A KNIFE PARTY EXCLUSIVE! - CAVIAR

CAVIAR, written in the second year of the pandemic, arose from a number of anxieties. I was disturbed by the increasingly blurred line between facts and misinformation. Particularly disquieting was the emergence of deepfakes—even now, recordings can be modified or manufactured by anyone with the technical knowledge to do so. While a careful observer can usually tell a deepfake from an authentic recording, this will not be the case in the future.   A news junkie, I found that the polarization in the mainstream press made it difficult—even impossible—to determine which sources were dedicated to unbiased reporting, and which were beholden to political or corporate interests. It is commonly observed that our new media landscape creates echo chambers, ideological bubbles containing their own ecosystem of stories, worldviews, and data incompatible with those outside of this environment.   Western civilization is approaching a point at which our shared narratives break down. Soon, no fact will be verifiable. CAVIAR is designed not to expedite this catastrophe, but to warn of its arrival.   CAVIAR is also a weapon. It is satire, and satire should be dangerous. Like Dr. Strangelove or “A Modest Proposal,” its goal is to provoke and disturb, employing jet-black humor to call attention to very real horrors—horrors that bad actors, elected and otherwise, would prefer to remain unspoken.   The terms “conspiracy theory” and “misinformation” have experienced a broadening of their definitions in recent years. The conspiracy theorist was once seen as a crackpot, and relegated to the fringes of American politics. Now, figures on both sides of the political aisle apply these epithets to their opponents. While the goal may be to delegitimize the figures and views with which one disagrees, the widespread use of these terms has effectively diluted their power—leading many to reconsider ideas they once dismissed.   Orwell called politics “a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.” CAVIAR uses the language of conspiracy theory and misinformation to highlight the abuses performed by those in authority. Its outlandish story is an amalgam of historical fact, wild speculation, and outright fiction—it exaggerates the “lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia” that make up our politics, and exposes them to sunlight. Our goal is to tell a unique and compelling story about the unreliability of official narratives, and to protest the erosion of civil liberties across the world.