This post is not political. Some people will say it is, because they have some sincerely held belief that objective reality is political. They think that an assertion of facts that contradict their personal beliefs is a political agenda. Hell, they think that anything that they don’t like is political, because that’s a buzz word they can throw around to case doubt and suspicion on the person who is either asserting a fact or just, you know, believing the words of trained, experienced experts. And by now, you’re wondering what this has to do with roleplaying, and whether I’m drifting out of my lane. Trust me for a moment, we’ll get there.

Willful ignorance is thinking that the untrained common man knows better. They know more about healthy eating than nutritionists. They know more about medicine than doctors. They know more about education than teachers. They know more about climate change than scientists. They know more about healthcare than nurses. They know more about books than librarians. They know more about writing than authors. You get the drift.

Yes, everyone is entitled to an opinion. An opinion isn’t knowledge. It isn’t a sound basis to make policy on. Opinion, no matter how strongly held or forcefully asserted, is not the equal of fact. Someone I met once, years ago, said it best:

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

- Isaac Asimov

Getting to My Point

What I want to talk about today is dark academia. Both the aesthetic and the genre. I have an opinion, a conjecture, not a fact, about why it’s popular. While I cannot speak for everyone, and am not an expert, I can speak to why it appeals to me, and why it’s going to be a running thread through a lot of the modern roleplaying games I have planned over the coming months, possibly the next couple of years.

I’m tired of willfully ignorant people.

That’s it, that’s the blog post! Good night, everybody! Tip your server on the way out!

Okay, seriously, in a highly dysfunctional world that doesn’t respect expertise, and where that rejection of cold, hard facts contributes greatly to why the world sucks, it’s easy to view academia through a romantic lens. Ah, smart people! They’ll solve the mystery! They’ll take down the secret society of evil people who control the world! It’s a form of escapism that promotes the idea that it’s possible to have a world that functions properly.

The aesthetic is cool, too. As I stated in my previous post on cottagecore, I think that during the pandemic lockdown people rediscovered books, and a love of reading, and wanted something simpler. There’s also beautiful Gothic architecture, paintings, and sculpture. Classical music, poetry, gorgeous gardens and landscaping. It’s a soothing environment, or at least I think so. 

Dark Academia also tends to have a distinct lack of technology, or at least a focus away from it. To be able to lose one’s self in a good book without your phone blowing up constantantly. To know that the book will not change; you won’t lose power and need to recharge it, the publisher won’t push some bizarre update, or it won’t get redacted or withdrawn and stop working because of a change in licensing rights, civil rights, or human rights. 

This is the escapism I want. It’s the escapism I, and many other people, need. Best of all, secret societies aside, it’s reasonably achievable with nothing more than a quiet corner and a comfy chair to read in, a classic book, and a lovely cup of tea.

I hope you’re doing well today.