his name on stone inscriptions, and coins bearing his face were melted down. This act, it wasn’t just to kill the man, it was to kill the idea of him. This is somewhat like political myth making, where governments may actively overwrite difficult histories with “heroic narratives” to foster national unity or legitimacy.

In George Orwell 1984 , the “Ministry of Truth” does the exactly this. They put inconvenient documents down the “Memory Hole” to incinerate them.

With digital age, we step into the era of continuous information generation. This is when historic amnesia manifest itself as a side effect of Entropy. The problem with modern info is that is very fragile. The data are being generated daily, but the storage media degrade faster than parchment. This is called “Bit Rot.” As file formats become obsolete (try opening a WordPerfect file from 1990) and links break (”Link Rot”), vast swathes of our cultural history are quietly vanishing.

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The danger of this phenomenon lies in its ability to distort the present. “A society with Historical Amnesia has no ‘immune system’”. Its like if you forgot a past war, you are doomed to repeat it. Furthermore, it isolates these whose histories have been erased, create a rift between different groups.

The storm in Reverse: 1999 conjure a horror with this phenomenon: you aren’t just dying; it’s the fact that nobody remembers you died. The tragedy is the total loss of meaning.

References

Hedrick, C. W. (2000). _History and silence: Purge and rehabilitation of memory in late antiquity_. University of Texas Press.

Jacoby, R. (1975). _Social amnesia: A critique of contemporary psychology_. Beacon Press.

Orwell, G. (1949). _1984_. Secker & Warburg.

UNESCO. (2003). _Charter on the preservation of digital heritage_.

Assmann, J. (2011). _Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination_. Cambridge University Press.

Golsan, R. J. (2017). _Vichy’s afterlife: History and counter-history in postwar France_. University of Nebraska Press.

Lowenthal, D. (2015). _The past is a foreign country - revisited_. Cambridge University Press.

Ricoeur, P. (2004). _Memory, history, forgetting_ (K. Blamey & D. Pellauer, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.

Schacter, D. L. (2001). _The seven sins of memory: How the mind forgets and remembers_. Houghton Mifflin.

But 1st, what is 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

2nd Law for short, is 1 of the Laws of Thermodynamics, originally formulated by William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Rudolf Clausius. A simple example for this law is: Time “moves forward” because cups break but don’t unbreak.

The reason I talk about this law is that in the game Reverse 1999, there is a phenomenon that is the main theme of this whole game. It’s the Storm.

In the game, the “Storm” reverses the constant flow of time, rain falls upward, buildings un-collapse. Basically, it “siphons history backward”.

In this case, The Storm can be viewed as an aggressive force of Negentropy (Negative-Entropy). So, it’s not “erasing” history in a messy way, it is “filtering” it through a sieve. However, this act of “filtering” is violent.

This one suggests that “Progress” (forward time) is the natural state of decay (entropy) and to “Reverse” time requires a catastrophic input of energy that destroys reality. It posits that you cannot have turning back without any consequences.

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This interpretation of the Storm also challenge one of the classic time-travel trope: The Grandfather Paradox. Basically, The Grandfather Paradox is if you go back and kill your grandfather, you are never born to go back, so you don’t kill him...

This paradox hath create lots and lots of classics which treats time as a single line that can be “broken” or “branched” (Multiverse). But.., in Reverse: 1999, the Storm does not let you “change” the past; it literally deletes the future of that past. For example, you don’t go back to 1929 to kill Hitler. The Storm happens in 1999, and suddenly 1999 never existed. Then 1980 never existed. Then 1960 and then so on. So there is no paradox because there is no “Present” left to contradict the “Past.” It solves the paradox by Subtraction. You aren’t changing the timeline; you are pruning it. The era is not “altered”; it is “sifted out” completely.

This idea bring us back to entropy in information theory.

When the Storm hits, an era is “siphoned.”

Items, people, and culture from that era dissolve into golden rain. This serves as a metaphor for Historical Amnesia. Entropy is not just heat loss; it is Information Loss. The Storm represents the inevitable decay of human memory. Just as entropy ensures that detailed structures eventually become dust, the Storm ensures that complex history eventually becomes “nothing.” This is the weaponization of the natural fading of history.

P/s: This post is not sponsored

References

- Bluepoch. (2023). _Reverse: 1999_

- Gleick, J. (2011). _The information: A history, a theory, a flood_. Pantheon.

- Hawking, S. (1988). _A brief history of time_. Bantam Books. (For the arrow of time/entropy concepts)

- updated, R. L. last. _What is the grandfather paradox?_ Space. https://www.space.com/grandfather-paradox.html

- Negentropy. (2025). _Wikipedia_. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Negentropy&oldid=1326693031

- Second law of thermodynamics. (2025). Wikipedia_. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_law_of_thermodynamics&oldid=1329720721

Originally, in Hesiod’s Theogony (from 700 BC), Medusa and her sister were born as monsters to ancient sea deities (who in this case are Phorcys and Ceto instead of him being born as humans).

There was no “transformation” in this period.

In this era, Medusa was not a character, she was a symbol used to ward off evil. Her face - with tusks, protruding tongue, and snakes was used on shields and temples to ward off evil. This reflects an Archaic society focused on Survival and Magic. They needed a scary talisman to protect the city, to protect them. They just want her to be there, they weren’t interested in her backstory or her own “feelings”.

The story of the “Beautiful Priestess” raped ( actually he’s written it very vague but modern interpretation said so...) by Poseidon and punished by Athena comes much later.

This one is the most famous one nowadays, and its written by Roman poet Ovid in Metamorphoses (from 8 AD).

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So, Ovid turns a cosmic monster into a human victim. This is not a new things to do, especially for Ovid. He lived under Emperor Augustus reign and often used his work to critique Authoritarian Power. By making her a victim, Ovid highlights the arbitrary cruelty of the ruling class.

=> This reflects a more cynical, urbanized society that was questioning the morality of the gods (and the state), shifting the fear from Nature →Authority.

I think that , the transformation narrative serves a specific sociopolitical function: justifying the suppression of “Old Female Power.” Here, by turning her into monster, her slaughter has been justifies. If she is a monster, the Hero is right to kill her. If she is a victim, the Hero is complicated. This represents the shift of ancient female power to a more patriarchal new power.

This also reflects on the strict laws on female purity and citizenship. A woman’s value was tied to her chastity. Once “broken” (even involuntarily), she became socially monstrous—a danger to the lineage and the polis.

References

- Culham, P. (1997). Decentering the text: The case of Ovid. _Helios_, _24_(2), 161–181.

- Harrison, J. E. (1903). _Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion_. Cambridge University Press.

- Vernant, J.-P. (1991). _Mortals and immortals: Collected essays_ (F. I. Zeitlin, Ed.). Princeton University Press.