Wednesday, July 30, 2014

THE ROAD TO HELL: A PERSONAL, MORTIFYING JOURNEY

A friend of mine contacted me about my recent Blog story on one Alec Peters. "I understand your anger and disgust with him," they said. "but I think you're getting carried away with your emotions and it shows in your writing so that you are coming across as a ranting juvenile. I'm not the only one who sees it this way."

Now, it may come as a bit of a surprise, but I greatly appreciated that insight into my behavior. Self-awareness is a fickle thing. You think you've got it and then, "wham!", you find out you were absolutely mistaken. While I have no problem being perceived as passionate, I was hoping to avoid the whole "foaming at the mouth" imagery. Alas, apparently I've crossed that line without even being aware of it. That sucks for me, because, while I really don't care what stupid people think of me, there are definitely those out there who are intelligent, decent people, and whose opinions I greatly respect. So when one of them has the temerity to say "Hey, Don, you're being a dick", well, I assume I am, in fact, being a dick.

And so, here I am at a crossroads, uncertain as to how to go forward, or whether I should go forward at all. If I'm just an idiot screaming into the wind, why bother? Go on to what end? How did I get to this point? It's that same old story: guy gets burned, guy rages against the darkness, guy turns into an asshole. Or, as I call it, Wednesday.

Which can all be distilled down to maybe, just maybe, I've put too much "Wrath" in "Wrath of Dhan". What started as a joke has come to be far too literal. The joke's on me.

So, what to do? No one is particularly worried about my ranting in a review of a phaser, naturally. But eventually, The Buffoon King will make yet another entrance, bringing new stupidity and lies (I think I hear some now, BTW!). Should I stand aside and let the inmates run the asylum? Perhaps so.

But my friend also added this: "I'm not telling you to stop writing about Alec when he pulls crap like this,  but I would advise trying to maintain a little more distance and objectivity in your writing."

So can it be just that simple? Maybe so. Maybe my new mantra needs to be: "Whoa, there, buttercup. Calm down." But calming down doesn't mean don't fight the fight. It just means turn down the volume. Make your point with more flair and less phlegm.

I think I can do that. Please don't misunderstand me. I stand behind every view I've ever written about in this Blog. But going forward, I will stay on message and do so in a less...wrathful way.

Let me give it a shot:

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While I don't support anyone ripping off collectors – and only complete idiots would think or say that I do – I will admit that I don't give one flying crap about whether or not Alec Peters was ripped off. Frankly, if he was, well... karma's a bitch, man.

That's right: I have no problem with anyone taking advantage of Alec Peters. I'm a huuuuge fan of the idea. I am NOT saying he WAS ripped off. But IF he was, I say "what goes around, comes around".

If you hear about a bully getting his ass kicked, do you care? I sure don't.

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So how was that? Concise and to the point and no "mouth foaming" or histrionics in sight.

So, to my readers I promise this: I will do my best to keep the tone in a more reasonable range. I will in no way give anyone a pass, of course – I can't take ALL the "wrath" out of Wrath of Dhan, after all. But frothing will be an option that I will try my absolute best to avoid.

LLAP

Don





2 comments:

  1. You're not crossing any line and are not being a dick. Please don't let your so called friend tell you how to feel or how to, or not, express yourself. I bet your friend is the only one who sees it that way. Is this person a friend of Peters? Sure sounds like it. You are telling the truth with facts and should be proud you are not allowing yourself to be bullied by Peters. Since when is telling the truth and exposing someone for the true person they are wrong? I, and many others, disagree with your friends observations.

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    1. While I appreciate the support as well as your point of view, one of the things that I DON'T want to do is be anything like Peters. He's the one that froths at the mouth and makes people roll their eyes. That's never been what I wanted to achieve. And my friend is NO fan of Peters. Quite the contrary. FWIW, all I'm talking about is a change in tone, not mission.

      Thanks for reading.

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