Conceptions, Intuition, and Truthiness

The other day the following interesting article came to my attention. It was titled "Would You Wear a Serial Killer's Sweater?" It also asked, and I asked again on Twitter, "Would you fear the volunteer who did put on the sweater?" All sorts of factors surrounding social interactions, concepts of what is real and what isn't, intuition about what's real, among others, come into play in this discussion. This is a different tack toward the same kind of idea being explored here lately. All of them come together to build connections between the characters in a story, the plot, and both the expectations and impact upon the audience of the work. Many narratives carry one singular reality, whether or not it is an exact replication of the real world or something very fantastical and different.

How does the sweater play into this? First it does not matter that it is not actually a serial killer's sweater. The insinuation or claim that it is such is enough on its own. Likewise it does not matter that the item is laundered. It still carries the connotations as if it were still stained with the blood of the killer's victims. The idea makes people nervous and uncomfortable. Its proximity causes anger in some even before the outrageous request for someone to don it. It is a tainted item. Worse, that taint may rub off. Conceptually it is an artefact of evil. Fascination with it, shown by taking the offer to wear it, points to the evil nature of that volunteer. It is something that should be reviled and likely feared. Those not espousing such emotions are questionable. Or so the theory goes.

It is a gut instinct, an emotional response that the sweater is bad. This is the same intuitive sense people have upon learning of a person's criminal record. It is of course worse if the intuiting person is familiar with the exact crime, and hard to look past if it was violent. This all begs the question, which is more important, actual fact, or just perception of the truth of something? That word truthiness, trite as its origins are, and frightening as the concept is, seems to sum up the answer to that question as today's society would answer it. Perception is everything in a large segment of the population. This is something that can and should be capitalised on in fiction. It comes up on this blog more than once for a reason. It is depth well used for characterisation, direct plot, and secondary conflict.

Mood: airy.

Music: The Unforgiven III by Metallica and Inconclusion by Dee Snider.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #7: Psychic Interrogation Techniques

Happy New Year, and welcome to the first Horror on Hump Day of 2008.

Back in part #5 the topic of a psychic as a lie detector came up. There is more to be said on this topic, but also there are other ways that psychic powers can be used in the interrogation of a subject. As with regular interrogating there are questions, and determining the truth from the lies, which carries on up to more questionable methods of information extraction like torture and the myriad forms that that can take, even by conventional methods. Since this is a horror setting it may be more pertinent to focus on the possible torturous applications of psychic abilities. Of course torture comes in two distinct and encompassing formats--physical and psychological. Each of these formats will require the use of different powers as well as a different mental skill set.

The mental skill set required for physical torture is fairly low for the psychic interrogator due to the limited array of applicable powers. The conventional torturer works with different instruments and styles of which money and imagination are the only obstacles. Likewise a psychic cannot design new drugs unless they possess that knowledge. A psychic can use pyrokinesis for the application of fire. A psychic can inflict pain directly or instead of cutting, beating, and pulling out things like teeth and fingernails or can do those via telekinesis. The best, most horrific tortures stem from permanent, unforgettable damages that are only a glance away for the rest of their lives. The downfall of physical torture though is that it affects the heart and can lead to accidental death.

A psychic with powers used for psychological torture techniques can require much more skill and imagination in their interrogations. The options available to such psychics are very open ended. Techniques can include phantom pain--less stressful on the heart--false memories of torments visited upon them, and being trapped in long drawn out nightmare scenarios. There are also subtle, gentler methods, which are not torture and may be just as successful. Beyond straight mind probing for answers there are dreams and hallucinations that make the subject think they are passing the information onto trusted comrades or people who need the data for good purposes. As with all torture and falsity there are moral implications, for those with morals, which leads us to next week's topic.

Mood: refreshed.
Music: Wildest Dreams by Iron Maiden and Prophet of the Last Eclipse by Luca Turilli.

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