Indoctrination: Not exactly what you might think…

Tags

education, indoctrination, parenting, political theory, politics, psychology, school, sociology

Okay. It’s the school year, so naturally I’ll probably be posting more on politics and social theory than much else. (Sorry, people. It’s not my fault.)

Today, we’re going to talk about indoctrination. (No, don’t say that word, Erin! That’s a nasty word. It’s a dirty word. It’s an ugly word.) Well, maybe not so much as you might think.

Indoctrination is one of those words that people like to throw around in conjunction with the viewpoint that they themselves do not espouse. It’s a way of attempting to scare off debate by using words that, let’s be honest, we don’t really understand (ask two people what political correctness is, for example. You won’t get the same answer from both. I can tell you that much.) It’s one of those words we don’t really understand. It appears very often in correlation with the words “them,” which is another logical fallacy that I’ll be posting on soon. (Who are “them”? Well, that’s a post for another day.)

Let’s look up the word “indoctrination”, shall we?

Here, let’s look at Merriam-Webster Online:

in·doc·tri·nate

verb \in-ˈdäk-trə-ˌnāt\

: to teach (someone) to fully accept the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a particular group and to not consider other ideas, opinions, and beliefs of other groups.

in·doc·tri·nat·ed | in·doc·tri·nat·ing

 

Full Definition of INDOCTRINATE

transitive verb

1

:  to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments :  teach

2

:  to imbue with a usually partisan or sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle.

Okay, there we have three different definitions. Sadly, they all (ultimately) mean the same thing.

(Now there’s radical for you, right?!)

To understand why, we have to go waaaay back. Back to kindergarten, in fact.

Or, further back still; the early days you spent after going home from the hospital with your mom and dad.

Back in those halcyon days, every moment you spent was a learning experience. Even in your mother’s womb, you were learning, from the music you could hear outside, to touch, to the difference between up and down. After you were born, you spent your time learning to recognize mom and dad, siblings, things that made you happy and sad…

You were building up a knowledge base. (Some psychologists use the word syntax, or alternately schema.) You were learning every minute.

When you got older, your parents began to teach you the basics–right from wrong, left from right, opposites, and shapes. Your political beliefs (naive as they were) were the beginnings of what you believe today. The Bible says “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” People have a hard time veering sharply away from all that they’ve been taught their entire lives.

Thus, your parents indoctrinated you. (Nothing against them, personally. All parents do it.)

Then, when you got older, if you were not homeschooled, you started going to a public or a private school. (Unless you live in some states. Then your homeschool was a private school. Yes, that’s how it works in certain states! Homeschools operate as private schools–which is seriously cool.) You had new authorities in your life, new experiences. You began to think in different ways than you did when you were too little to go to school. (You probably don’t remember the change. I don’t. It happens slowly, and unless you have a shocker moment, you’re not likely to remember it at all. Scientific studies have proven it, though.) You were the responsibility of your teachers when you were at school, and subject to their authority. And they (quite unintentionally) impressed their own worldviews on your psyche. If they conflicted with those of your parents, perhaps you didn’t care and were able to somehow reconcile them within your own mind. If you did care, you now had an identity crisis and had to decide which to follow: parent’s worldview, or teacher’s.

Again, you were being indoctrinated. Perhaps re-indoctrinated.

And finally, in high school and college, you came to understand the meaning of the word “indoctrination.” You began to think in new ways, perhaps with new depth. It was a defining moment in your indoctrination (though certainly not the final one, even if you were no longer in your formative years afterward.)

I can’t speak much for after-college experience. I’m still only in my sophomore year. (Sophomore is a fun word. Literally, it means a “wise fool!” Which means that I’m probably not as smart or learned as I’d like to think.)

