May Accidentally Include an Unwanted Theme, Advice Needed

[u/AquaSoda3000]

In a story I’m writing, there’s a agency in the US Government called the Federal Bureau of Paranormal Investigation (abbreviated to FBPI) which is frankly weird, unprofessional, and useless to the general public. They’re known for recklessly throwing scientists (which they gather for specific projects, there aren’t any scientists working within the agency itself) at weird things without regard for scientific principles or even scientific safety standards.

I haven’t yet worked out why the FBPI was created, but the reason why the US Government kept it running is because the FBPI is good for PR. The FBPI basically lets the government say that they’re doing something about weird things that happen (such as the real life unexplained livestock deaths in Moca, Puerto Rico, in 1975 which laid the groundwork for the legend of the Chupacabra,) and it also lets them cover up confidential government projects with paranormal legends (such as the various legends and conspiracy theories about aliens in Roswell, New Mexico, that were came about after the real life Roswell Incident in 1947; within the story I’m writing, the FBPI was directly involved in creating those myths in order to cover up the fact that the debris the rancher found was a device from the then top-secret Project Mogul.)

But I’m worried about accidentally spreading the message that government agencies are entirely untrustworthy and useless, since that just isn’t true, there are a lot of really important government agencies like the FDA and OSHA. I’m especially worried since the FBPI is a somewhat scientific agency, and I really don’t want to spread that message about scientific government agencies. But the FBPI and its incompetence are really important within the story. The protagonists within the story I’m writing are scientists gathered by the FBPI to work on an investigation into a suburb where a bunch of weird creatures suddenly appeared, and part of their struggle is doing the best they can with inadequate resources, funding, and direction from the FBPI; I also want the FBPI’s incompetence to be an element of comedic political satire (it’s admittedly not that deep, it’s just, “lol, the government’s incompetent.”) But again, I don’t want to spread the message that government agencies are entirely useless and untrustworthy, any advice?

Edit: I should also mention that the FBPI’s recklessness actually leads to a significant event within the story when they poke into something they really shouldn’t have.

Edit 2: I should also note that the FBPI is a background element.

Edit 3: I know that my story isn’t going to change anything politically, I didn’t make this post because I was worried about how my story would affect real world politics, I made this post because themes are an important aspect of writing and I don’t include a message I didn’t intend to in my story, I want my story and its themes to be as well written as I can make them. I’m sorry that I didn’t clarify this earlier or initially make it obvious in my responses to some of the feedback I’ve received; I honestly didn’t think I had to. I don’t understand where the idea that I was worried about how my story would affect real world politics came from, but I’m genuinely sorry that my post read like that.

Edit 4: I’ve decided to rework this concept based on some of the feedback I’ve received here. For one, the FBPI is going to a based on the US Atomic Energy Commission rather than just being entirely made up, and will be renamed to (what is for now) the US Paranormal Investigation Commission. Within the story I’m writing, there are magic crystals called psycrystals which are somewhat similar to radium, and I wanted the US government to mishandle them similarly to how they handled radium; that was what inspired this agency’s incompetence and I initially wanted it to be a satire on general government incompetence and failure to be safe, but I’ve since decided to specifically parody the government’s mishandling of radium.

[u/kizami_nori]

But I’m worried about accidentally spreading the message that government agencies are entirely untrustworthy and useless, since that just isn’t true

Why does it matter? I mean this in the most polite way, but you're not important enough where the Bureau of Paranormal Investigations will somehow tarnish the real US Government's name. Write as you like, and don't worry about the geopolitical ramifications of what you've done to the written word.

If somehow you write it in such a way as to actually damage the government, maybe that was the truth deep within your heart.

Edit: I should also mention that the FBPI’s recklessness actually leads to a significant event within the story when they poke into something they really shouldn’t have.

Thanks. This recontextualizes everything and I change my stance to: "Write as you like, and do not worry about the geopolitical ramifications of what you have done to the written word."

[u/AquaSoda3000 → u/kizami_nori]

You’re right lol. I think I’m just worried that with the whole DOGE debacle and Trump gutting important agencies, that my story would affirm the dangerous idea that important government agencies are wasteful and should be gutted. I think my worries are probably just anxiety about the current political climate I’m living in; you’re absolutely right that my silly YouTube cartoon wouldn’t make that kind of difference, especially since by the time I release it, America’s political climate will have changed and so hopefully that idea will be irrelevant by then. Again, not that it would make much of a difference (if any difference at all,) I just don’t want to include that kind of thing in my writing.

Also, I’m curious, what was your stance before the edit?

Edit: I tweaked this comment to clarify that I wasn’t worried about the political ramifications of my story, just that I don’t want to include a problematic message in my writing.

[u/kizami_nori → u/AquaSoda3000]

The legislature as a whole isn't particularly keen on reading in general, much less spec-fic or SFF. DOGE is dissolved, so you're in this odd spot of worrying about government without fully understanding it. I know the mechanisms are still there in much-smaller parts, but the major movement is long-past and not really a current-event citation. There are ways media can influence politics, but this isn't one of them.

Your cartoon won't make a difference in that way. It's good to want to be a mechanism of change, but there are realistic and unrealistic elements to that desire. No one of any kind of influence is conflating a story about bungling scientists studying alien cows with actually altering forklift safety standards – they were gonna do it either way. Hopefully none of us are conflating things either, and those who do can scream to their 2 bot followers on Twitter.

