So What Is the Moral of This Story?
The Netflix series “The Club” brought the events of 6–7 September 1955 and the experiences of Istanbul’s non-Muslims back onto the agenda. The author asks what moral should be drawn from this story today.
Topic
Life Stories
Essays, stories, portraits and testimonies: the human stories behind security and migration.
- Articles
- 44
- Series
- 4
- Formats
- 4
Essay · Life Stories
Noble and Base: A Brief Look at the Phenomenon of Banditry
To some, the bandit is a folk hero resisting injustice; to others, a brigand who harms the people. The article offers a brief look at banditry through history, sociology and literature.
The Banality and Normalisation of Victimhood
As the state’s mistreatment of a group becomes ordinary, society grows inured to victimhood. The author questions the process that leads from individual trauma to collective victimhood.
The Collapse of Public Morality: From Yeşilçam Films to Mafia Series
From Yeşilçam stories that rewarded the good to mafia series that glorify violence. The author questions the screen’s effect on public morality.
The Victim
Every story of victimisation based on names, identities and beliefs hides humanity’s ancient weaknesses: envy, arrogance, anger, hatred. An essay on victimhood.
Dear Diary
On his birthday, a young man asks his father for only one thing: to join the party’s youth organisation. The war veteran father’s answer is short and firm. A diary story about youth under totalitarian regimes.
We Are All in the Same Squid Game
Squid Game reached more than 111 million people in its first month. The author adapts the series’ dystopian world to our own social reality through “the managers and game masters”.
Navê Te Çi Ye Zarok? What Is Your Name, Child?
People fleeing Şırnak before the curfew in March 2016, and a child met at a checkpoint. “Navê te çi ye zarok?” What is your name, child? A testimony.
What Should a Person Fear?
We fear rulers with a dictator's soul, yet we do not fear failing to live up to what being human demands. The author questions where fear comes from and how power is wielded without restraint.
The Banality of Fear
Fear wounds the heart of the individual and breeds submission in society. The author questions how the culture of fear has become banal and the damage it does to individuals.
Intellectual Capacity (3) Diagnosis and Proposed Solutions
The remedy against disinformation and deliberate ignorance is quality education and quality reading. The final part of the Intellectual Capacity series makes the diagnosis and gathers the proposed solutions.
Intellectual Capacity (2) The Questioning Society and the Government’s Report Card
Incompetent rulers find no place for themselves in questioning societies. The second part of the Intellectual Capacity series looks at the questioning society and the government's report card.
Intellectual Capacity (1) Our Intellectual Capacity, Mown Down for Years
The aim of science is to improve life, but some governments use the social sciences for their own agendas. The first part of the Intellectual Capacity series describes how the individual's intellectual capacity has been mown down.
The Trees Know the Killer… Do We?
In the 1960s a polygraph expert claimed that plants react to human thoughts. Starting from this experiment, the author questions society's ability to recognise and remember evil.
Fathers and Daughters
A newly married couple promise not to open the door to anyone on their first day. But when the bride's parents come, the door is opened. An essay on the bond between fathers and their daughters.