But anyway, at every level of your life you were indoctrinated. Humanity needs a worldview, its rose- or green- or blue-colored glasses through which it sees the world. Indoctrination is necessary. Think about it. We don’t normally know what to think of someone until we know what their opinions are. We don’t tend to read forward in articles if we realize the writer doesn’t agree with us (shut up, you know you’ve stopped reading at these points; so have I. But mostly only if I was bored as well as objecting. If the writer has a good point to make or makes a fascinating argument, I’ll read on, and I’m certain there are other people who do. But if the writer doesn’t agree with me, I may just deem it not worth my precious time.) And we’re always pushing our viewpoints onto other people. (No objections. And we’re not to be blamed, actually. Most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re doing it!)

And yet, indoctrination is considered a dirty word. Mostly because this is a case where both sides are actually in the right. When they’re accusing the other side of indoctrinating people, they’re right. People on every side indoctrinate others. (Brainwashing, such as happens in Soviet and Communist concentration camps, is an entirely different matter. When I figure out exactly how it’s different, I’ll tell you. I just know that it’s different.)

Seriously. We need to re-think our social theories here.

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Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: Textiles?

Tags

battlefield of the soul, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, healthcare jokes, lord of the rings, politics, selay'uu, sick, star wars, sweaters

“Sherlock, I want my blazer back.”

“Too late, I’ve already experimented on it.”

“Ah-choo!”

It’s kind of odd, I think, how a full-grown man can have such a demure sneeze. Even if he is half Elf. (Full-blooded Elves don’t sneeze, in the first place. And let me tell you, there is nothing more annoying than an immortal hovering around you, solicitously cheerful, when you are sick as a dog. Except bad health care plans.) Almost more amazing is how such a simple, demure, retiring sound can so swiftly attract the attention of Sherlock’s Boswell…

“Sherlock! You shouldn’t have dissolved the blazer in acid, or whatever it was you were doing. Now Obi-Wan has a cold–and from the sound of it, the beginnings of either bronchitis or…” Obi-Wan coughed again. “…possibly pneumonia, or laryngitis. Most likely laryngitis.” John finished.

I had heard enough. Dropping my pen and freezing the screen so nobody could mess up my work, I hurried out of my room and threw my big blue robe around Obi-Wan’s shoulders. The sleeves don’t look quite as long on him as they do on me–his shoulders are broader than mine–but the length is a bit too long for him. The hem of the cloak trails on the ground even when I’m wearing it–it doesn’t just trail, it pools. The fleece lining always comes in handy, in my opinion.

And that’s why at six p.m. last night, I was helping Gaius and John take care of our resident Jedi Master. (It’s also why Battlefield of the Soul has been delayed so long. Sorry…)

A Big Thank You Goes Out To All My Supportive Readers!

Tags

catholocism, christianity, conservatives, controversy, humor, liberal, media bias, moral issues, politics, religion, roman catholic, support, thank you, things not permitted in "polite conversation", visibility

5 likes. 3 follows.

[Update: It is now up to 7 likes. Yay! ^_^]

And this from a blog that normally takes days to get more than one like to a post, let alone comments.

Dare I say, wow?

I really should not be so surprised by this, really. Every time I post on something that people are passionate about, such as religion, the Constitution, and moral and controversial issues, it’s always the same. The world is listening. Erin takes the world by storm. ;-P

The funny thing is, the media says that “no one agrees with the conservative viewpoint”!

What a sell-out! Maybe it’s only the conventional media that disagrees with the conservative viewpoint! 😛

But then, maybe it’s just based on visibility and who shows up where and we’re not seeing the whole picture and the people who disagree with me just don’t want to take the time to comment and tell me so and most conservatives, Catholics, other Christians, and amazing people who you talk to on your blog just like blogging anyway??? 😛

Maybe.

I don’t know.

The point is, every time I post on a controversial or tacit issue, one that’s not considered kosher in “polite conversation” (nyah! :-P), I am completely blown away by the response.

Thanks for caring, y’all. You keep me going. Thank you for supporting me in my feeble attempts to fight the good fight. Keep on praying for me, as I’m praying for you.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

On the Distribution of Information

Tags

authors, characters, information, politics, suspense

Information is an important commodity in any circumstances. Governments pay high prices for it. Businesses hire special people to take it apart and explain it. Sometimes, intelligence agents die for it.

