A RAMBLE ON RHETORIC

Many controversies are billed by respectable opinion as very complex, hard to understand and cast in "shades of grey." The same worthies often call for a repudiation of "partisanship" in favour of "moderation" and "respectful dialogue." This all has the air of something only an ass would question. But it is often a cloak for hypocrisy the so-called moderate may or may not be aware of.

It is a good idea in such situations to ask yourself whose story is not being told from her own point of view, who it is who is not being heard from. Finding this story, in fact, just trying to find this story will often tear the mask off the smooth-faced "moderates" to show a face contorted by visciousness or ignorance.

Why, after all, do some people scream in such an ugly manner? It is often because they have already tried the measured tones the moderates affect to admire, and have not been listened to by them.

And what if, for example, a "moderate" parks a tank on somebody's foot and affects astonishment and dismay when the victim shouts and curses? Is it not obscene for our smooth-faced gentleman to prattle on at this point about "moderate dialogue" or the conducting of discussions "in a tone of mutual respect"?

AND AGAIN I POST RAQUEL FROM NAKED GUN 33 1/3...

. . . for the simple reason that she's just so darned gorgeous -- especially in what must be the sexiest dress of all time.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"To write is certainly not to impose a form (of expression) on the matter of lived experience. Literature rather moves in the direction of the ill-formed or the incomplete... always in the midst of being formed, and goes beyond the matter of any livable or lived experience." -- Gilles Deleuze


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"TRAGEDY" AS A WEASEL WORD

What do you do when some party you greatly favour has done something evil and you do not have the courage, honesty, or integrity to criticize? How do you refrain from giving honest blame but at the same time assure the world you are no monster and that you take seriously the terrible loss or suffering involved?

You solve the dilemma by calling the situation "tragic." You pull a long and sombre face. You are so deeply impressed with the gravity of the situation, in fact, that you can not do anything so small as to blame anybody for it. This is no time for partisanship, is it? That, yes, would be to trivialize everything, wouldn't it? "Tragedy" here implies a great mystery which serious and responsible people do not profane by anything so silly as an explanation. The issue of personal responsibility has been transcended altogether in this august view of the situation, or at least rendered too complex for the obscenity of a moral judgement.

TRY THIS IDEA ON FOR SIZE . . .

Envy can be an act of faith. I am not talking about envy that says, "you have something I want and don't have. Therefor you must not have it." I mean the envy turned on its head that says "if God has allowed you to prosper, why not me as well? My time must therefor be coming." To stare in astonishment at another's good fortune need not be a sickening revelation of one's own preterition. It can be a message of hope and divine love. The sickly sweet taste of envy need not be the sickly sweet taste of sin and revenge, but a precursor to a higher desire's fulfilment.

LESBIAN COWBOYS WINS 2010 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FOR LESBIAN EROTICA!

Yeehaw! And one of my stories, "Fancy Pants," is in this anthology! Congratulations to Sacchi Green and Rakelle Valencia, who edited it, and to all the writers in the book.

For those of you who don't know, the Lammys are the top queer literary prizes in the world and include works in some 23 categories.

Now if only I could get Facebook to work for me so I can go and talk about it there! I've been dealing with some computer oriented problems that have been slowing me down on the net and reducing my posting and such considerably. But it will all get cleared up shortly.

WHAT IS AN ARTIST?

Here is one conception: Abbie Hoffman once said, apparently, that trying to change the world without a counterculture is like trying to ski without snow. Exactly. Artists help to produce the counterculture in which change is possible. Never say to an artist, "your book (painting, play, music, whatever) is all very well but what are you going to do to change things?" To ask such a question is to oppose art to "action," as if we could take it for granted that art is not a form of action.