Bryce Moore's Blog, page 135

March 1, 2018

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid's TaleThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood


I remember my brother reading this his senior year of high school. At the time, I was a sophomore, and big time into epic fantasy. (These days, it’s the same, only now I’m sophomoric instead of just a sophomore.) The cover looked boring as all get out, and he said he didn’t really enjoy the book. Too gloomy. That was enough for me to put it on my “Books I Never Really Want to Read” list, where it stayed happily for years.


Until a few things happened.


First off, Hulu adapted the book, and I heard a lot of great buzz around the adaptation. Pair that with the chance to view the book in a new light (It’s dystopian? That’s cool. And it’s like 1984? Even cooler.) And then add in the fact that I’d like to think I’ve matured as a reader, and combine it all with the book going on sale a few weeks ago on Kindle, and apparently that’s what it takes for a book to be removed from my “Books I Never Really Want to Read” list. (Maybe Anne of Green Gables still has a chance. Is it dystopian?)


I finished the book a week ago, and it’s really stuck with me. I’m so glad I read it, especially in light of today’s political atmosphere. It’s always scary to me just how good authors can be at thinking through what might realistically happen in the future. Atwood wrote this in 1985, and yet it feels so fitting to the rhetoric of today. How people might use religion as a blunt instrument to tyrannize the country. How women could swiftly be relegated to second, third, or fourth class citizens. I’m not saying that’s what’s happening in America now, but if you went back in time 3 years and told me what America would look like today, I would have said you were crazy.


And yet here we are.


This book is fantastic. It’s definitely based on a mature subject, and it’s not a light read, but I feel like it’s an important one. Just to gain perspective on what might happen and what sort of effects decisions we make could have. The characters are well drawn and compelling, but it’s the setting that really sets this book above and beyond other things I’ve read. The society is so fully realized through a limited perspective. Just an amazing job for an author to pull off.


The premise is straightforward: in the near future, a religious fervor swept through the country, changing laws and attitudes. The net result is that women were stripped of the right to own money and make their own decisions. Adultery and other sins are punishable by death. Birth rates have plummeted due to pollution, and to combat that, the government has forced some women to become Handmaid’s: governmentally approved birthing vessels, essentially. They go from man to man, stay with him for a year or so and do their best to get pregnant. I could go on, but it really needs to be experienced firsthand. It’s told (obviously) from the point of view of one of the Handmaid’s, weaving in her experiences in the present with what happened to her in the past.


So if you were like me and trying to avoid the book because of the boring cover, it’s time to grow up. Give it a shot. It’s a fantastic read. 10/10


View all my reviews


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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.


If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

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Published on March 01, 2018 10:23

February 28, 2018

Comedy Break: Fluffernutter Sriracha Sandwiches

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There’s just too much bad in the world at the moment for me to feel up to writing another serious blog post today. Lucky for me, my family and I just finished my mom’s birthday video this year.


If you didn’t know, we’ve turned this into a yearly tradition. She’s not the easiest person to buy gifts for, so I’ve gone the homemade route, making videos for her that fit some sort of theme. Our first one was Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, since she’s a big Manilow fan.



We took a year off. (I can’t remember why.) But we came back with a vengeance, producing a video for The Lion Sleeps Tonight, starring MC as the Lion:



This was followed the next year by another of Mom’s favorite groups: the Carpenters, with a video of Close to You.



And last year, we spoofed the opening credits of one of her favorite shows, The Waltons:



This year, we returned to the Manilow well, doing a video for his hit song, It’s a Miracle. And so without further ado, I present you this year’s video. It takes a surprising turn, and we had a lot of fun with it. Happy birthday, Mom!



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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.


If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

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Published on February 28, 2018 08:50

February 27, 2018

Credit Card Hacking Update

largeBack at the beginning of November, I let you all know I was going to dip my toe into the world of credit card churning: applying for credit cards one after another to get their sign-up bonuses and rack up points and miles. The goal was simple: I use my credit card almost exclusively for everything I buy, and I pay it off in full each month, religiously. So why not put all that credit card usage to work for me? I read all about how easy it was, and how it wouldn’t hurt your credit score, yada yada yada.


So here I am, four months later, and I have a bit of experience in the area now. (Not a ton, but enough to give some feedback.)


Basically, if you fall into the same category that I described myself above, then you should be doing this. Flat out no brainer. I applied for the Chase Ink Business Preferred card for my first one. I used my author job as my business, but they’re quite flexible on what they count as a “business.” Basically, if you do anything where you’re buying or selling stuff on the side, you can count it for the purposes of Chase. Ebay sniping? Sure. Antiquing? Why not. Selling eggs? You betcha.


Signing up qualified me for 80,000 free points IF I spent $5,000 in the first three months. I had already done the research to know I spent more than that on credit cards on average, so it seemed like a low enough risk. And sure enough, I spent the money and got the bonus. I then referred Denisa for the same card. (They give you 20,000 free points if someone else uses your referral code to get the card.) She got the card. We used it as our main card for the next bit, and now we just completed our spend for that. I got the 20,000 free points for her signing up, and she’ll get the 80,000 free points.