It’s equally important in a novel. More important, even. Think about it. As an author, you’re not really selling paper or ink or glue. You’re selling words, arranged into a work of art. Basically, you’re dealing in information.

As such, you need to know when to be able to release information and when to withhold it.

If you’re writing suspense, you always want to give out as little information as possible. It comes on a need-to-know basis. In fact, that’s true for every story, but more so in suspense than in other genres. You have to be secretive when writing suspense, and you have to be careful not to accidentally foreshadow something that’s going to happen, if you want your readers to not see it coming and actually be surprised.

Writing suspense is challenging.

But writing any sort of fiction can be hard…. It’s hard to keep from spilling out all your nicely-planned backstory at once. But that’s exactly what you can’t afford to do. You have to let on to only a little at a time, keeping your readers interested and wondering, who are these people? what are their motives? what are their goals? until they begin to follow the story for its own sake and the sake of its enactors.

Basically, you want to keep them guessing until they’re hooked.

Have fun withholding information!

Authors Must Take Sides (And a Few Notes on Speaking Out)

Tags

a tale of two cities, author, charles dickens, insanity, long rants, mark twain, politics, rambling musings, story dynamics

It’s true. While much of the population can beat about the bush as far as moral dilemmas and controversies go (though it’s annoying when they do that, I’d rather be attacked ferociously by a troll than see an insipid someone who goes mmm-hmm and tries to agree with everyone on everything!), we of the storytelling subculture must take sides on controversy and then fight our viewpoint.

Why? The answer is wholly expedient… (And also advocated by Saint Paul…) In two words: Lukewarm books.

No one wants to read a lurid story where no one takes a stand for what they believe in, where everyone breaks their moral codes every three seconds, where there are only shades of gray and no black and white whatsoever. Though I admit that it’s difficult to write a good story without gray shades (not without sounding preachy and being too-sweetly allegorical, which I abjure right along with Tolkien, applicability for the win! WHOO!), it also makes no sense for people not to take sides. If people didn’t take sides, there wouldn’t be a conflict.

And as such, the author must take sides, too. An author must write the right and wrong into the story, and to write right and wrong, the author must at least temporarily believe in right and wrong. (I’m all for permanency, myself.)

Though in real life, people who speak out are either told to shut up or are ignored, in fiction people love ’em. Characters who take a stand are characters with charisma, characters who can be leaders. Characters who will carry away the reader with them.

This post has a bonus; a few short notes on standing up for your beliefs and rights in real life. First of all, the most important rule on standing up: It’s okay to be angry and outraged over a severe issue; this is called righteous anger. But while you’re protesting the issue, control it, and definitely don’t show it. People listen to calm and steadfast speaking-out; anger only provokes more anger. (This is true in every context, by the way.)

Second, if you’re speaking out about a controversial topic, one that “nice” (aka tepid and dissembling) people don’t mention in polite conversation, you will most likely be ignored, or blushed at and then ignored. If you’re in the right, people are likely to get angry when you impinge on their comfort zone, so if you see anger, it most likely means that either you’re being obnoxious (which is a big no-no,) or you’re doing something right. So what do the entrenched-in-error people do? They hide their anger so you can’t see that you are doing something right.

Third, you don’t want to go for ad hominem attacks. An ad hominem attack is, basically, attacking someone’s character, rather than respectfully disagreeing with them. This is the worst possible way to go about changing people’s minds, which is basically what you’re trying to do. Forget about politics–this is about people you know every day! This is grassroots. Eventually it’ll get into politics. Change comes about slowly, whatever the current presidential administration may say. (Madame LaFarge makes her point well in A Tale of Two Cities. I rest my case.) So don’t attack people! (You may notice I just made a joke about the continuing goals of the Obama administration, making fun of their plans rather than them directly. This is called Republican humor, and might be taken as an ad hominem attack by oversensitive, besotted liberals… who, sadly, do actually exist… *sob*… 😛 … but it really isn’t. I just humorously disagreed with their goals and ideas, I said nothing about the administration’s actual members, themselves. It may be “off-color humor,” but you’ve got to admit, it isn’t mean humor.) Also, if you libel celebrities, it’s a surefire way to start a war, and that is NOT WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO.

