The Swedish Sex Bomb (LSD, #7)

Extra: Welcome To The PleasureDome

Welcome To The PleasureDome

I'm no longer #5, The Runner of the LSD.

#5, The Runner, is dead.

After my adventures in Sweden, I had one favour left: Malik explained to me how I could become a writer: "Quotably, Juan Carlos Onetti said: «literature is the art of lying truthfully». As every word you write is true, Sami, you don't have to bother about writing literature.

» Writing is easy. Primarily, the first fifty percent of writing is just plain stubbornness. The art is to start and don't give up until it's finished. Subsequently, the other half of writing is: when it works, it's good. A programmer writes a function, and when the function does what it should do, the writing is good. A scenario writer writes a sitcom, and when the audience laughs, the writing is good. A journalist writes about what happened, and when the reader understands, the writing is good. A novelist writes a thriller, and when the reader cannot put the book down, the writing is good. A poet writes emotions, and when the reader gets that feeling too, the writing is good.

» Initially, after writing my first poem, I went to a publisher. He read it and started to cry. At that moment I knew I was a poet, and that didn't change because he said he'd never in his life read anything worse than my work (except the slogan «BrandiX washing powder removes invisible stains»). The grammar, the word choice, the structure of the sentences, the literary figures, and even the style of the writing have no other value but to support that the writing works. That's the only trick. If your writing reaches the effect you aimed for, you're a writer."

What was the effect I aimed for as a spy?

I wanted to save the world.

The only organizations capable of destroying the world are... governments. To avoid one crazy King or Emperor pushing that button or sending his troops, we invented democracy and the United Nations. The UN helped a lot, but the danger is still there. I worked for a government. Instead of saving the world, I helped Luxembourg to get total power over all the others.

I wanted to protect the good part of humanity against the bad elements.

The problem was in the definition of Good and Bad. I thought Good was what my mother taught me: fight Bad, fight the animal behaviour and the Seven Deadly Sins of gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, wrath and envy, the Darwin style of the Law of the Jungle, that only works for the fittest to survive. Support Human Qualities like tolerance, perseverance, patience, courage, creativity, wisdom and love. The Dante style: the team is always stronger than any individual; it gives the best results for everyone.

Darwin is based on power, on extremes, on animal instincts, on selfishness, on violence and killing and hate.

Dante is based on truth, on balance, on intelligence, on working together for the benefit of everyone, on education and learning and love.

I followed Dante.

I was wrong.

Good and Bad isn't a matter of philosophy.

Good and Bad isn't a matter of quality.

It's all about quantity.

There is only one law, the Universal Law of Good and Bad: Good wins, and Bad loses. In fiction, Good always wins, and in real life, the winner calls himself Good, even if he won, thanks to bad behaviour.

The majority always wins. The majority of humanity feeds on instincts, on being selfish, on defending their own way of life, no matter the consequences, with desires like being the best, doing as little as possible, having more than others, being overweight, making selfies, getting attention instead of giving it, dominating other inferior species, who are not as powerful, violent, and greedy as we are... We chose Hitler democratically and we still choose Presidents who build walls instead of bridges. TV can be an excellent medium for education, but every viewer prefers to watch the channels with sex 'n' drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll. We could find so much satisfaction in helping each other for free, but we have been taught only to move when we get paid for it. We fulfil our divine desires of gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, wrath and envy. Humanity is nothing but animals, dressed in Armani. The evil we're facing is our own apathetic society, and we're all looking for a hero to fight it because we're convinced there's nothing we can do about it ourselves. All we need is an idea: fight apathy with empathy, fight ignorance with education. But fighting bad behaviour is bad behaviour itself. There had to be a better way...