It should be fairly clear by now that I hate my blog. I think opinions are over-rated, and this blog has ended up as a sort of dumping ground for them. It's not as if I'm really in much of a position to comment on anything at all. Therefore, although this story caught my attention, I won't try and stretch my abilities further than they will go by offering commentary.
What I will do, however, is to make a kind of public statement. In a story I wrote some years back, published in the collection Rule Dementia!, there is a theme that could be taken to be 'anti-ginger'. I'd just like to make it clear that, in real life, I am not anti-ginger, and certainly do not condone violence towards people with red hair. If anything, I support the idea of ginger-love.
Perhaps my interest in 'ginger' could be described as a kind of 'Orientalism', and then the question arises, is there such a thing as 'racist love'? There is an unpublished and unfinished piece of mine somewhere that has the title, Ginger Stepchild. It is scattered across two or three different notebooks. The use of such a title betrays a fascination with, and attraction to, difference. The difference becomes the eye of a vortex, which can be seen as beautiful or ugly. Is it wrong to want to plunge into that vortex?
“Then why do you do it?”Well, why do I breathe? I wish I wouldn’t.”Does that mean your opinions or those of others? If it means opinions of others, does that mean you’d rather NOT have people comment? I can certainly stop if you wish me to do so.”I feel backed into a corner now. Er… I don’t know.But communication can take place without ‘opinions’. I suppose what I mean is that there’s a deeply ingrained oppositional attitude in, well, I hate to say it, in Western culture. Discussion seems to tend always to the digging in of heels, and to little else. “The story about the animosity towards redheads is ludicrous. I think some people have too much time on their hands.”I think they’ve just never been shown the many wonderful ways they could be using that time because it’s largely assumed in ‘our’ culture that if you’re not working, then you must be up to mischeif.
“It should be fairly clear by now that I hate my blog.”Then why do you do it?”I think opinions are over-rated, and this blog has ended up as a sort of dumping ground for them.”Does that mean your opinions or those of others? If it means opinions of others, does that mean you’d rather NOT have people comment? I can certainly stop if you wish me to do so. The story about the animosity towards redheads is ludicrous. I think some people have too much time on their hands.”Is it wrong to want to plunge into that vortex?” I don’t know. I guess it depends on the situation.