Fourth, if people do get angry over what you’re saying, when they stalk off in a huff, call cheerily after them, “Thanks for the discussion! It was AWESOME!”, “God bless you!”, “Have a great day!” or equivalent. It confuses people, and it’s FUN. It’s called heaping coals of fire on their heads, and it changes minds. It’s also a naughty pleasure for impish Christians.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this post, my mischievousness, my bad political jokes, and whatever else in here that was funny (I probably didn’t intend the last category as humor, but who cares?!) Mark Twain rules. (If you got the Dickens and Twain references in this post, I will love you FOREVAR.)

Thanks for reading, and God Bless! (see what I did there? X-P)

Kenobi out.

On Children’s Shows

Tags

bbc sherlock, completely random posts, diamond, dogs, hounds, insanity, long rants, madeleine l'engle, pbs, politics, sherlock holmes, sir arthur conan doyle, sofa cushions

NOOOOOOO!!! NOT THE PSYCHOTIC, OVERSTUFFED ORANGE SOFA CUSHION! HELP!

SAVE ME!!!

Er… ahem.

Yes, this post is about children’s shows. It’s partially in protest. Totally unfair to dogs. I mean, here we have the Hound of the Baskervilles…

The Hound, from “The Hounds of Baskerville”, the BBC Sherlock episode

And our dog Diamond, who was absolutely awesome (until we had to put him down; he was old & had cancer…)

Our late Labrador Retriever, Diamond Bulrush.

And I need not even mention Lassie, Old Yeller, Ananda, etc….

But on PBS, the only dogs to be found are horrendously flour-sack shaped Martha and the prodigiously overweight Ruff Ruffman.

What gives?!

That’s not the only point, though.

These shows are supposed to be entertainment. Oh, we’re entertained all right. Entertained that anyone (except, of course, for Raya, who has no taste whatsoever) could really like these shows. The plot lines are sickening. They’re full of tired cliches. Cute, maybe. But not educational.

The long-lamented Redwall is one show which I would consider was not a miss. I used to like PBS shows, some of them. But that was before the common era. And before I really learned to think.

Please, let’s have our kids read, rather than watch more TV. Have them write–even if it means writing fanfic (gasp! :-P). Have them go outside and play.

I couldn’t care less that the Republicans were going to reduce government aid to PBS. I’d rather go ride my bike. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll be able to get into the ladies’ equivalent of the Tour de France!

Rant over. You can go on with your lives now. 😛

A Rant

Tags

birth control, christianity, conscientious objection, freedom of speech, hhs mandate, politics

Honestly?!

I mean, seriously?!

How about sanely?!

Because this is insane. Sheer insanity.

Vision Forum is shutting down. The recent HHS mandate put them out of business.

For years, Vision Forum has been committed to restoring Christian values in popular culture. For years, they’ve promoted true man- and woman-hood. They have been around since 1998.

And now it’s all gone.

And why?!

So-called CIVIL LIBERTIES. Aka, healthcare that includes birth control. Did you know you can commit suicide by overdosing with “the pill”!? Not that anyone actually does that, but still! It’s a POISON. And now employers are being forced to pay for it in their healthcare plans.

That’s all.

All?!

All.

I disagree with the use of birth control. Let me explain why.

If someone (say, someone famous) was to approach me and ask me if I “wanted to be friends” (just friendship, nothing more), and I asked them why and if they told me that they liked me, my personality, found my views or intellect fascinating, I would be flattered. Of course I would say yes.

But if they told me that it was only to keep up their public image, I would be outraged and say “no.”