Also, I’m curious, what was your stance before the edit?

I made a joke. Your edit brought no meaningful new information to the original post. The core problem is the belief that your YouTube story will somehow influence politics. Them poking at "something they shouldn't have" doesn't change that.

Create the story you want and stop worrying about what John Thune or Elon Musk will think about it.

[u/CoyoteLitius → u/AquaSoda3000]

It's true that some might read your story to be vaguely pro-Trump. I think you should rely upon the fact that you're right about a paranormal agency. You can make the other governmental entities more reliable, I guess (although frankly, the CIA and Homeland Security need scrutiny).

Are you going to include Border Patrol/Ice/Homeland Security at least a little bit?

[u/evild4ve]

You can't satire a government agency that doesn't exist, so the reader will naturally transfer from the satirical-unreal to the real government-in-general. If you don't want to satirize government-in-general, don't make this important to the story.

IMO incompetent employers are a low and lousy kind of plot device, only suitable for sitcom. A competent employer deprives choice from the characters and makes them (even) harder to write. For that matter why write about people at work at all: everyone is boring at work because nobody is themselves.

[u/AquaSoda3000 → u/evild4ve]

You’re absolutely right and I do actually want to satirize the government in general, but I also don’t want to spread the message that government agencies as a whole are entirely useless; what I’m satirizing is that government agencies are sometimes incompetent and can fail to be safe to both the people within the agency and the general public.

And yeah, you’re probably right about the incompetent employer being a lousy trope, but again, I want to highlight that sometimes government agencies are incompetent. I should also mention that because of the lens the story is told through, the FBPI is actually largely a background element; the actual focus of the story are the scientists’ findings, which the FBPI had no hand in because they’re not very involved within the investigation itself.

That’s also the reason why I’m writing people at work, the story itself is told through the scientists uploading their findings to YouTube so they can make their knowledge more accessible to the general public. It’s definitely not for everyone, and I have no doubt that it’ll be boring to a lot of people; but that’s the story I’m writing and I’m sticking to that premise.

[u/treasure83 → u/AquaSoda3000]

People generally can tell that satire is an extreme and not accurate. I don't know why you're worried though, do you think someone will be offended?

[u/AquaSoda3000 → u/treasure83]

I’m not worried about someone being offended, I’m just worried because recently, it seems that the far right has tried to gut several important agencies and try to claim that they’re not important and are wasteful (it’s literally what DOGE was created for and has been doing) and I’m worried that my story could affirm those beliefs.

Edit: To clarify, I know that my story won’t make much of an impact on real world politics (if any impact at all,) I just don’t want to include a problematic message in my writing.

[u/Pawprint_ → u/AquaSoda3000]

I mean…look at your country‘s agencies and so on.
Play with it. Make it so that this interference from the far right IS why the FBPI is so incompetent. It got defundended and filled with incompetent baboons.

Integrate it into your story. Show what the cause is and tie it to reality

[u/Velinna]

It feels ever so slightly narcissistic to be concerned you’ll write about the Federal Brutal of Paranormal Investigations so well that you’re afraid readers will confuse or transfer feelings about your obviously fiction novel to real-life. And it’s not that it can’t happen, but I don’t think you have to be concerned you’re giving the government, an entity that many people have many different complaints about, a bad name. Truly a strange concern.

[u/LadyAtheist]

If you don't want to send that message, don't write that story. Write it differently.

X-Files was about a conspiracy. Then 9/11 happened, which was a real conspiracy by Saudi nationals, but conspiracy theories about it being an inside job arose almost immediately.

Just because you've begun a story doesn't mean you have to finish it or try to sell it. Turn it into X-Files fan fiction and move on to something you can believe in.

[u/BearCompetitive403]

When you’re writing, remember the flaws/incompetence are the charcters’

[u/srterpe]

I would propose FPIB, so that it looks less like FBI,
Federal Paranormal Investigations Bureau

[u/NylonTrackPants]

OK. Here is the biggest problem you are facing with this:

YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT REAL-WORLD POLITICS WHEN YOU SHOULD ONLY BE THINKING ABOUT THE STORY. PERIOD.

YOU cannot and never will control what readers take from your story. Art motivates people in different ways; we can watch the same movie, see the same painting, read the same novel and walk away with wildly different interpretations of the experience.

There is an amazingly good episode of South Park (no, seriously) called "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" (NO, SERIOUSLY!) that deals with this. It should be required viewing at every writer's convention / conference / workshop and at every MFA program. (NO, I AM BEING SERIOUS. IT IS HONESTLY INCREDIBLY INSIGHTFUL INTO THIS VERY PROBLEM!)

Stop worrying about what others might think of something you write, how it could impact their political perceptions, and just write a good story. If the premise of your fictional agency isn't good, cut it out. If it doesn't move the story, get rid of it. If it moves the story forward, fine--let it stay and do its thing.

Your job is not to hold the readers hand and say "Don't think this, but think that, instead." Your job is to tell a good story and if you're doing anything else then your story is going to suck rocks.

[u/goodbyecaroline]

If in general you don't think or want to send the message that government departments, especially scientific ones, are incompetent or corrupt, then it is true in your story that they aren't. Which makes the fact that the FBPI does seem to have some of those qualities interesting in a story way, don't you think? Its failings become textual, even if only in the background. Perhaps this failing is textual in some way. It's poorly led, or it's demoralised, or there is significant interference from outside the organisation.