Not to re-open a can of worms, except I am because reality conspired to occur right after the topic started... But re: Christianity. Two words. Nashville Statement.
I read my unicorn post yesterday on reddit and I thought it was worth bringing up here. So this was about Game of Thrones:
"I've been a viewer since S1E1 aired but this isn't getting any better. Between generic bland characters (don't get me started) D&D's nonsense writing and GRRM's own brand of long winded pretentious fantasy, bad sensationalist acting and iffy SFX I have the lowest expectations for the show's final season. It's a shame, I hoped it'd meet my expectations and it's only been consistently failing them."
I don't know where to begin! This person has been watching a show for years even though he dislikes the script, the original material that script was based on, the characters and the actors bringing it to the screen and even the special effects... but they are going to watch the next season too, just so they can whine about it as well.
It happens in games too (how many times have you ran into people who hate nWoD MU* but/because they've been playing for years) but how worked up we get about entertainment we don't like, rather than simply to accept not everything is made to cater to our sometimes very specific requirements never ceases to amaze me.
@Arkandel This 'analysis' brought to you by Dragon Age: Inquisition
Blackwall: Dorian, I can't believe you drank that swill at the tavern.
Dorian: I can't believe they served that swill at the tavern. What is Skyhold coming to?
Blackwall: Then why did you drink it?
Dorian: I couldn't stop. With each sip, it was, "it can't be that bad, can it?" Before I knew it, I was analyzing the nuances of its flavor, observing its effect on my nausea. I was in a catatonic trance, fueled by the stench of disgusting dwarven ale.
Blackwall: Or you're a drunkard with terrible taste.
Dorian: There is that.
Edited to add:
What I mean by this is that it seems to be a rather... intrinsic thing with most media is that people will always consume something. Even if it's 'terrible.' We MUers are much the same, we'll play (nearly) anything so long as it exists. Make it and they will come, good or bad.
He/Him
@Lain That is an incredibly fucking stupid thing to require.
Well, that's nice that you think that, but it is how the country works, so if you want to navigate our political structure, registering under one of the two major political parties gives one more say-so than registering as an independent. (This varies by State, and we've got fifty of them)
At this juncture in America, it's easier for a tangent political faction to capture an existing political party than it is for a new political party to supplant one of the dominant ones. Hence Sanders and Trump.
@Lain It's how your country works. It's still fucking stupid.
He/Him
@Lain It's how your country works. It's still fucking stupid.
Honestly, I don't think the specifics of America's representative democracy are the actual cause of our problems. America's issues come more from its culture than from its political structure. People have this very top-down view of societies, like if you put the right policies and structures on the books then things will magically right themselves.
That's so far from the truth that it hurts.
@Lain I never said that it was a cause of problems. I just find the requirement of registering some kind of allegiance to be utterly preposterous. Secret ballots only work if they're actually secret.
He/Him
@Tinuviel They are secret. People vote across party lines all the time. @Thenomain is a Republican for the purpose of fucking with their primaries, as he said, i.e., trolling them by voting for unelectable candidates. I vote for different parties all the time.
My registered party affiliation means basically nothing. It's a step below metadata, at least in terms of heuristic for guessing who I vote for. And most people aren't even politically active; they abstain. The people who vote, especially in local elections, generally have a deeper understanding of the structures and play it like a big game.
@Lain Abstaining is also a foreign and preposterous notion to me. So different our relatively similar countries are.
He/Him
@Tinuviel What is your nationality?
It's stupid. Yes, it's the way it works, but it is still stupid.
@Lain Convoluted.
But I am resident in Australia, where voting is mandatory. Enforceably mandatory.
@Sunny I think it makes sense that in order to vote in an organization's internal affairs -- who they nominate -- one would need to be a member of said organization. I don't see how that's "stupid." Primaries are not the general election, just a nomination selection process.
@Lain Then the voting should be either entirely open, or entirely closed. If you want 'the people' to pick your candidate, it's no longer an internal affair. if you want only those who are members of your party to pick your candidate, then you don't need a song and dance number. Hand out an information packet and get the members to vote.
He/Him
@Lain Then the voting should be either entirely open, or entirely closed. If you want 'the people' to pick your candidate, it's no longer an internal affair. if you want only those who are members of your party to pick your candidate, then you don't need a song and dance number. Hand out an information packet and get the members to vote.
They don't want "the people" to pick their nominee. They want their party members to pick their nominee. And in the case of the Democrats, not even that. They want their "superdelegates" (VIPs) to pick their nominee, while allowing their rank and file to have some input. Now that, I find, stupid.
Watching/reading things you hate:
This is how I ended up reading all 9 or whatever books of the Malazan series. I hate read them. They were the worst - and i mean the WORST - fucking books that I have ever read in my life. Not only that, they were so damn terrible I'm not sure I could have even conceived of them in my worst nightmares.If I ever meet Steven Erikson, chances are high I will kick him in the dick.
They were so, so bad that I kind of killed my joy of reading. I've finished like...one book since I finished that series, and that was at least three years ago.
Don't do it, kids. I regret it so much.
@Lain Then you definitely don't need a big hullabaloo that infects the world when you have your Primaries.
@Kanye-Qwest I read the first four books. There's no denying the guy is talented, that his characters are intriguing and complex or that the overall plot is deep and ambitious.
But it was also a fucking chore to read, and that's coming from someone who loves 'purple' writing... because damn, it was taking me so long to go through these novels. Especially during my commute at 7:30 am the thought of starting the next one was starting to depress me, so I stopped.
It was also a matter of not having any favorite characters though. Just because they're interesting it doesn't mean I root for or care what happens to them.
It's hard for me to agree with that, looking back, but I know you're right - I read 2/3 books in because I was intrigued by some of the characters, and the magic, and wanted to see where they would go. (SPOILER: they went fucking nowhere)
And then I kept reading, and I was like 'wow, this guy sure stuffs almost every female character in a rape refrigerator REAL fast". And it just piled on and on and on. Over the course of that series: hundreds of rapes. LIterally, hundreds of rapes. One female character I found kind of interesting got mega-raped just so a dude could turn into a tiger man and go on a killing rampage. We never really saw her, again. Served her purpose!
Couple that with the fact that he introduced plot threads seemingly specifically to drop them and leave gaping holes, and every badass character was a ridiculous Shonen power fantasy, and just...I regret it so much. SO much.
@Arkandel An important part many writers, be they in a roleplay sense or an authorial sense, seem to forget is that every narrative must have an end.
He/Him
@Lain It's how your country works. It's still fucking stupid.
Honestly, I don't think the specifics of America's representative democracy are the actual cause of our problems. America's issues come more from its culture than from its political structure. People have this very top-down view of societies, like if you put the right policies and structures on the books then things will magically right themselves.
That's so far from the truth that it hurts.