All things have their purpose. Nothing exists for its own sake. No matter what modern-school artists say. Art and music exist for enjoyment. Family for support. Love, for marriage and family. And birth control denies that purpose. You’re taking away my little fantasy of “happily ever after.” What do you have to say for yourself, birth control?!

Anyway, the mandate contains horrifically vague and narrow clauses for conscientious objection. This means it only nominally and legally allows one of our basic rights. And, as we all know, the law isn’t everything.

And Vision Forum isn’t the only group. All over the place, small family businesses are being shut down because they refuse to conform with these standards. They can’t afford to pay the fines. This denies the free-market principle, by the way. (Did I mention the HHS mandate is FULL of problems?!)

I’m angry. Very very angry. You’re free to attack my blog for supporting these values as you please. But I’m sick. Sick and tired and very, very upset. I loved their stuff! It was epic! Their catalog was cooler than the Boy Scouts’ catalog used to be.

Go ahead. Throw mud at me. I don’t care. You’re killing free speech, people.

Now, excuse me while I go throw up.

But if, on the other hand, you’d like to support me, please, I need a hug. A shoulder to cry on. And possibly encouragement to cut-and-paste my second-semester-of-college essay.

What are you waiting for?! Add something to the comments. I’m going to shut up now, because if you don’t believe the same way I do, I’m probably not going to be able to convince you. And just so you know, you won’t convince me. I’ll stay in the Dark Ages, thank you very much. Thanks for reading, and may God bless you even if you don’t believe in Him!!!!! 🙂

Comes a Time

Tags

battlefield of the soul, c.s. lewis, completed stories, completely random posts, confusing nonsense, contrast, g.k. chesterton, insanity, j.r.r. tolkein, long rants, military, nanowrimo 2013, national novel writing month, poetry, politics, rambling musings, shifting tides series, short stories, small rants, story dynamics, the age old debate, the hero's dream

Yes! Erin is back at last from her long jaunt into Nanowrimo Nation. Did you miss me? 😉 Late happy Thanksgiving, everyone. 🙂

I have some news for all my beloved readers in this post. I have finished a concept drawing for The Hero’s Dream and other stories in the Shifting Tides series, as well as parts of the next installment of the series, Battlefield of the Soul. The concept drawing will be posted once I scan it into the computer (unfortunately, it’s black and white… sigh… Does anyone know how to use the program to color it in? *hint hint wink wink*), and the story will be posted as soon as I can type it up.

Also, I have a bunch of original short stories to post–I worked on them during Nano, sort of to fill up the gaps. 😉 I hope you all enjoy them!

Then, on Nano, I did not win… didn’t even make my wordcount goal. I do have two valid excuses, though: Jewel’s Birthday (Friday), and taking out the trash. Surprisingly, Thanksgiving wasn’t that much of a problem. Anyway, so I spent Jewel’s birthday with her, and the next day (the last day of Nano!) I was taking out the trash, and the garbage barrel lid came down and bopped me a good one across the back of the head, and my glasses fell off and landed in the trash can, and when I reached for them I cut myself on some broken glass, in the soft skin between my first and second fingers, at the knuckle. Ouch. So then I was bleeding like no one’s business, and it just hurt too freakin’ much to hold a pencil, much less type.

Soooo, here I am, 12k short, and still completely happy. Frankly, I’m not sure how this is even possible…

And I now have a cold. Figures…

And now, for the real juicy bit. Warning: Intense Christian doctrine and evangelization ahead! If some of you don’t like overtly Christian and/or Catholic writings, it might be best for you to simply avoid the rest of this post. However, if you are a lover of philosophy or C.S. Lewis or a fan of G.K. Chesterton (or simply just plain stubborn), you might just enjoy this (though of course my lowly work simply can not compare to either Lewis or Chesterton… or Tolkien for that matter.) That much said, enjoy or avoid at will! 😉

Comes a Time

                Arinna pulled the kettle off the stove, pouring the boiling water into a chipped, earth-toned ceramic carafe and tossing some tea leaves in on top. “What do you mean?” she asked, frowning slightly to herself.

