DMB Digest: "Stop looking at me, swan!"
Please note: I don't condone the behavior demonstrated in the movie I just quoted.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable are you with the expression of thoughts, ideas, and practices you don’t agree with? How uncomfortable are you with the previous statement? Wait! Don’t go. I promise I won’t ask you to share any deep, dark fears. I promise I won’t share any of mine either. Trust me, that’s the last thing we want.
If only I were afraid of clowns or public speaking…
Anywho, where was I? Oh yes, the public expression of disagreement. I grew up in a confrontational family. We deployed debate and argument as a form of affection. Well, not so much my dad, but the rest of us fully embraced it. To tell a family member they were an idiot or had just said the stupidest thing you had ever heard was the equivalent of playing cards after dinner or watching a movie together. Sometimes we did those things too, but never without featured comments like, “Wow, that was stupid,” or “I can’t believe he just did that,” or “I’ll make you rue the day!”
Good times. But as a result, I must accept the likelihood I am more fond of disagreement than many. And over the decades, I’ve had to work on being able to disagree with others in a more tactful and kindly manner. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard” doesn’t typically go over very well in conversation. Not these days. Not ever. And while I think most people are NOT comfortable with disagreement of any kind in their neighborly conversations, I do think most people are quite accepting of disagreement in their creative content consumption. You know, in the books they read, the songs they listen to, and the movies they watch. (As an example, I watch plenty of movies that include killing people, even though I personally don’t believe it’s appropriate to go around killing people.)
I know, I know, some media types and infotainers contend none of us can tolerate anything of contrast to our beliefs in anything we consume. Most often, this argument is made in reference to religious beliefs and the protection of our children. We can all hear Mrs. Reverend Lovejoy cry out, “Will someone please think of the children!?” Personally, I think this is almost always clickbait. And that’s the problem with social media journalism.
Immediately after my post last week about how beloved Taylor Swift is by everyone, I caught whiff via my podcast feed that conservative evangelicals were up in arms over Taylor’s references to Christianity in her latest album releases.
I say, “Really? I mean, are they really?” Smells like BS to me. First off, it’s music. One of my favorite songs by Uncle Tupelo goes as follows:
Persuaded, paraded, inebriated, and down
Still aware of everything life carries on without
'Cause there's one too many faces with dollar sign smiles
Gotta find the shortest path to the bar for a while
A long way from happiness
In a three hour away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now
Not forever, just for now
There's a trouble around, it's never far away
The same trouble's been around for a life and a day
I can't forget the sound, 'cause it's here to stay
The sound of people chasing money and money getting away
A long way from happiness
In a three hour away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now
Not forever, just for now
In between the dirt and disgust there must be
Some air to breathe and something to believe
“Liquor and Guns” the sign says quite plain
Somehow life goes on in a place so insane
A long way from happiness
In a three hour away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now
Not forever, just for now
Do I love this song because I agree with it’s theology? No. I love it because it’s real. I’ve felt this way. I know other people feel this way. Many people refuse to admit it, or to express it so honestly. People are smart enough to know that artistic expression is just that. It’s poetry and imagery and emotion. Not theology.
Secondly, this is just how the news cycle works these days. Gotta get clicks. Gotta stir it up. And nothing stirs up clicks like a mega star and Jesus. A handful of opportunistic infotainers committed to spoon-feeding conservatives for the coins that come their way via Google Adsense clicks will always smell blood in the water. These folk know their content is tripe. But a few irascible sorts will pick up on it straight away, and the next thing you know, everyone and their laptop is reporting on the tidal wave of conservative outrage.
BS. It just doesn’t add up. No one who listens to Taylor Swift is going to suddenly decide they don’t like her music because she is being transparent. We discussed this last week. The kind of people who would turn on someone for expressing their honest spiritual thoughts via song aren’t listening to Taylor Swift to begin with. I don’t know what they are listening to, in all honesty. But I image it to be nothing but AM talk radio. Maybe the Battle Hymn of the Republic on repeat? The point is, these people would have no clue what Taylor Swift is singing about or even who Taylor Swift is.
So when it is reported that an entire, huge group of people are freaking out over something dumb that I know most people indeed would not freak out about, it makes me pause. Instead of believing all these people are idiots, maybe instead I should believe a small handful of people with an ulterior motive want me to click on their content, truth of the matter be damned.
On the other hand, maybe everyone else is an idiot, and they just need me to tell them, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” I mean, I don’t mind trying it. Still, it just never seems to work.
From the Desk of DMB
Good times. This week I pounded out the central meeting between my protag and his sage thus far. It took three scenes and over 3,500 words (14 pages). I had a few sign posts in mind that helped me navigate through their conservation. But there were also a couple of surprises that popped up. One of them I hadn’t thought of until last night. And I feel sort of dumb that it took me that long. Now that I’ve written it in, it’s pretty obvious it had to be there. I’m fairly certain most readers would have even expected it…if not at least suspected it. Sometimes, I’m the last to figure these things out. But at least I got it on the first draft. Not too shabby. I’m sure there will be plenty I don’t like once I go back over it, but for the time being, I like how it turned out. So far I’m using the pacing and structure of the story to show the internal change in my protag. This meeting will be the hinge point from which everything will pretty visibly change. So, I’m a little trepidatious about how this next week’s worth of writing will go. I don’t have a highly formulated idea of just what form the story will take just yet. I know what effect I want it to have on the reader, so I’m planning on working with that!
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[Click here to start at the beginning.]
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