I now have something in the neighborhood of 200,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points kicking around. (If you’d like to sign up for the same card, please use my referral code by clicking here. But please only do it if you’re going to spend responsibly.) Do be aware that this card has a $95 annual fee. At the end of the first year, you don’t cancel it. (That’s bad for credit scores, and largely unnecessary.) Rather, you downgrade the card to an Ink Business Cash card. That has no annual fee. So even though I’ll have paid $190 in annual fees for a single year, I’ll have gotten 180,000 points out of the deal, which can be turned into $1,800 of cash at the least. (More on that in a minute.)


One of the big concerns was what this would do to my credit. I had excellent credit to begin with, and for the first month or two, my credit score did indeed dip by about 50 points. However, as of just now, my credit score is actually up 10 points higher than it started. It recovered and even improved. So it looks like having more credit available really does outweigh applying for more cards. And that’s even after I applied for another card yesterday.


My next card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which should indicate my confidence level in this. See, that card has an annual fee of $450. Earlier me would have said I was nuts to get a card that you have to pay that much each year to keep. But now I didn’t just apply for it, I’m planning on keeping it active year after year. Why?



Each year, it credits you with $300 to go toward travel expenses. So if you fly or stay at hotels at all that year, that basically covers $300 of the $450 right there. $150 sounds much more reasonable, doesn’t it?
Better still, when it comes time for me to redeem my points for airline tickets, it gives me a 50% bonus on those points. So that turns my 180,000 bonus points that I’ve earned so far into 270,000 bonus points. (Which is why I’m not turning them in for cash back. Since I fly so often, it makes so much more sense to just use those points for travel.)
Beyond that, it has awesome travel insurance perks, airport lounge access, and other nice bonuses. Back in September when my brother in law’s flight was canceled because his airline went insolvent, I was left hanging out to dry. If I’d bought those tickets with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I’d have gotten reimbursed. I’ll pay a bit of money each year for that peace of mind.

To get the 50,000 free points for signing up with this card, I’ll need to spend $4,000 in the next three months. I’ve got trips to DC and New Orleans planned that I have to pay for. I’ve got that covered.


What do 270,000 Chase points get me in airfare, though? Well, let’s look at that trip to New Orleans I’ll be taking in June for ALA. Right now on Kayak (my typical go-to source for flights), I can get a roundtrip, non-stop ticket from Boston to New Orleans for $187 on Spirit Airlines. Or, if I’d rather go with luggage and fly Delta, it would be $224. I can buy the exact same flights through Chase’s rewards sites, only using points instead of dollars. So my 270,000 points would buy me 14 round trip, non-stop tickets to New Orleans on Spirit, or 12 on Delta. (Multiply the price by 100, and that gets you the approximate point price. So 270,000 is about $2,700 in flight value.)


It doesn’t just have to be flights, either. I could rent cars with those points. Buy tickets to Universal Studios in Orlando. There are some restrictions, and I might be able to find a better deal outside of Chase’s site, but that’s okay. I don’t have to spend all those points by a certain date. They don’t expire.


I could also transfer those points over to United or British Airways or any number of other programs, so I can shop around for the best redemption value of the points as well.


What I mean to say is, these points have real value.


There is a learning curve involved. I did some research on what cards to get and in what order. (Chase in particular can be finicky about what they let you get, and how many cards.) I personally felt like the Ink Business Card was the way to start, since its reward is the best, and that might go down at any point in time. If you decide to go with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I’ll have a referral link for that in about a week.


Anyway. There you have it. I keep track of all these cards in a simple spreadsheet. I set up automatic payments on all of them. It’s a slight pain to juggle the different pieces of plastic, but not overly burdensome, and I really feel like it’s worth the hassle. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.


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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.


If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

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Published on February 27, 2018 11:14

February 26, 2018

Sunday Talk: Linguistics and Covenants

[image error]Another month, another sermon. This time I ended up wanting to just talk religion, but linguistics kept butting in, so I eventually just ran with it. Interestingly, several people came up to me afterward to talk about how much they loved linguistics and how happy they were that I spoke so much on the topic. In any case, here’s my talk this month:


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Often when we get a speaking assignment, it comes in the form of an entire talk. Speaking from experience, it’s usually quite easy to find twenty minutes of speaking material lying around in another person’s twenty minute talk. It’s kind of like walking down the beach looking for seashells. They’re all there, and all you need to do is pick the ones you like the most.


I’ve been given other speaking topics before, of course. The hardest one I can remember being given was a fragment of a single verse from scripture: D&C 64:23. “He that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming.” If you know me, you know I’m not heavily invested into fire and brimstone motivation, so coming up with fifteen or twenty minutes around that concept took a few bobs and weaves.


For this month, the stake presidency gave us a single sentence from President Nelson. At first, I thought that wasn’t going to be too big of a problem. A sentence is more than a fragment, after all. Then I read the sentence. “Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.”


Now, I read that sentence on paper, where it’s usually easier to understand something. Even then, I had to read it a few times to try and figure out exactly what was being said. I got the general gist of it, but once I tried to restate it into my own words, I discovered it wasn’t as easy to do as it would at first seem.


