"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Manga and American Politics

Strange how my mind makes connections in unlikely places. One of the points in Saiyuki, reiterated again and again, is that the four heroes rely on themselves. It's stated various ways, but it boils down to that. As Sanzo says in a preview of Saiyuki Reload at the end of Saiyuki, vol. 9: "Since the day I was born and until I die, the only side I'm on is my own." It's an extreme statement, but then he's an extreme character.

And then I see something like this, from digby on opposition to Prop 8:

Conservatives are starting to feel very, very freaked out. And they tend to be the type of people who believe violence is the best answer for everything. You do the math.

Whether conservatives actually believe violence is the best answer for everything is an open question in my mind, although the evidence, such as it is, seems to point that way. But what's operative here is simply the fact that they tend to invest heavily outside themselves for validation. It's that authority thing again: truth comes from on high, and that includes the truth about who you are, whether "on high" knows beans about it or not. So it's easy to get violent about something like equal rights for gays: your authority figure -- and don't forget, it's sacred -- is being attacked, and if that goes down, you're toast.

Personal note: growing up when I did and where I did, there wasn't a lot of outside validation available to me. "Smart" and "talented" were double-edged: teachers though they were pluses; my peers, not so much. Liking boys was completely beyond the Pale. So maybe it's no surprise that I'm very sympathetic to Sanzo and his crew -- I've pretty much had to do it myself.

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