Lying is a horrible crime

Interview with Umberto Eco, a philosopher and writer, officially dead since 2016. Today in Daily Mass Umberto talks about crimes, work, and his life after death.

Officially you're dead.

(laughs) Yes, yes.

How do you feel with this?

(sighs) I don't know, I didn't know I was dead until 2017. And it very pissed me off.

Well, even if you were dead, we would still have this interview, wouldn't we?

Yes, of course, exactly, everybody's immortal. I have many friends, ghosts, they like me, they joke that I should be with them, instead of my life here.

Why do you think you were announced dead?

Well, basically, as far as I know, my lookalike died, and he was a horrible lookalike, he robbed me from most of my money. He had plastic surgeries done that immitated my face, and it was he who died.

Plastic surgeries are a horrible crime. It's first of all body devastation, but it's also identity theft, and that's a much worse crime. Do you think there's a chance for it to stop?

Yes, I hope so. There are talks that it should be made illegal. But police laughs at people's faces. They are all criminal police. They have plastic surgeries themselves.

Did the announcement of your death influence your life much?

A bit, I got two letters, actually my family got two letters, that passed condolences, and it was in early 2017 and that's how I learnt about it. But nothing changed in my personal or public life, because I don't have a public life, for years now.

You used to be a university professor. 

Yes.

What do you think of the contemporary level of education in schools and universities?

It's appalling, it's horrible. Everywhere they teach lies. The European Union did this, they cancelled all real books and introduced false sciences into curriculums and into public knowledge by media.

Do you like teaching?

I would love to teach these days, but it would be impossible. I don't have the right knowledge. All real knowledge has been cancelled in the world. And I used to love teaching.

How do you perceive the future of the world?

It's gonna be better. (smiles) Much better. This period will end, because all bad things come to an end. And all of the supporters of the current artistic and scientific trends will be punished. Lying is a horrible crime, it is not a meek crime at all.

How would you describe the current period of time and the events of these two last decades if you were teaching about them in history?

Ah, interesting question. (laughs) Ah, I would say, horrible tyranny that spreaded across the universe with the beginning of the 21st century was an igniter for development of its victims, for hard work of its victims, aimed at much more than the comeback of the good past. Aimed at the first... or maybe differently... aimed at the introduction of true beauty which the world had not seen yet. And I would add: the tyranny of lazy thieves was something that will never happen again, because the world will not allow it anymore.

Are you a religious person?

Very much. Very much. It's not about beliefs, I think every normal person believes. But I love religions, they are wonderful cultures. I research them and I practise them.

What do you work on now?

Ah, I was hoping you would ask. (smiles) I am working, have been for many weeks now, on an encyclopedia of... grosis, that's an old English word, unused nowadays. An encyclopedia of fear.

Symbols of fear?

That and more. History of what scares, changes of what scares, false fears, moral fears, moral... well actually, I touch on terrorism, on subject of terrorism, and I describe not only this phenomenon as a crime, but also the... its alternative moral version.

What are your work plans for the future?

Hmm, I don't know. I always work under sudden inspiration. I love to see freedom in my future.

All right, thank you very much.

Thank you.

22 October 2020

Interview no. 5