Somehow, in my search to make sense of this sentence, I ended up tying it to two overarching themes. In college, I double majored in Linguistics and English. Both majors ended up informing my remarks today.


First, allow me to wave my language nerd flag for a moment. President Nelson’s sentence is a little complex, and I think some interesting things rise to the surface when we parse it apart. “Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.”


What, exactly, is the subject of that sentence? As a quick refresher, for any of you who might have blocked all memory of diagramming sentences from your mind, subjects are the active things in a sentence. They’re the things that get things done. In the sentence “I ate all the brownies,” I’m the subject. I’m the guy eating all the brownies.


In President Nelson’s sentence, what is it? Is it covenants? Keeping the covenants? I’ll read it one more time. “Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.”


The subject is “your commitment.” And what’s the verb? The thing that gets done? In my first example, the verb is “ate.” I was the one doing all the eating, and eating was what was getting done. In President Nelson’s sentence, the verb is “will open.” Our commitment will open–will open what? What’s the object? In my example, the object was the brownies. Brownies were getting eaten. In President Nelson’s sentence, it’s “the door.” “The door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available.”


So to restate that sentence simply, “Your commitment will open the door to blessings.”


When I first read the sentence, I thought it was simply saying that the covenants we make are the things that bring us blessings. But in this case, it’s the commitment we show to the Savior that bring us those blessings. We just happen to show that commitment by making and keeping covenants. Is there a difference?


As long as I’ve already outed myself as a card-carying word nerd, I might as well stick with it for a while longer. I’m going to turn to a couple of definitions to bring clarity to that. First of all, let’s look at the word “covenant.” It comes to us from Latin’s convenire, which means “to convene,” through Old French’s covenire, which means “to agree.” In Latin, it’s a mashup of “con” (together) and “venire” (come). Ultimately, it traces its roots back to the proto Indo European root *gwa-, which meant “to go” or “come.” Words that share this root include (believe it or not) acrobat, adventure, convent, coven, event, intervene, invent, juggernaut, revenue, souvenir, and welcome.


But the word wasn’t used in the scriptural sense until later translations of the Bible. In Hebrew, the word was berith, which is the ordinary term for contract or alliance. In Greek, it was diatheke, which meant “disposition by will,” or “testament.” In Old Latin, it was almost always translated as “testamentum,” where we now have “testament.” It wasn’t until later on that translators began using the word “covenant.”


Why go into all this detail? Because language is flexible. It can mean one thing today and a different thing tomorrow. It’s basically a way to transmit thought, and if we’d like to understand the thoughts someone was having when they wrote something hundreds of years ago, it can be illuminating to see where those thoughts originated, and what those words meant at the time.


Does it change your understanding of the Old and New Testament to know that they could have been translated the Old and New Covenant, instead? Does it change how you approach making and keeping covenants to think of them as living testaments to your devotion to God? It does for me.


Translating words from one language into another allows error to creep into a message, like a long game of telephone, centuries in the making. When I was on my mission in Germany, I saw this firsthand. One day I was trying to help a fifth grader with her math homework. She had a series of word problems that were proving tricky for her, but when I said I could help with those word problems, she got very offended. It turns out that the phrase “word problem” in German means something fairly different. I hadn’t said I’d help her with her math problems. I’d told her I’d help fix her speech impediment.


Another example. A few months earlier, I’d just finished a delicious homemade dinner a member family had prepared for us. Rouladen, kloesse, rotkohl–the works. And the mother of the family had generously asked if I wanted some more. I said no thank you, and she looked at me like I’d just spit in her face. My companion whispered to me, “You said Nein bitte. Say Nein danke. To my untrained ear, bitte and danke were two ways of being polite. Niceties that didn’t have much to differentiate the two words. But saying Nein danke in German means, “No thank you, that was delicious.” Saying Nein bitte essentially means “That was terrible, please don’t give me anymore.” At least, that’s what I walked away understanding.


Words have meaning. They have power.


I’m not done with the linguistics lesson, however. Language is a pretty remarkable thing. It can convey an almost limitless array of thoughts, but it’s not just limited to that use. It can also accomplish things in and of itself. If a priest says to two people standing in front of him in a church, “I now pronounce you man and wife,” those words have done something. Before he spoke them, the two people were single. Afterward, they’re married. Speaking caused something to happen. Words like that are referred to by linguists as speech acts.


When we make covenants, we essentially are completing a speech act. We are baptized. Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Married. The words make it happen, which makes me think of John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”


But of course, from my earlier discussion, we can now recognize that concept being conveyed there wasn’t our modern definition of “word,” but rather the Greek definition of logos, which doesn’t just mean word, but can also refer to discourse or reason. It was used in Psalms 33:6–“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”


There’s an entire talk to be written about that topic, but I’ll limit myself today to simply observe that words are important to God. They are binding and powerful in a way we only partly understand, it seems. Speech acts change our lives, but they are ultimately only as powerful as our commitment to them. One of the first commandments was to not take the name of God in vain. Why is that?


