I have found myself trying to write when world affairs are of such magnitude that they chase the book out of my head. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, and the tragic death of one of the rally attendees and the wounding of two others – well the social media reaction alone has put most things out of my head. As usual, I am stunned by the inability of people to think several steps ahead — something a writer, perforce, has to do all the time.
Try to grasp the idea that while it is too late to now become aware of the wildly inflammatory rhetoric that gave rise to this, what you really need to wind in hard are the many idiots saying variations of ‘pity he missed’ — because that is fuel for copycats, thinking this conduct was acceptable and doing it will make them a hero. The right way forward is to label the perp as what was: a mentally deranged murderous loser, who brought shame on himself, disgrace to his family, and made those who fomented this into pariahs. Frankly, this isn’t the job the party that has been attacked, but those supporting the victim’s opponent. The wisest option is to point out how this has lifted their opponent’s share in the polls, and tell their followers it was the stupidest thing they could do. The next little scumbag may not miss (or may, it doesn’t matter) but the reaction next time (especially if they don’t miss) is likely to make the worst bogey-men dug up to demonize their opponent look like cute soft-toys.
One of my biggest problems as a writer is that villains in fiction need to have some intelligence, some motivation that makes some kind of sense — or at least mine do. Maybe that is what I am doing wrong. When I look at real life I find myself saying ‘please make it make sense.’ Seriously, it may in real life too, at least in the head of some not very bright individual with no longer term logical thinking. It’s just quite hard for me to wrap my head around, as I am the opposite sort of person.
Anyway. I am going to read a Louis L’Amour — CONHAGER and escape this world for one… better ordered, more hopeful, and getthe tone of my mind back. It seems appropriate, with the hero the kind of man you just don’t push, and who understood that to be a man was to be responsible. Good role models if nothing else.
Mad Genius Club 
7 responses to “In times like these…”
Some wag noticed that the attempt took place at 6:11, and the relevance of Ephesians 6:11.
Just because minions are shortsighted backstabbing fools, doesn’t imply the nonexistence of a plan.
Humanity does truly have the capacity for the worst behavior at times. And while I agree totally that those who have been inflaming the “rhetoric” need to admit what they were doing and apologize, we also know that will never happen.
But I think this is precisely the reason why we look for sense in our fiction – real life doesn’t make sense, so we escape to fiction to at least for a little while live in a reality that can help us find our footing again!
Meanwhile, Louis L’Amour is great escapism – I’m currently carrying Killoe around in my purse 😀
Our republic was saved by divine intervention. Had he turned his head at <i>just that moment</i>, or the wind been slightly different, I believe all restraints would have been removed and we would be seeing a series of political assassinations the likes of which this country has never imagined.
The terrible thing is that some of them would have been deserved–but could we staunch the bleeding before we lost (what’s left of) the Republic?
Historically, it never has been.
Read Theodore Dalrymple’s Life At The Bottom. Then really consider whether you want realism, because these hollow-headed twits who literally can not connect between the moral standards they demand of others and their entirely amoral judgements of their own acts are unpleasant and tedious.
“I have found myself trying to write when world affairs are of such magnitude that they chase the book out of my head.”
Yes, me too. Being a foreigner and watching these events from a different country, honestly it doesn’t matter. I’m still in it. If the USA catches a cold, Canada gets pneumonia.
I think the thing that’s the worst is that I’m offended by the cluelessness of the Secret Service. Due to a lifetime of asking questions and wondering about stuff like this, I -know- what they did wrong and I know how stupid they had to be to manage it. Stupidity offends me, particularly when it gets people killed. That’s why I don’t work in hospitals anymore, I can’t take it. Every time a patient dies because some MORON f-ed up by the numbers, I can’t sleep for a week and my teeth are showing all day.
So what I’m doing this week, starting yesterday, is not looking at the news.
Currently the “news” does not inform me, it tries to herd me where some rich man wants me to go. That it seems has always been the case, its just that now we can see the man behind the curtain. But that man is STILL PULLING THE LEVER, trying to hold my attention even though I can see him standing there, pulling it.
Logically, this means my attention is best directed elsewhere. If the political elite wants me upset and panicked, my best bet is to chill out, calm my frazzled nerves and have a beer while I ignore the hell out of their kabuki theater.
My self-defense nowdays is to go for rides on my bike. Take a run down to the lake, blast down a few back roads, blow the dust off my CPU. You can’t be thinking about the news when you’re leaning over and touching you knee to the ground in a corner, the brain will not allow it.
So I go out for a rip, come home and write. I’ll let you know how that works out for the rest of the week. ~:D