“You’re going to die in this holy war and it isn’t even yours.” Lexi said. “How is that not…” She paused. Arinna sighed and put down the earthenware carafe.

“Do you mean to say that I’m going to die for a cause that is, in your opinion, both worthless, and already doomed to failure?” she asked bluntly. Lexi turned away, probably unused to such blunt, brash, plain honesty. It took her a moment—a very long moment—to regain her composure.

“Yes. I do.” she said at last.

“Well, let me ask you a question then,” Arinna said softly. “What do you believe in?” Startled again, especially since Arinna had broken the social rules twice in as many paragraphs, Lexi took a moment before she replied.

“I’m a Christian, too, just like you, you know that!” she protested.

“That means nothing,” Arinna said. “There are too many denominations nowadays for us to know for certain that we hold any common ground whatsoever. Besides, many people who say they believe in Christ don’t really love Him. If they did, then they would act like it. What do you believe in? What are you willing to fight and die for? If not Christ, then what?”

“I don’t know!” Lexi burst out, frustrated. “You keep asking questions without any answers!” she fumed.

“Oh, they have answers,” Arinna assured her. “You’re just afraid of the answers. So am I. So is everyone else, for that matter.” Arinna picked up the pitcher of hot tea and poured it out into two mugs. She handed one to Lexi and sipped slowly out of the other, looking at her friend over the rim. “I’m your friend. It’s my business to ask the hard questions, Lexi. I only do it because I care.” Slowly, she lowered her mug. “Do you want to go on?” she asked softly. Lexi shrugged.

“Yes. I guess. If you want to.” Arinna nodded slowly as she went on with her apology.

“All of us have something we’re willing to fight to the death for, Lexi. Something we believe in—something we believe is worth believing in. It’s part of what makes us human. Someday, Lexi, you will live, and fight, and die for something—and you’ll do it willingly, too. I can promise you that. It’s your destiny—it’s inevitable. You can’t change it, but you can decide what it is you will believe in. Put God out of your life, and you will find yourself trying to fill that void in your heart—you’ll catch yourself filling it with less desirable things. The catch, is to ask yourself what you’re willing to die for. Power? Money? Pleasure? Goods? Your home? Your possessions? Your friends? Your family? If any of that comes first—before God does—in your life, you’re no better than a pagan. You’re an idolater if you put any of those… material things before God.” Arinna looked down at her mug; for the first time her voice sounded unsure. “You may not like to hear this, Lexi, but I only say it because I care. I can’t soften this for you, without losing the message. It’s uncompromising, as hard as nails. You have to choose what you will fight for. He who will fight for nothing is no pacifist, but a coward indeed. You must choose—now—whom you will serve. No one can do it for you.” She took a deep breath. “That’s why I am here—in this camp—in this army—today, Lexi. I said to myself, ‘No more hesitation! I am going to commit—today!’ We both know that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions—if you even believe in Hell.” The evangelist’s voice was tinged with heavy bitterness. “I am willing to die for my Heavenly King. I decided that He was worth fighting for. I regret all the lives lost in this war, but there comes a time when one can no longer stand idly by. There comes a time when one must make a stand. I decided Whom I am going to serve. So what if I’m not perfect? Perfection isn’t possible for any human being. It doesn’t come until Heaven. It’s the times I worked—hard—that matter. I know my cause is worth dying for. Is yours?” Arinna looked up at Lexi with pleading eyes. The other woman was silent. She knew would have to think about it; Arinna knew it too. And while Lexi thought, Arinna would pray.

“I’ll think about it, ‘Rin. I… I promise.” Lexi said. Then, she left the tent, as evening fell over the Crusaders’ camp.

Evangelist

Let the past lie where it’s buried

By the gravestone, on the hill,

Wind wanders wild across the wastelands,

They say the spirit moves at will.

Each sad tear-fall lies there buried

In the garden, by the rill,

Every laughter a rose has planted,

They say the roses bloom there still.