In 1929, Edward Sapir, a linguist at the University of Chicago, posited that a language can alter the way its speakers perceive reality. This concept was further refined by Benjamin Lee Whorf at Yale, and today the concept is known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Hypothesis, because it hasn’t been definitively proven, but it’s still something which has affected modern society to a great extent, and judging by the commandments God has given us, it’s something He also believes we should consider.


Let me give an example to make this clearer. In English, it has long been accepted that if a speaker wants to refer to someone generically, the proper way to do this is to use the masculine pronoun. The scriptures use the gender-neutral “he” often. When Christ says He will make His apostles fishers of men, we are to understand He’s not just referring to men, but to all people. But several decades ago, the concept of a gender neutral “he” was challenged, with some arguing that by always using “he” or “him,” women are subtly repressed, with their opinions and needs taking a back seat to the masculine. Thus, you’ll often hear people use “he or she” or “him or her” these days instead of the gender neutral masculine.


There is a fair bit of debate in some circles about this concept, with some decrying it as overblown political correctness. Having looked at the studies and thought it through on my own, I believe the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has merit. If we continually talk about something in a certain way, our views on that thing can and will change. If society does it as a whole, that can’t help but affect society as well.


Another example. I imagine many of you were required to read Homer in school at some point. The Odyssey, or the Illiad. Homer’s always talking about the ocean in his epic poems, and a phrase he will usually use is “the wine-dark sea.” Did you know one word he never uses to describe the ocean? Blue doesn’t appear in Ancient Greek at all. In fact, it’s not present in a number of ancient languages, from Icelandic to ancient Chinese. It doesn’t appear as a color until Egyptian.


Colors seem to be differentiated over time in a culture. White and black are the two basic colors, and they’re recognized first. Then comes red, followed by yellow and green. But in a fascinating experiment, it appears that not having a word for a color affects a person’s ability to see that color in the first place.


The Himba tribe in Namibia still has no word for blue, and they could not distinguish between shades of blue and shades of green. Speakers were presented with a circle of colored squares. When each square was green except for one blue one, they had difficulty identifying the one different square. When presented with squares that were many different shades of green, however, they had no trouble spotting the differences. Their language has many words for different shades of green.


Language is so often taken for granted, and speaking as a trained linguist, it is very often misunderstood. It’s something we learn without being taught, and often those are the things we question the least. We just assume something is the way it is, because that’s the way it’s always been. The concept of changing something that fundamental can seem foreign or threatening. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be challenged.


Thankfully, when it comes to religion, we do have a way to circumvent language: revelation. When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, and later on when he worked on his translation of the Bible, he was not relying on linguistic study, language classes, and in-depth analyses of a text. He received inspiration from God. When translation work is done to bring the Book of Mormon to a new language these days, I’ve seen first hand the amount of thought and prayer that goes into it. This is anything but Google Translate.


Likewise, as we hear talks in General Conference, we can be entitled to the same revelation and inspiration. Often in my experience, what is being said ends up taking a back seat to what is being understood. I have had plenty of experience going into a meeting and getting one thing out of it, while the person sitting next to me seems to have heard something entirely different. I don’t believe this is the fault of the speaker. I think it’s a strength of revelation. We can be provided with tailor made help to assist us with our personal struggles.


So sometimes language is transcended by the Spirit. And while I could dwell longer on the specifics of President Nelson’s sentence, there comes a time when I need to move forward and actually discuss how to implement his advice. Some of you probably think that time was about ten minutes ago, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for a good linguistics lecture.


President Nelson advises us to commit to following the Savior by making and keeping covenants. As we do so, we will be blessed. I think we can all get behind the need for blessings, so while I could look at what blessings we might receive, I’d rather focus on how to commit.


First off, how do you know if you’re truly committed? Satan would like us to focus on our shortcomings. He’d like us to point out the hypocrisy in others. And there are times when I get really frustrated with some of the sentiments expressed by fellow adherents of my faith. I hear people say sexist, racist, homophobic, terrible things, and it makes me angry and disappointed. How can these supposed righteous followers of Jesus Christ espouse such hateful ideas? I try to remind myself that my own views in other areas may be similarly infuriating to others. We are all growing and learning at different rates, and if we always choose to focus on others’ shortcomings, we will never be able to make the progress we need to attain salvation.


I’m reminded of two LDS politicians: Mitt Romney and Harry Reid. Mitt Romney, of course, is a prominent Republican who ran for President. Harry Reid was the Democrat Senate Majority Leader for 8 years. I have heard members criticize both politicians for the public stands they have taken over the years on a variety of issues. Yet both can be 100% committed to the covenants they have made while having diametrically opposed viewpoints.


It’s one thing to say “I am committed,” but it’s another to show that commitment by our actions. In the church, we often talk about the way faith and works combine together to help us return to live with God. We believe being saved involves more than simply saying a set of words, though at times I feel we focus too heavily on the works and not enough on the faith, thinking perhaps that if salvation costs $20, it’s up to us to come up with $19.50, and Christ will cover the last two quarters. I tend to think it’s the opposite. One of us might be able to scrape together fifty cents, and another might only manage a nickel or two, but in the grand scheme of things, we all need so much more than that to be saved, and Christ gifts us with that balance.


