If the Arrow Hasn’t Struck You, Don’t Pretend A Wound

Posted on April 28th, 2016 by Adam-Troy Castro

Originally published on Facebook April 23 2014.

Okay, this one’s going to be just a little bit angry.

It has to do with a cheap trick a couple of you keep pulling.

It never fails. You do this one incredibly stupid, incredibly dishonest, and, yes, incredibly revealing thing all the time.

It’s always in reaction to something I do, and I know you believe you’re acting under provocation, but it’s still incredibly stupid, incredibly dishonest, and incredibly revelatory.

This is how it goes.

As background: I’m a liberal and a Democrat.

And from time to time I post a comment on, or link to a news story about, somebody on the other side of the aisle who has done something objectionable.

Now, I link to a lot of stories about people who have done objectionable things; it amounts to, “Hey, get a load of this jackass.” Not all of them are political. Of those that are political, not all of the offenders are right-wing. But the majority of them are. Given who I am, it would follow.

I post stories of idiots bringing up the birther crap again, idiots wondering if black people weren’t better off during slavery, idiots thinking the Constitution oughta have an amendment guaranteeing the right to beat up gays, idiots denying science at the top of their lungs, guys who think the minimum wage should be zero (with all tips going to the house), idiots who bend their religious dogma to their racism, and so on.

At no point, while posting such stories, do I say, “all Republicans are like this, all right-wingers are like this, all Christians are like this.”

I honestly don’t.

Check it out. I don’t.

In all cases, I point to specific idiots.

And while there are plenty of idiots on that side of the aisle championing these particular extremes, as per the battalion of grinning guys who want to chime in with their various troglodytic opinions about rape — to the point where the stories become repetitive — I, again, do not say, at any point, all of you are like this.

I don’t. I honestly don’t.

Some of the people commenting on my posts might, but I don’t.

But here’s the point that NEVER FAILS.

I post to a story about one of these offenders.

Most recently the grinning baboon who wanted us to know that since the Bible doesn’t mention a public school system, we should abolish public schools and get by with those that you have to join a church and accept daily evangelism to enroll in.

And somebody breaks in to say that in reporting about this guy, I’m making generalizations about all Republicans, or all right wingers, or all Christians.

It never fails. And this accusation is always leveled in angry, or snottily superior terms.

Dumb liberal! Assuming all republicans or right-wingers or Christians are like that!

I say,”But I didn’t –”

— “SURE you weren’t.”

As if by dismissing me you can dismiss the story.

Well, it just happened one time too many.

And I would like to make the following points in response to the most recent offender and to everybody else who might try that tactic on me in the future.

First, a quick look at your own page will often reveal it hip deep in liberal straw men you have erected — so you’re a hypocrite, if so.

Second: If I say “I hate idiots!“ and you make a remark about my lack of tolerance, you are revealing that you consider yourself indicted as an idiot. Similarly, if the mere mention of one of these guys with one of their ignorant, hateful, bigoted opinions, sans generalization, makes you feel that you are being included, then either you know that you HAVE been included, or you need to ask yourself why you feel that you have been.

Third: If you honestly don‘t feel that a guy I jeer represents your opinions, then the appropriate response to me mentioning him is simply to say, “Yes, that guy‘s an idiot.” Nothing wrong with that. I will deeply respect any conservative, any Republican, any Christian, who if he feels the need to respond to one of these stories, says, “That guy doesn’t speak for me.” Simple. Honest. Non-revelatory of any agenda that amounts to fooling yourself. Nothing I feel any need to argue with. Or if you feel you shouldn’t have to do this, because you feel it unnecessary to distance yourself from every single idiot in a world filled with them…then silence works too. Just shrug your shoulders and move on. It’s only your unfailing resentful defensiveness that points to something else, something more invested in positions you claim don’t represent you.

Four: If you want to take the position that these guys don’t represent the way you feel, fine. But remember: these guys don’t exist in a vacuum. The fact that we are now well into double-digits on comments by the pro-rape caucus, just to name one, means that these guys are no longer an anomaly; they are a genuine demographic, a demographic that has in fact become the base. No amount of huffy indignation at others who point it out will make them go away. You don’t like being associated with them, then for God’s sake stop standing with them. Realize it’s well past time you cleaned house.

Five: Failing that, realize that you ARE on their side; you accept their support; you play to them; you tolerate them. Realize that being willing to accept the bigoted, the racist, the homophobic, the deluded, the medieval, and the ignorant as allies, and by reflexively defending them any time anybody like me dares say anything bad about them, you have become their fellow traveler. Your attempt to parlay that into a retaliatory attack on anyone who perceives what they are is self-serving and dishonest. Seriously. Nobody’s fooled.

Tags: Assholes, Life Wisdom, Politics, Republicans | Category Commentary, Life Wisdom, Politics, Sneaky Metaphors

A Scene I’ll Always Remember from a Movie I’ve Forgotten Totally

Posted on April 27th, 2016 by Adam-Troy Castro

Here’s a scene I’ll always remember, from a movie I’ve otherwise forgotten totally.

DISORGANIZED CRIME (1989).

I remembered that it was a heist film. I barely remembered who was in it, other than Fred Gwynne. After some mental digging I was able to put together its clever basic premise: a bunch of professional criminals, previously unknown to each other, are summoned to a small town by a heist planner, who is taken out of commission before they get there. (I falsely remembered that he was an old dude and that he died; on checking, I see that he was played by Corbin Bernsen and that he was taken into custody before speaking to any of them.) So these guys, arriving later, have to figure out what he planned to rob and how he planned to do it.

Clever.

I would not be able to tell you one detail of the big job, even at gunpoint. Not who does what. Not what interpersonal dynamics there are. Nothing.

I remember it was a mildly amusing but not very substantial film.

But this is what will stick in my head forever.

Fred Gwynne plays the oldest member of the gang. He is sullen and all-business. He makes no friends. He has no patience for bullshit. I remember the sense, from his performance alone, that this was a guy who had nothing but a job, and who had been curdled by it.

And this is the scene I recall vividly.

They are discussing details around the table. Gwynne is talking. He falls into a coughing fit. It becomes worse than a coughing fit. It becomes a choking fit. It lasts for almost a minute. The other guys make eye contact with one another. They become worried, then horrified. None of them have any particular affection for this old guy, but in this instant they are human; they care about him being okay.

Then he stops coughing and gets right back to business.

Nobody makes anything of it.

I remember, watching the movie way back then, confidently predicting that this would become an important plot point. Gwynne’s character would die at the end. Or he would become incapacitated in some way, when he was most needed to pull off his part of his job. Or he would explain that he had only six months to live, in some emotional payoff. Something like that. Right?

What I remember is that the movie made absolutely nothing about it. He shows no other signs of infirmity, he doesn’t talk about what happened, nobody asks him, it doesn’t affect the outcome, it doesn’t become a bonding moment between him and the other members of the gang. It’s just there, a grace note, never repeated. And it tells us everything.

I really do wish it was in a more memorable movie. That was good enough to teach me things I needed to know about dropping in character details and then let them do the heavy lifting.

Tags: Disorganized Crime, Fred Gwynne, movie, writing | Category Life Wisdom, Sneaky Metaphors, Writing

What John Varley’s Symbionts Say About Candidates Invoking God

Posted on April 19th, 2016 by Adam-Troy Castro

Tags: God, John Varley, Life Wisdom, Religion, Republicans, Science Fiction | Category Books, Commentary, Life Wisdom, Politics, Science Fiction, Sneaky Metaphors