Where one rose blights, sad and mournful

One by one, the petals fall,

In the garden by the rill-side

Back to the womb whence it was called.

Hold tight to what you’re given.

Hold tight to those you love.

These little blessings that we seek

Are our anchors, from above.

Ask again what you now live for

Question your heart’s desire

Many things we are attached to

Pass, straw-like, in the fire.

With the light, morning arises

A new dawn casts the night away

Each day builds on the one before it,

The future’s fragments are at play.

Congratulations go to those who actually made it to the end of this post! Oh, and please tell me… did you like the poem? 😉 It’s originally from my April/July Nanowrimo project Angels’ Reflections. Which, incidentally, I have new ideas for now. Cheers!

As always, thanks for reading and may God bless you and keep you in all your days!

“It’s a faith worth fighting for.” –Anonymous (okay, maybe not ANONYMOUS, but I still can’t remember who I’m quoting. X-P)

On the Unknown, Conan Doyle, and Nanowrimo

Tags

author, completely random posts, confusing nonsense, editor, entering the unknown, history of crime, insanity, long rants, mystery, nanowrimo 2013, national novel writing month, politics, rambling musings, sarcasm, sir arthur conan doyle, small rants, story dynamics, toxins

Hello, everyone! As a relief from my foray into criminal minds and the detectives who try to stay one step ahead (or rather, as a result of tons of research for my Nano project, aka scripts,) I have discovered a new potential career for an aspiring writer: ghostwriting.

Like most people, I had no idea of the existence of ghostwriters for most of my life. I only found out about this mere minutes ago, while on a Wikipedia search to find out all I could about toxins, of all things, through thence to (I think) medicine and crime, and finally to ghostwriting. But I digress. Perhaps I should first describe what it is that a ghostwriter does.

Basically, a ghostwriter is an unknown, a non-entity, yet a very real force in the world, because a ghostwriter is paid to write novels, memoirs, and whatnot that will be attributed to other people. This is a great way to gain practice in writing, because it’s essentially riding to the top on the weight (or should it be buoyancy?) of the name of someone famous–especially if you’re in politics. I mean, after all, no offense to the people who run our country, but I doubt if many of them can really stick a pen. Because they say the most idiotic things at times. No one can argue with that–can they?

And it pays, until you can get published under your own name, while meanwhile you’re learning from the greats–or not-so-greats, as the case may be. 😉

Who says that you need vanity? That can wait until you’ve paid the bills. Right?

Oh, and incidentally–sadly, there is no such thing as Devil’s Foot Root. Sorry to dash all your hopes and dreams, fellow Conan Doyle junkies, but it’s true. However… *brightens up* I’ve talked to a (former) qualified nurse and she says there are drugs that have those effects! Happy day!

Maybe you’d like to know about my recent browser history… it’s also very random and very telling. There are a few open windows for BBC’s Sherlock, which I have not seen (remind me to rave later about how the BBC does just about everything so much better than Hollywood!) but still think is possibly (okay, probably) awesome (*cough cough* Iris’s a Sherlock junkie *cough cough*). But on recent history, there is:

1. A search for Jonathan Wild (The Valley of Fear)
2. A search for Jean-Baptiste Greuze (also The Valley of Fear)
3. Adam Worth (got lead there by Jonathan Wild)
4. Old Basil Rathbone movies (Stop me before I swoon over his awesomeness! Though they don’t do Watson so well in those movies… sigh)
5. General information about toxins (Did you know that the venom of the black widow spider is NOT the most toxic substance in the world? It isn’t even the most dangerous spider venom. Want to know what they really are? Brown recluse spider venom, and botulism {aka botulinum toxin, commercially known as… DUH DUH DUH! Botox. Yeah, we inject ourselves with the most deadly substance in the world. Aren’t we all such idiots. But it’s an ongoing trend… people used to use arsenic to make their skin clear, and put belladonna in their eyedrops. Food for thought… or maybe poison… teehee)
6. A search for the toxins of the poison dart frog, which is famously used to poison (what else?!) arrows. (A Study in Scarlet, incidentally they do still call these toxins alkaloids! The most dangerous group of toxins is batrachotoxins.)
7. A search to find out if they are really water soluble. (They are–or rather, can be.)
8. A search for radix pedis diaboli (aka devil’s foot root, The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot.)
9. A search for toxins (all psychoactive drugs are toxic if you take enough of them!) which display similar effects.
10. Umm… completely unrelated… Song lyrics.