A few years ago, I was helping my son clean his room. It’s always easier for me to clean someone else’s mess. I’m not emotionally attached to other people’s clutter the same way I am to my own. I opened his lower drawer and began hauling out random pieces of paper that had been jammed in there over the years, tossing them into the recycling bin one by one. He stopped me, frantic. “Don’t throw those away. Those are important to me!”


I paused and looked at the papers. They were creased and tattered. I looked back at my son and arched an eyebrow. “Are they really important? If they are, why have they been crammed in the bottom of your drawer all this time?” They might have been important, but they certainly weren’t important enough. Not important enough to treat with care and respect. Not important enough to make sure they stayed straight and clean.


We all do this with important things in our lives. What is the condition of various important things to us? Our relationships. Our faith. Our word? The best way I know of to tell what’s important to a person is to watch how they spend their time.


Time is finite. We all have the same amount each day. A rich person has the same 24 hours as a poor person, though perhaps he or she might be forced to spend more of that time to make ends meet. But almost everyone in America has a fair bit of free time. Time they spend watching football or playing video games or going to church or reading books or playing games with their family.


Think about your time. How is it spent? In writing, we talk about the “show don’t tell” principle. Recently, I was helping some friends with their college application essays. Writing about yourself is always a tricky situation, especially when you’re trying to impress someone. There’s something about saying “I’m an awesome person, and you really ought to accept me into your university” that just doesn’t come across too well.


There’s a reason for that, however. It’s because you’re just telling someone that you’re awesome. If you can somehow show them that instead, they will reach the conclusion on their own, which is always much stronger.


If I say “I love my children,” you have to take my word for it. If I describe the things I do with and for my children–the hours spent helping them with their homework or reading to them each evening, the trips we go on together, and the activities we do every day–then an outsider might observe that I love my children. I don’t just say I do, I do. If, on the other hand, I were to say I love them, but spend no time with them, constantly ignore them or berate them, and complain any time one of them needed help, then it wouldn’t really matter what I said. My actions would show the reality.


Sometimes, we may honestly believe we think something, but if we take a close look at our actions, and how we spend our time, I’ve found the reality always comes to the surface.


Another way to look at your commitment to covenants is to ask yourself how different your life is because of the covenants you have made. If they aren’t making a significant impact, perhaps you aren’t as committed to them as you think you are. In my experience, commitment to the Gospel chafes now and then. It makes me do something I’d rather not do, or be someone I’d prefer not to be. This isn’t because it’s restricting and oppressive. It’s because the natural man is an enemy to God, and our covenants are there to help us overcome the natural man.


In my natural state, I would prefer to be on a sofa, eating brownie sundaes by the bucketful while I binge watch Netflix. That’s the baseline I’m starting from. So since I’m here in Rockland this morning, awake before 10am, I can at least say that for today, my covenants are making a significant impact on my life. We’ll see how I do this afternoon.


One of the reasons keeping covenants can be so difficult is that there is often a significant delay between our actions and our rewards. I don’t mean eternal rewards. I mean direct benefits we receive here and now in the real world. I don’t believe God’s plan of happiness means that we’ll be miserable in this life so we can finally be happy once we die. I believe it’s here to make us happy now. Today. Tomorrow. But sometimes the route to lasting happiness can be a thorny one.


We live in a society that has come to expect immediate answers. If you have a headache, you take a pill and it goes away. Having difficulty losing some weight? There are countless programs out there that promise quick, easy results. This even extends to our gaming habits. Having difficulty with a level on Candy Crush? Nothing a few dollars won’t fix for you.


But quick answers are seldom lasting solutions. They’re bandaids that get us through the here and now without doing anything to address the problems at the root of each difficulty. They’re payday loans to get out of debt today, which only make our debts worse tomorrow.


God doesn’t work that way. He has no interest in solving an issue for a minute or a day or even a year. His perspective is eternal. CS Lewis described this in his book Mere Christianity: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”


It’s been a long talk, brothers and sisters. Ranging from the nooks and crannies of linguistic theory to discussions on time management. I couldn’t blame you if things have gotten a little muddied in the last nineteen minutes. Allow me to sum up.


President Nelson said a quote you might have memorized by now: “Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.”


It’s our commitment to follow the Savior that opens the door to spiritual blessings for us. We show that commitment not just by making covenants, but by keeping them. Keeping them may be uncomfortable. In fact, it probably should be uncomfortable, because by keeping them, we are becoming better people. Bringing order to disorder is something that requires work. Planting a garden today seems like back breaking labor for no reward, especially when you could just run to the store and pick up a few tomatoes whenever you want. But over time, the benefits become clear.


I’ve seen this principle at work in my life. The Gospel is not always easy. It’s usually not. But I can directly trace each and every blessing I have received back to the covenants I have made and kept. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Published on February 26, 2018 09:42

February 23, 2018

Cord Cutting and the Olympics

[image error]First, a disclaimer. This might just be me. I’m basing my conclusions here on my own personal experiences, and there’s always a good chance that the slice of life I’m seeing is different from what’s happening across the country as a whole. But I’ve had enough discussions with friends around me that I’m at least reasonably sure of my observations.


