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Methinks

Even at 90°F (32°C), the weather’s not too bad today but society at large just blows.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks

I’ve been doing a bit of research for an idea I had for the broad plot of my Sentinels series and for the milieu of my upcoming Tales Of Olde Auringia series. I came across Jon’s D&D Vlog and found this little gem. 👇🏻

Jon’s D&D Vlog #Bonus – About the Protests

Jon mentioned a couple of movies he found poignant to the topic, Gandhi and Doctor Zhivago. These are both LONG, largely historical epics about some of the most transformative and tumultuous social changes in modern history: Indian Independence and the Bolshevik Revolution respectively.

I’ve seen both and can agree they’re critically acclaimed for very good reasons; excellent movies that are well worth the watch despite the epic lengths. These movies address the big question that Ben Kingsley’s Gandhi asked in the excerpt Jon included in his video commentary.

Which direction?

Ultimately, Indian Independence was a good thing and India is a growing, vital society that is finding its place in the world. Ultimately, the Bolshevik Revolution and the founding of the Soviet Union as depicted in Doctor Zhivago were a horrible thing and by the grace of God, the USSR collapsed and ceased to be.

What’s the difference? India is a story of self-sufficiency. The USSR was a story of feckless autocracy.

Freedom is always better. Freedom is messy and unmanageable but it is far better than the kind of top-down leadership required in a socialist society.

Centralized planning is only good if the folks at the center aren’t assholes. Unfortunately, people who are desperate to be in charge of every aspect of everyone else’s lives are, by definition, assholes.

👇🏻 I’ve got the two videos he mentioned below for your viewing convenience 👇🏻

Capitalism vs Socialism – Economics 101 – Reagan vs Obama

Animal Farm Movie 1954 (HD) Based on George Orwell Novel

As 3D Reagan said in the video above, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.”

How does that sound right about now? Are you an “essential worker” or has your place of work been shuttered? Here in Pennsylvania, the jackass governor has been opening and closing things fairly capriciously and being a smug twit about it the whole time. He even had the gall to say that Pennsylvanians should “curb their reliance on unemployment“. Then curb your reliance on locking us up at home, you tyrannical little hemorrhoid!

One of the big problems is that everybody thinks that Karl Marx is Santa Claus. Sure, he’s got a big bushy beard but they’ve got completely different operating models.

Santa Claus can give people things because he only does it once a year, because he’s got magic production and delivery capacity and because he’s imaginary.

Karl Marx can’t give anyone anything because his concept only works in theory in the minds of deluded fluffernutters, because his stated philosophy has led to the deaths of tens of millions throughout the 20th Century and the misery of many more right up to today and because he’s dead.

Socialism is NOT a rising tide lifting all ships. As the classroom example demonstrates rather clearly, when you take away the rewards of diligence everyone becomes a disengaged slacker.

The original settlers of the Plymouth Colony had a similar experience. Some of them worked hard and made extra produce. Some of them slacked and made none. It was all shared out equally. The slackers didn’t starve, but the hard workers had no reason to work hard the next time around.

It’s a common claim that capitalism is about selfish greed. When you take into consideration the life and death consequences of the slackerization of the Plymouth Colony, it’s easy to see that letting the diligent gardener/farmers of the colony profit from the fruits of their labor was far more beneficial to the colony as a whole than forcing everyone to share equally.

The thing is, we’re not equal. We’re just not.

Some of us are smarter, stronger, more attractive, whatever.

I’m not mechanically inclined. I just don’t have much of a facility for tinkering. I’m good at what I’m good at, and being mechanical ain’t it.

Other people are. There are lots of motorheads and electricians and tinkerers of every stripe.

That’s a good thing!

We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. This is diversity in its finest form. The ability for people to be different and serve each other’s needs is the heart of capitalism. The requirement of people to be identical units of service to the state is the heart of socialism.

One of the big problems is that people, particularly those who espouse socialism, have no idea of what socialism really is or what it costs.

Can You Define Socialism?

Capitalism vs. Socialism

The problem is that we’ve been infiltrated by people who want to lie about what socialism is in order to install it as our system of government. This effort has been going on since before I was born.

They have infiltrated key institutions such as education, entertainment, news media and even the government itself.

That last one is frustrating as hell. If you’re a private citizen doing your thing and you believe that socialism works, great. You do you. If you work for or in the government and you don’t believe in the government as it is currently constituted, you’re a termite, a fifth columnist.

People eventually discover that Santa is really Mom & Dad being nice. People eventually discover that Socialism is really some self-appointed centralized elitist cabal and they’re only pretending to be nice until they have absolute control over your life.

Death by Socialism

If I Were the Devil – Paul Harvey (Good Audio)

We should not allow our Constitutional Republic to be overthrown by slavering radicals thrashing people with crowbars in the streets and we should not allow it to be subverted and “transformed” by slithering ideologues who have no business being in office. If you cannot adhere to the Oath of Office and serve your constituents and communities, you have no right to hold office and should be forcibly expelled.

I reclaim my time.

Freedom is never given; it is won. ~A. Phillip Randolph

Overdone

10 Overdone Fantasy Tropes (That Literary Agents Are Tired of Seeing) | iWriterly

So, what actually is a trope? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary site, a trope is:

- a: a word or expression used in a figurative sense : FIGURE OF SPEECH
- b: a common or overused theme or device : CLICHÉ
  the usual horror movie tropes
a phrase or verse added as an embellishment or interpolation to the sung parts of the Mass in the Middle Ages

What that means for us is that there are certain plot devices that have been done to death and traditional publishers are begging for something else. That being said, there is such a thing as genre and genres practically demand the use of tried-and-true tropes. Even so, let’s take a look at Meg’s list.

