It's interesting...well, to me...that by cutting back a little on Jake's moralizing and anger, the story's become more open to adding some humor. When I changed why Dion's sitter crapped out on him, Jake popped in by remembering his own crush on a high school quarterback and how silly it made him. It's also made him more confused about Tone's shifts in mood and contradictory actions instead of being pissed off.
I guess I got way carried away with using the story as my soap box, something no writer should ever do...unless he's heavy into philosophy and wants to contemplate the universe, or something. Navel gazer, I am not. I know just enough about that stuff to make me dangerous. I used to like Kierkegaard and his existentialism, but now I think it's because he was somewhat accessible with his parables and metaphors, and he's a bit too geared to religion for my current tastes.
But then, most philosophy is kind of silly to me, these days. Religions are used to control and destroy people, even by the Buddhists, sometimes. So are political philosophies. I'm a screaming liberal, but not to the extent where I want to tell people I don't agree with to shut up. I prefer to know when someone's ideas differ from mine, even if I wind up thinking they're stupid and harmful. Better to have it out in the open where it can be seen than hiding in a shadow festering into a plague.
To me, it doesn't matter if you're left wing or right...if you want to force people to live by your precepts, all you are is a fascist. I don't care how noble your intentions are, fascists need to be fought. And while there are a lot more of those types on the right, the left has its share. Sometimes it's a bit more subtle, like condescendingly telling you you're being childish for supporting this candidate instead of that one, and if you don't stop you'll help the enemy. Like you're too stupid to think for yourself, so I will think for you. Very Orwellian.
Or like going back 20 years to things someone said or did and using that to attack them as a way of forcing them to back down from their current position, never even thinking to acknowledge that people change over time. Proof of that is me -- until 1980 I was a Republican in Texas, but then Ronnie Ray-gun got the nomination and I could see the writing on the GOP's wall that it would soon be the party of Christ. That's when I shifted to Democrat. Things I believed back then would come across as completely contrary to what I believe now, but that doesn't mean I'm a hypocrite; it just means I've grown. And if I can, why can't others?
Well...according to today's political and religious philosophies, you can't unless you think like them...and that's why it's all so silly.
I guess I got way carried away with using the story as my soap box, something no writer should ever do...unless he's heavy into philosophy and wants to contemplate the universe, or something. Navel gazer, I am not. I know just enough about that stuff to make me dangerous. I used to like Kierkegaard and his existentialism, but now I think it's because he was somewhat accessible with his parables and metaphors, and he's a bit too geared to religion for my current tastes.
But then, most philosophy is kind of silly to me, these days. Religions are used to control and destroy people, even by the Buddhists, sometimes. So are political philosophies. I'm a screaming liberal, but not to the extent where I want to tell people I don't agree with to shut up. I prefer to know when someone's ideas differ from mine, even if I wind up thinking they're stupid and harmful. Better to have it out in the open where it can be seen than hiding in a shadow festering into a plague.
To me, it doesn't matter if you're left wing or right...if you want to force people to live by your precepts, all you are is a fascist. I don't care how noble your intentions are, fascists need to be fought. And while there are a lot more of those types on the right, the left has its share. Sometimes it's a bit more subtle, like condescendingly telling you you're being childish for supporting this candidate instead of that one, and if you don't stop you'll help the enemy. Like you're too stupid to think for yourself, so I will think for you. Very Orwellian.
Or like going back 20 years to things someone said or did and using that to attack them as a way of forcing them to back down from their current position, never even thinking to acknowledge that people change over time. Proof of that is me -- until 1980 I was a Republican in Texas, but then Ronnie Ray-gun got the nomination and I could see the writing on the GOP's wall that it would soon be the party of Christ. That's when I shifted to Democrat. Things I believed back then would come across as completely contrary to what I believe now, but that doesn't mean I'm a hypocrite; it just means I've grown. And if I can, why can't others?
Well...according to today's political and religious philosophies, you can't unless you think like them...and that's why it's all so silly.
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