As I’ve said before, I’m a bit of an Olympics junkie. I have always loved watching them each year, and I look forward to seeing what new cool things happen as the Games roll around. I remember talking about them with my friends in high school and in college. Everybody seemed to have been watching them along with me.


But not this year. This year, when I ask people if they’re watching the Olympics, a lot of them aren’t. For many of them, they can’t figure out a way to see them. They’ve cut cable or satellite from their homes, and the streaming options leave them scratching their heads about how exactly they can watch this thing they’ve always enjoyed. I don’t blame them. Watching live television in the more remote parts of the country is not for the faint of heart, if you don’t pay for a television subscription. You need to navigate sign ins, download the right apps, and make sure the Internet Gods are smiling on you.


Even then, the experience leaves some to be desired. The ads they play on the streaming  platforms are just plain exhausting. I know you’ll get a couple repeat ads when you watch over the air, but streaming shows you the same ads, time after time after time. It’s annoying when you’re watching something for an evening, but when you’re watching for two weeks in a row? I literally want to not buy whatever is being sold, just out of spite. It’s making me actively hate Coke, that DNA test, and Ritz crackers. DC has memorized the ads and can recite them with all the correct timing.


Of course, there are some things I really like about streaming. I love being able to watch whatever I want on demand. There’s a huge breadth of events available to me, and that’s wonderful. We watched many of the complete biathlon events where Slovakia medaled, and I’ve discovered I really love that sport. It’s a ton of fun to watch. NBC typically reduces cross country to a few overview snippets.


But I’m able to do all that because my internet-fu is strong. It’s not like that for everyone, and that means the Olympics aren’t getting the buzz they always have before. True, social media lets me connect with others who are watching, but it doesn’t feel like one of those “The World is Watching” events, and that makes me sad and nostalgic for how it was before.


This seems like a problem that can and should be fixed. If it were up to me, each of the main broadcasting networks would carry their live programming over the internet for free, without any logins. They could identify where you’re watching based on IP address, and then show you the same commercials you’d see locally. Or at the least they could show you the same local news. This is programming that’s broadcast over the air for free anyway. It’s just in the hinterlands that you can’t get it. Am I missing some vital reason that invalidates this plan?


Beyond that, I’ve noticed one other thing I’d like to comment on. People online seem to love to gripe about NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. “They won’t shut up during important times!” “They’re boring.” “They make it too much about Americans.”


I get it. There are times I’m frustrated by the same things. But I’ve watched the Olympics without the commentary, and I’m here to say that I believe that commentary is vital for the Games to be captivating. It loses a lot of the impact when you don’t know about who is competing. Last night is an excellent example. The duel between the two Russian skaters (sorry, Olympic athletes from Russia) was very well introduced. Because of all the promos and spotlights they did on those two girls, I was much more heavily invested in the outcome. When I watch the streams that just have basic “this is what they’re doing” commentary, I lose that connection. “Huh. Look. Some guy just did some move that has a strange name. I wonder if that’s difficult. I wonder if I should be impressed.”


If I were to watch one of those ice skating events live? I’d be completely lost, and (I think) bored out of my mind. I have no idea who did a double or a triple or a quad or an axel or a whatever. I need the commentary to make sense of it. Yes, I get that if you’re a big fan of the sport already, then you probably don’t need it, but let’s face it: the majority of the US don’t care about skiing, skating, curling, and all that jazz when it’s not the Olympics. We need the context.


And the Opening Ceremonies? Even that needs context, I believe. Sure, they skip some of it. But they let you watch the whole thing after the fact if you want, without or without commentary. How many people actually go back to do that? The Opening Ceremonies allow the broadcasters to set the stage. Let us know some interesting story lines to follow. And true, there are times I wish they’d branch out beyond American story lines more. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want stories.


So while I get some criticism of NBC, I think a fair bit of it is unwarranted groupthink, as people band together online to complain about something and then carry the complaints they’ve read out into the real world, repeating them as if they’re now experts in sports broadcasting. It gets a bit old.


Anyway. The Olympics are almost over, and I’ve really had a good time watching them. I’ll miss them when they’re gone, but I’m looking forward to being able to get more sleep at night. There’s always that . . .


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.


If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

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Published on February 23, 2018 09:05

February 22, 2018

When to Hide Facebook Friends

[image error]Sometimes I feel quite a bit out of place. Online talking to some of my friends, I feel like they view me as some sort of arch liberal, intent on destroying the world and ridding it of any traditional values. But then I’ll interact with real, honest-to-goodness liberals and I feel like some sort of archaic, family values standard bearer.


Honestly, this doesn’t upset me most of the time. I consider myself in between those two extremes. There are some issues where I am definitely quite liberal in my leanings, and others where I’m still staunchly conservative. It’s one of the reasons why I dislike the two party system so much and resist labels in general. A label seeks to define. I find them limiting. You’re either a liberal or a conservative. Either a Republican or a Democrat. With us or against us.


