03/12/2025

December 2025 marks the 4th anniversary of Live the Questions Now, an outcome of my curious mind and my desire to learn evermore. It is generally accepted that to write anything of value one must be Somebody and whom that Somebody must be lies at the heart of this quandary. Perhaps, this Somebody who is entitled to write and be read is also one who is respected by their peers, by their acquaintances, by society at large and by the circles that judge the quality of one’s content. With that in mind, I am a Nobody writing as I please. This is the foundation upon which Live the Questions Now is built; to convey the realities and illusions of a kind Nobody; to ask the questions that everybody may want to put forth; to try to figure out a path towards the answers; to propel the inherently inquisitive nature of a certain Somebody or a kind Nobody who reads my interviews with renowned artists and individuals working on cultural aspects of humanity. At times, this blend is also sprinkled with literary translations and opinion pieces.

Four years on, I still feel a great impulse to unearth subjects of interest. Those of you who are regularly reading Live the Questions Now may have noticed that I have not been publishing as many articles as I previously did. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I feel that in recent times the objective of this project has been completely misunderstood, and I find it necessary to clarify a few points about Live the Questions Now. This is not a platform for advertising new or upcoming titles, albums, or exhibitions. On the contrary, it is a platform for debate and critique, broadening horizons and rioting against mainstream media. I receive advertising revenue neither from the daily management of the blog nor from those who agree to participate in this project. I do not request or receive donations; I do not display ads or engage in affiliate marketing. I am simply writing, and I want to keep on doing so for as long as I live and breathe.

Many have told me, “You could make money from this blog, you should!”

Some have offered to pay me to have their content published.

Some have told me that they do not have faith in the work if they don’t pay for it.

Some have dryly commented, “What a luxury it is to write for oneself.”

I understand the root cause of the castrated vision of the world that these ideas harbour, I do not personally agree with them.

Here are the reasons why I choose not to avail myself of capital gain from Live the Questions Now.

1. I want to be free to write what I think, feel, and envisage. If I receive advertising value, or invoice individuals, private organisations, or charitable foundations for my writing I will lose autonomy. I will not be able to ask the questions I want to ask which will in return affect the validity of the answers given.

2. I am selective when it comes to choosing my subjects. I do not want to interview or write about any person who crosses my path. I need to feel the itch to write about a subject. Often money does not give me the impulse I require to conduct an interesting interview.

3. It is true that I write for myself and that is how it should be for anyone writing anything. This writing is not for sale; this platform is not a rental property. This may indeed be considered a luxury by those who are writing for others in exchange for money. In my opinion, writing is a personal mental and emotional exercise. There are times when I wonder if this is truly a luxury or an addiction that kills you slowly. Living a life in pursuit of shared truths is not an effortless mission, especially in a world of lies and deceit.

4. I would rather not publish anything than publish lies. So, if someone cannot trust the quality and integrity of my work because they are not paying me for it, that naturally makes them complicit in the lies that we are told. Money does not bring about truth. On the contrary, it always conceals it.

Why is the truth so important to me? Why is it so important to get to the core of things? Why do I spend my days wondering about the genuineness of the works that I read, translate or edit? Are people interested in the truth? The preferences of others have never posed as an obstacle for me to make my own choices in life, and that is only fair towards me.

 I’ve always struggled in writing for mainstream media either because of wordcount limits imposed by editors, or for my sheer enthusiasm for proposing a different opinion on a contemporary subject or person. I have learnt not to take events and people on face value. Most of the time there’s a backstory to what you read or hear, and most often, people are not who they seem to be in the public eye. On a number of occasions, I have encountered renowned individuals with serious mental health issues and played my part in covering up their true personality and identity. This is by no means a #MeToo revelation. Insecure, egotistical, capricious, reality-twisting individuals who are highly respected in society manage to hold on to their positions of power through psychopathic practices. And although there are many of these characters in our contemporary political sphere, in this particular instance I am not referring to any political leaders but what the new media like to call, “cultural producers” i.e. writers, artists, musicians.

