Who am I and why am I doing this?

Not long ago, I was blogging like crazy, and writing like crazy in the comic book, and I was learning lots of new things. Even though I had a lot to do, it was flowing really well.

That’s all changed quite a bit. This screenplay is only going to be a quarter the length of the comic book, but it’s going much slower, so I am writing every day, but only a few lines. The books I am reading have a lot of information, but they are slow going, and keep requiring more research. And drawing is not just like riding a bike—I have lost a lot of ground.

This of course is temporary, and still consists of good experiences, but the other component to that, and it’s a big one, is that I find that I actually don’t like blogging about politics. I am passionate about politics, because it’s important and interesting, but it does not flow for me the way writing about the creative process does, or even writing about other people’s creative pursuits. 

Also, there is the human factor, where people can be really ugly about the whole thing. To be fair, most of that seems to happen from things I post on Facebook, confirming my worst fear that no one reads this blog.

So the question becomes one of why I am even bothering to blog about politics. I could start just start reviewing bands now. My last two letters to Aaron covered seven bands, and writing about that was fun. I’m going to start reviewing comic books too. There are interesting stories about this current screenplay and how it started and how it is playing out. Those are all things that will be more fun when I get to them.

I just can’t shake the feeling that the politics is important— not just politics in general, but that my writing about it is important.

There have been some encounters, but I am going to focus on a Facebook one that happened Sunday night. I was invited to a day supporting Papa Johns’ pizza, because as you know he has been very beleaguered and beset by the Affordable Care Act. I can only assume an Applebee’s event is being planned.

I remember the first time John Schnatter started complaining about it, and I was appalled then. Really? It would cost you less than .14 per pizza to insure your employees and you still don’t want to do it? And that was before I saw the pictures of the mansion.

Obviously I was going to decline, and I wasn’t even planning to comment, but with my “No”, I was prompted to write a reason, and so I wrote that the person and the pizza were both horrible. I guess I find it weird that people would rally in support of corporate greed rather than in support of low-wage workers.

As you can imagine, I there were many negative comments. I am a socialist and ill-informed and I have been drinking the government Kool-Aid and I should know better and I don’t really know what I believe and I must be one of those people that the government needs to be taken back from because I am all about the entitlements. 

Some of this seems to be because I could not answer questions quickly enough, as incorrect statements about healthcare, the debt, and Benghazi were thrown at me. Finally I decided I had better things to do, and I’m sure that was taken as a victory, but I realized I did have better things to do. I was writing to Aaron, I needed to work on my screenplay, I’m reading about the history of hip-hop, and nothing I would say would make any difference.

Except, there are two things that make me think it maybe it does make a difference, and maybe it was not all worthless. One is that although there were more negative attacking comments than positive ones, there were several likes on my original post and on my answers. It’s helpful for us when we find each other, and maybe not everyone has the words and so it feels good for them when someone else does. I can handle that.

Also, I did not know most of the people on the thread. The person who invited me, I do know, but also there was another mutual friend, and even though we were disagreeing with each other, she did eventually ask others to stop piling on, because I had a right to believe what I did. Maybe being out there as a reasonable person, I can remind people that we are not all sworn enemies, even when we disagree. That would have value too.

I have been toying with the idea of giving my credentials, in the hopes that it would make it harder for people to dismiss me. I have avoided it partly because it seems like bragging, and also because it is pointless, because for any trait I have that might make other people think it is worth listening, I have others that cancel it out. Still, here goes.

Based on two different internet tests taken at two different times, my IQ seems to be 136/138—below genius, but above average. For the PSAT, SAT, and ACT, I scored in the top one percent on the first try, so I did not do multiple attempts. I have a BA from University of Oregon in Romance Languages and History, and had about a 3.46 GPA, which would have been higher except for one term where I learned the value of studying the hard way. I read a lot of literature growing up, but mainly read non-fiction now, and get my news from a variety of sources.

I am a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon). Sometimes you have bloggers who let you know they are members, but you can’t really tell how they feel about it. I believe it. I believe in prophets, and in the Holy Ghost, and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the World.

I am a Democrat, and when I registered that way the key issue was that I didn’t think supply-side economics was at all reasonable, and nothing I have seen over the 22 years since then has changed my mind. My parents were Republican, and I was the only Democrat in my family for a long time.

I was raised in the Church, but my father stopped going when I was nine, my older brother and older sister stopped going a bit after that, and it would have been easy for me to quit too, but I couldn’t because I knew it was true.

My beliefs are my own. I think about them extensively, because I am all about the information and the over-analysis, and also about doing what’s right, where when there are things that do not seem right I need to question them and figure them out. 

I am not very corrupt, but I have known a lot of different people, and I’m a good listener, so with that and the reading, well, I know about things that might surprise you. This is my way of saying that I may be naïve in some ways, but not ridiculously so.

And yes, I do have a soft heart. I care about people. I care about the poor and the disadvantaged and the hurting. Some of that may be my nature, but also I have to say that is something that my religious beliefs encourage, and whether you are specifically LDS or some other religion, Christian or not, you will have a hard time defending being hateful on those terms.

So, that’s who I am, and that’s how I got here, on a very basic level. And you know, I feel pretty good about myself, with what I have faced and with how I turned out. I’m not perfect, but I like my path.

I get a little irritated with the condescension of those who disagree. If your only explanation for beliefs contrary to yours is a defect in the other person, frankly, you don’t seem that secure in your own beliefs. Maybe you shouldn’t be.