This is a problem that’s been exacerbated by social media. There are many many people that I don’t usually interact with on a daily basis. Social media makes that less possible. In some ways, that’s a good thing, right? It connects the world and brings people closer together, on its best days. But there are family members who I would normally just chit chat with about the kids and the good old days. And there are business associates who I rarely see and interact with, and when I do, it would be to discuss safe topics like the weather and how big of a pain email can be.


Sometimes, being Facebook friends with these people is a great surprise. We become closer friends and discover a lot of cool similar interests. I can say with a certainty that a lot of my new healthy lifestyle has been inspired by people I wouldn’t have rubbed elbows with much had it not been for social media. And a good deal of my open thinking is due to me talking and interacting with people on both sides of that R/D spectrum.


But there are other times when social media is definitely Not a Good Thing. Because it pushes those casual relationships farther than they can sustain. You discover just what your long lost high school friend thinks about Black Lives Matter, gun control, abortion, Donald Trump, gay marriage, and any number of other issues. Issues no one in their right mind would broach with a casual acquaintance, or someone you rarely see. Imagine going to a party, seeing someone you’ve spoken to five years ago, walking up to them, and proclaiming, “The second amendment needs to be defended at all costs. Let me tell you about this study I read the other day.”


We know better than to do this. Not because these issues aren’t important to us, but because that’s just not an appropriate party conversation to lead out with. (Sure, you could argue that it’s an issue everyone should think about, and that THEY ALL NEED TO AGREE WITH ME, but we can see that’s not going to happen, right?)


It can get even worse, of course. You don’t just see and interact with casual friends, you’re stuck talking to their casual acquaintances as well. And so social media can devolve into this sick, hellish reflection of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you’re debating with your dentist’s high school friend’s college roommate’s aunt about just how racist Donald Trump is. And it feels in that moment like it’s the most important thing in the world that you win that argument.


And social media encourages us to take sides. Not overtly, but by its nature. We make statements and read things we disagree with, and the next thing you know: argument.


Which is all just a really long way of me explaining why I hide so many friends on my Facebook and Twitter feeds. If I get to a point with a person where my main interaction with them is to read their status updates and get upset by what they believe, I hide them. Not because I want to insulate myself in a bubble, but because I have no real desire to let social media ruin relationships with friends, family, and business associates. Sure, I suppose this means I might not be Changing the World one Facebook update at a time, but I still write this blog every day and interact plenty with anyone who cares to comment, so I think I have that done.


What I mean to say is that you can (and should) get a wide spectrum of news reporting in your life, but it doesn’t have to come from Facebook. In fact, it shouldn’t. Go directly to a variety of news sites. Read it. Come up with an opinion on your own. But don’t rely on your roommate’s distant relation to fill you in on it all.


It’s not personal when I hide someone. I’ve only defriended one person in the past decade, that I can remember. I stay friends with everyone else, because I still consider them friends. But because I want to stay friends, I know when it’s time to not be quite so close.


That’s my policy. What’s yours?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.


If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

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Published on February 22, 2018 09:46

February 21, 2018

An Update on the Future of the Blog

[image error]I just have a minute or two today to write, but I wanted to let you all know how the blog is looking these days. As you’ll recall, I began to question whether what I was writing each day was a good use of my time. To put that to the test, I created a Patreon page, trying to see if I could get 10 people to commit to donating $1/month. If I could get to that level, I’d take it as sign enough that I should keep at it.


So far, I’ve had 6 people pledge a total of $8/month, so I’m 4/5 of the way to my goal. Honestly, the most surprising thing to me has been the people who have donated. I thought it would be mostly personal friends or family members, but instead it’s been people at my work or in the community. I’m humbled to accept their support, and so grateful for their generosity.


I look at some of my author friends’ Patreons. Some are bringing in thousands of dollars each month. I know $10 isn’t a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a sign to me, and it means a whole lot.


I’m planning on making my Patreon page into something more. I hope to use it to post special, exclusive content, as well as peeks into works in progress and books that ended up being set aside. I’ve written 17 novels, after all, and only 8 of those are still at some point in the submission process. I’ve got plenty of material to share, some good, some just a good example of what not to do. I’m planning on making tiers to my Patreon, giving different content to different levels of supporters.


But I’ll say this. Anyone who’s an official supporter as of the end of March is going into a special “Founders” section. They’ll always have access to all the tiers at whatever rate they choose to pay. As long as they remain Patrons, they’re there. And I will thank them personally in each and every novel I publish, as long as they remain supporters. I’m not kidding when I say how impressed I am by their generosity, and I hope that will pay it back at least a little. If you’re still interested in supporting me, the page is ready and willing to take donations.


In the meantime, I’m also adding back a small bit of advertising to the site. Just a simple link to THE MEMORY THIEF on Amazon. You’ll see it over there on the right of the page now. That takes you to Amazon’s site, and while you’re there on that visit, anything you buy will send a portion (about 2-4% of the price) to me. It’s kind of a “Finder’s Fee” incentive program Amazon uses. So if you’re going to buy something on Amazon anyway, and you’d like to support the page and me as an author, you can click that link first and do it without paying a dime.


