The Illiterati
Any group of people trying to do good will have people who oppose them, even a secret group like ours. You just can’t avoid it. Not everyone wants good things for the world.
As Alfred—Batman’s butler—once said in a phrase that is already worn out and you should never use: “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
So you shouldn’t be surprised that we have a sworn enemy. I think they’ve sworn to be our enemy, but as far as I know we haven’t signed anything allowing them to be our enemy. It’s not a mutual hatred.
Of course, we do oppose the Illiterati. We don’t agree with what they do. Unfortunately we’re not even sure if they are an organization or just an idea that people adopt.
You see, not everyone cares for written words anymore, at least not in book form. They’ll read blog post after blog post, or tweet, or facebook post, but ask them to pick up a book and they unfriend you.
Sure, written words can come in any length and still be powerful, but if people aren’t filling themselves with the classics, they won’t benefit from centuries of human writings that will improve their lives.
The whole body of writing that we have to explore in this day and age is staggering. You could spend your whole life learning from the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
But the Illiterati would prefer you waste your time with addictive social media and games and therefore not stand on the shoulders of said giants. They don’t want you to see what’s going on or understand the world or the human experience.
They just want to suck you dry of anything that they can take from you.
And the more people they influence, the less people will read our words and continue the cycle. It’s an epic struggle of sorts.
We need you to find ways to take people away from the Illiterati. Fascinate them, enthrall them, pull their heart strings. Give them a taste of what writers can do for them, the ways that writers can change their view of life and humanity.
Once they have a taste, they’ll be hungry for more as long as we can keep them away from the clutches of the Illiterati. The more they read, the closer they’ll get to the great classics. And those giants will influence and shape our future until one day we wipe out war and human suffering and the Illiterati will be powerless to stop us.
We’ve been a secret organization for a long time, but we’re out in public now. Learn about us. If you write, join us.
