Omnia immunda immundis

The publication of a monograph like this is usually announced with phrases such as “I am excited to share the news of the publication of…”, “I am delighted to announce that…”, and so on. Unfortunately, that is not the case here.

This volume, the most precious fruit of over a decade of research, discussed as a habilitation thesis at the University of Innsbruck, was written and completed during a challenging period of my professional career.

It followed a campaign of blind persecution with racist overtones, stemming from a stalking process of unprecedented violence — a practice now known as ‘callout’, which is common not only on social media, but elsewhere too. One or more people band together to spread vague accusations against an unfortunate victim, with the aim of causing their professional and moral death — sometimes even literal… This involves fabricating lies and passing them off as credible rumours, or simply ‘linking’ distant, irrelevant events in such a way that a skilful montage creates an air of ambiguity. This ambiguity can be enough to destroy a decent person.

What are the motivations? Personal hatred, economic envy, and resentment. There is no need to prove anything — the fantasies in question are laughable nonsense, disconnected from reality, and destined to melt away under the rational scrutiny by a judicial authority.

The most painful aspect of the affair is ‘the treason of the intellectuals’, to quote Julien Benda. Ascetic contemplators of the pure values of art, research, and theoretical knowledge, when called upon to affirm their subservience to power, are ready not only to lend credence to such fantasies, but also to renounce the spirit of truth to which they profess faith in their work as intellectuals. They proclaim to the four winds what they know to be false, thereby making themselves complicit in mystifications that, to quote Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia, originate ‘in the dark realm of ignorance and fanaticism’.