The Chosen One
This is an epic trope but not one that appeals to me. I would probably never write a story with a “Chosen One” character in it unless I made it a fake-out. I agree with her. This is freaking done to death.
The Dark Lord
While this seems to be something that has been done to death, reality is stranger than fiction. There are so many Dark Lords in the real world throughout history that it’s hard not to have one of these guys. They really are the ultimate antagonist. Whether you use a real one like Hitler, Stalin or Mao or a pretend one like Sauron, Voldemort or Emperor Palpatine, Dark Lords can’t help but lend a bit of evil gravitas and existential threat to any well-told tale.
Orphaned Protagonist
This is a big one in fairy tales and coming-of-age fiction. Plenty of heroes have perfectly normal nuclear families. Being an orphan is definitely a good reason why a kid can go around and do preposterously dangerous things in improbable fiction, but it’s really not required to tell a good story.
Forgotten Heir
This seems like it could be a good plot twist for a secondary character, but I don’t see much promise in this trope. The story line doesn’t really appeal to me and I doubt I’d bother with it in any of my stories.
Wise Wizard
These guys are a cornerstone of classic sword and sorcery tales but not strictly necessary. It helps exposition if you have some character who is in the know on the big picture. As Meg notes, the guy gets to be a bit of a crutch so knocking him off early helps to let the main character(s) get a grip on their own power. They’re not strictly necessary but they can serve a purpose if your main character is a newbie without a great deal of perspective on the larger issues.
European-Inspired Medieval Setting
Okay, let’s set aside the notion that someone of European ancestry (like myself) trying to do an explicitly non-European-Inspired Medieval setting would automatically be torn to shreds on the basis of Cultural Appropriation. That’s a problem in itself.

The other thing is that trying to create a completely novel fantasy society is hard as hell. Assuming you succeed in doing something genuinely original, there’s virtually no chance that people won’t automatically try to pigeon-hole it. Whatever you used as your basis for creating this completely original society, they’re still going to say “it’s kind of like that other thing“.

Besides, if you created Aztec Samurai or Sioux Pirates or whatever, they probably wouldn’t categorize it as “Fantasy” except in the broadest term. You’re going to wind up on a different part of the shelf than Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time and Lord of the Rings. If it ain’t got knights and elves and castles, it’s probably going in another genre.

If there’s a market for it (hello, D&D players everywhere), it’s going to sell. If it’s well written, it’s going to sell well. Just do it.
Black And White Morality
As a basis of the whole story, this has some value. Some stories are meant to be morality tales. Sometimes, there really are bad guys who desperately need to be thwarted.

It doesn’t mean that all the characters need to be paragons of virtue. A grand struggle against a Dark Lord or other basically bad society is generally good versus evil, but not all the characters need to be entirely good.
Summoning An Evil Entity To Make A Contract
It’s an oldie but a goodie. My baddies in Empire City have been leaning on this one for hundreds of years. As with all previous iterations of this trope, there’s always a price to pay. Whether or not the contract-holders are aware of the actual cost is kind of up in the air. This one can be twisted into something original with a little work.
Magical Artifact
The One Ring. Everybody wants to copy The One Ring. Big bad thing causes all the drama. Attack of the killer MacGuffin. Whatever. I don’t feel a need for it. Tolkein already covered this territory. We can write other stories.
The Quest
Calling this a done-to-death trope is a bit overboard. Okay, you need a hook. Depending on the culture of the main character’s point of origin, this may be a big freakin’ thing.

Obviously, the quest to destroy The One Ring is a big thing in itself. King Arthur’s knights had all kinds of quests. The 47 Ronin went on a quest to avenge the death of the lord for whom they were samurai. The loss of honor caused a loss of status (samurai 👉🏻 ronin) that could only be resolved by going on a quest of vengeance.

There are all kinds of quests. I don’t see this as problematic.

In any case, just write what you’re writing. If it sucks, nobody will buy it no matter how original and un-tropey it is. If it’s good, it will sell no matter how many of these 10 boxes it ticks. Just write your story and let the customers be the judge.

Even that’s not the final word. HP Lovecraft’s works weren’t all that popular when he was alive. Now, everyone thinks he’s a visionary genius of the weird horror genre. It came as little comfort to him when he was struggling to make a living, but he’s vindicated posthumously. So, there’s that.

Even if everyone hates your work now, you might be very popular after you die. Or, you might just vote Democrat. Could go either way, really.

Seasons

A man’s worth has its season, like fruit. ~Francois de La Rochefoucauld

I can’t say it often enough.

I hate Summer!

That being said, it’s late July and this summer is just sizzling away. The sooner the better.

Of course, that’s not what the quote is referring to. The illustrious Duke was saying that people’s value has a shelf life. A person or his worth to society can spoil and rot.

Personally, I suppose that’s true but the point of rotting fruit is to help plant seeds. Even though a person’s life has seasons, it doesn’t mean that the person necessarily drops and rots like spoiled fruit.

There is a season for fallen, rotting fruit. That’s a process. It leads to growth. It looks nasty but it’s actually productive.

People don’t seem to appreciate that there are cycles. When you know there are cycles, it’s easier to tolerate the rot that leads to germination.