Visitors of Live the Questions Now who know how to read between the lines, can extract clues about the truths of the persons I have interviewed to-date. You may have noticed that I haven’t published as many interviews in 2025. I also feel obliged to reveal the reasons behind this because I feel an admission of guilt may help alleviate the torment that has haunted me since February 2025 when I was given an ultimatum by an interviewee to alter my writing or be taken to court; simply because I took the truth from the lion’s mouth and the lion didn’t like it. Dear truth grinds important people more than the common person: the former have much more to lose. To my knowledge, the unethical practices of this thuggish person has served them well all their life. A person of power is one who dabbles in both political and artistic circles. Through the union they establish between the two spheres they become untouchable and if you reveal to them the truth you know about them, you per force become persona non grata in both circles. This is not the first time I have become “unwelcome,” and it surely won’t be the last time. In Turkish we have a phrase, “Doğru söyleyeni dokuz köyden kovarlar” which literally translates as “The person who speaks the truth is chased away from nine villages,” or in plain English, “If you speak the truth have a foot in the stirrup.” It is necessary to speak the truth.

Faced with such an order to alter my writing to their benefit, I opted to bury the piece on which I toiled for weeks, not just writing but also travelling long-distance. This meant that I was being gagged, I was forced to suppress the truth. I had become complicit in preserving their fake image. I am a person of integrity, and it has been hard for me to swallow this. In the process I lost the friendship of a close colleague who tried to make me believe that what I had misunderstood or misheard what the lion told me. Of course I knew that you can't be friends with a colleague but she was so friendly that I believed she was my friend. I felt an insurmountable sense of shame and for months on end, I have been feeling the debilitating weight of this event on my conscience. If I had called this individual’s bluff, I may have had a chance at winning the potential court case but knowing how unfairly independent journalists are judged by the so-called system, the case would have dragged on for years, and other powers would get involved to gag me yet again. Hear me shout: Shame on those who bully journalists. Shame on those who want to use us to advertise their constructs and products. Shame on those who treat us as if we are desperate to take a bite of the cake they have treacherously brought to the table.

I wonder how many journalists have suppressed news for reasons other than the welfare of society since 1914 when Walter Williams outlined the ethical principles and responsibilities of journalists in The Journalist's Creed. I never thought I for one would be one to do so. If I hadn’t published this article – my admission of guilt – you would have never known about it. I cannot live with a guilty conscience. I have to come clean. We live in a world where intellect is solely dedicated to the creation of product and knowledge is intentionally moulded according to interest, it is bastardised and corrupted. As I take steps to work through this dismaying incident, I try to find some solace in the idea that the truth will out. Perhaps one day soon we’ll hear about a movement against the individual who managed to silence me and many others like me.

Meanwhile, I would like to inform you that I have made myself a promise. I will not be conducting interviews with persons I have not thoroughly “vetted,” irrespective of how highly regarded they are by others in whom I place my trust. Through this sour experience, I have learnt that not everyone understands the role of a journalist, or the rules of journalism.

On the other hand, I would like to take this opportunity to thank once again all those with whom I conducted some of the sincerest and most open interviews of my life to-date. They have been accommodating with even the hardest questions, and often most generous with their answers. Thank you for supporting my passion in pursuit of the truth.

I will now be taking some time for research but moving on, 2026 will be a year in which I will be primarily focusing on opinion pieces on current social and political affairs as well as arts and culture. I may also surprise you with a few literary translations.

Dear reader, I ultimately invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and dilemmas with me. I’ve always written letters to family and friends and hold an archive of years of written exchanges in various formats. If you take a step towards me, I’ll take a step towards you, and we can meet in the middle of the distance that keeps us apart. We can be Nobody together on a platform free from advertising.

Be love, be safe. Live the Questions Now.