I am so crazy… it’s not even funny. Or maybe it is. Happy Nanoing to all you fellow insanities and insomniacs out there, and have a nice November to all the rest of you, who are actually reasonably sane. I think I may have just found my new career (as having more actual knowledge of political theory and world history than your average person, as well as the possible skills to “hack it.”) I am so behind in my Nano project it’s not even funny. And… I’m rambling.

Oh, and by the way…

GOOD NIGHT. X-P

A Public Outcry

Tags

church teaching, homosexuality, insanity, long rants, percy jackson, politics, rick riordan, roman catholic, small rants, stories in progress, story dynamics, the age old debate

Dear friends, I have heard the unthinkable.

My dear friend Iris has just had one of her fandoms cruelly destroyed. But before you decry Hollywood, my brothers and sisters in the writing and critiquing world, let me tell you… this is worse. Far worse.

Her fandom was destroyed by none other than the author who began it.

But let me explain.

Iris is a longtime fan of the Percy Jackson novels, which, as a side note, I myself have never read. So you can consider this blog post my response on a friend’s behalf. 😉 She started young, I believe. She’s been following the author’s work for years now. And then, she has it ripped out from under her feet.

What am I talking about? Why, the decision to make one character homosexual!

Now, just so that you know, I am a faithful, practicing Roman Catholic. I subscribe to all Church teachings. And as such, I believe that homosexuality is wrong. Do not give me arguments in the comments, please. You will not change my mind. (I’m like my namesake. I would die for what I believe in, and I plan on living for it as well.) And if you do start to try to change my mind, I will do worse than just delete your comment.

I. WILL. PRAY. FOR. YOU. *evil laughter*

Yes, I’m an evil creature of darkness, damned forever to death and destruction and whatnot. X-P You probably knew it all along. ;-P

But, let that aside, I think that this choice of Rick Riordan’s is a terrible mistake, and let me tell you why.

1. This is a children’s book. Please leave the kids out of politics, darling. And don’t indoctrinate them, either. And I don’t care what you may say, this is, in my opinion, indoctrination of the most insidious kind. According to C.S. Lewis, “If a man writes a book about Buddhism, we will not be swayed to his beliefs. It is the Buddhist assumptions in all the other books that will make us change our minds.” The same applies to homosexuality in children’s literature.
2. I would classify homosexuality, lesbianism, gay rights, what have you as an adult theme. This bumps up the rating from PG to R. Please, let the adults squabble over this; let the children maintain their precious innocence for just a little longer! Do it for the little ones’ sake! Kids do have rights, according to the United Nations. So please, respect those rights.
   (On a side note, I doubt that they would agree with me as to the status of those rights; I think they would probably cheer for this blatant indoctrination, but I’m convinced that the best way to snark is to use someone else’s words against them. Capiche?)
3. Readers don’t like a plot error. Seriously. It’s true. They won’t read a book when it turns to putrid… disgustingness in their hands. Look how many people have jumped off the bandwagon already! And I believe this does classify as a plot error. Seriously. It’s like a deus ex machina— Rick Riordan has been building this character up for one destiny and then suddenly switches it. *head keyboard* I mean, HONESTLY?! This makes me sick.

So, that’s my little rant of the day. I hope you liked it, ’cause if you didn’t, then why did you read all the way to the end?! ;-P See #3.

Post questions, arguments, extra reasons why this is a BIG mistake, and other memorandi in the comments. Thanks for reading, have a great day, and may God Bless You and keep you in all your paths. 😀