The one trick is that I need to have three people use that in the next three months. After that, I’ll have to reapply for it. If three people use it before then, then I’m good to go, I think. So if you’re buying something from Amazon, please consider using that link to get there.


In any case, thanks to all for reading and for your comments and support. They’re all much appreciated!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.


If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

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Published on February 21, 2018 11:53

February 20, 2018

Dear Gun Lobby: If You’d Like America to Ban Guns, Keep Doing What You’re Doing

[image error]


I didn’t always support a ban on guns. If you had asked me six years ago what my stance on gun control was, I would have been mostly ambivalent. I would have repeated some studies I’d read, reiterated the idea that I don’t personally want a gun in my house, but expressed a “to each his or her own” sort of mentality. Six years ago is not that long ago.


But I write this blog every weekday, more or less, and so you can actually trace the path I’ve taken to arrive where I am today. Let me break it down for you, blow by blow:



March 28, 2012: Trayvon Martin is shot and killed, and I wrote this piece called A Ramble on Race, Violence, and Uninformed Opinions. It focused mainly on the specific details of the shooting. A relevant quote: “I don’t want to turn this conversation into a debate on gun control laws. At this point, I’m not even sure where I want this conversation going.” I wasn’t prepared to discuss gun control in connection with this event. It seemed overwhelming, and it seemed like other factors should be addressed first.
December 15, 2012: Sandy Hook happens. I write a piece called Gun Control, Mental Illness, Shootings, and Blame. I attribute the cause of the shooting to a number of factors, with gun control listed first. A relevant quote: “Getting guns should be difficult. It should require a background check. It should require registration. It should require a waiting period. There should be limits on the types of guns you can own, the types of bullets you can buy. The number of guns you can have. The same holds true for body armor. Register for its use. Keep a database of who owns what. If someone has a bunch of guns and body armor, I think we need to keep an eye on them. At least be aware they’re out there.” I didn’t call for an outright ban or anything. Just wanted laws to be tighter. It’s important to note that after this post, a friend contacted me on Facebook and went into detail about gun control laws and why they would have been ineffective. I read the article he linked to, and I respected it. It made sense. I backed off my immediate knee-jerk reaction.
January 15, 2014: An elderly man shoots another man dead in a movie theater over a fight about texting. I write a piece called (appropriately enough) Guns, Movie Theaters, and Texting. A relevant quote: “I think the Second Amendment has reached religious proportions with some proponents, and it’s held far too holy and sacrosanct.”
June 18, 2015: Nine people are shot to death in a South Carolina church, and I wrote a piece called Mass Shootings: Everyone Else’s Problem. A relevant quote: “People like to view this as someone else’s problem. If you personally love guns, then it’s too easy to defend your passion and blame the other factors. The same holds true for video games, mental health issues, news media, Hollywood depictions–you name it.” I also came to the conclusion: “What can I do personally? I can vote for politicians who will make solutions a priority. I can withhold my money from movies that present a skewed vision of reality. I can take a look at the role violence plays in the novels I write, and make sure I’m handling the material responsibly. I can speak out online when people try to dodge the blame or pin it on others. It’s not just someone else’s problem. It’s our problem. And anyone who doesn’t admit that is only proving my point.” I began to seriously consider what I could personally do to make a difference, first in myself, and perhaps in others.

October 6, 2015: 9 people are shot and killed at Umpqua Community College (on October 1), and I write a piece called My Current Feelings on Guns and the Pro-Gun Lobby. A relevant quote: “I get it, folks. You like guns. You’re certainly entitled to like them. But as I keep seeing these terrible events unfold, I’m steadily losing my ability to understand why people continue to believe their love of guns somehow trumps the right of people to go about their every day lives without fear of being shot to death by a random stranger.” And another: “


The gun lobby has had its say, and it has been found wanting. It’s time to let the other side give it a shot. There’s a wide gap between “nothing we can do” and where we are now. You want to know why? Because we haven’t tried to do anything.”
June 13, 2016: 49 people are killed at an Orlando nightclub, and I write a piece called How Many Have to Die? A relevant quote: “Gun control for me is the single most important point of any political platform for me. Why? Because it’s hard to have a nation when we keep killing each other.”
October 4, 2017: 58 people are killed and 851 injured by a gunman at a Las Vegas concert (on October 1), and I write a piece called Unable to Kick a Gun Addiction. A relevant quote: “I encourage everyone to support Everytown for Gun Safety and other organizations working against the insanity of the NRA, an organization which still hasn’t made a statement about the Vegas shootings. At the very least, guns that are designed to kill people in mass quantities should be outlawed.”

Now 17 people have been shot and killed (including many students) in Parkland, and here I am again, reading the same tripe on Facebook from the same people. And here I am, writing another article. And once I post this, I anticipate some more people will come out and try to tell me I’m not seeing things the right way, or that I shouldn’t be close-minded.


But you know what? I’m not a close-minded person. You can read through through 7 separate posts tracing all the thought I’ve put into this issue. I’ve gone from being ambivalent to being hard-line against guns. I would vote to repeal the Second Amendment in a heartbeat, if the choice were between that and what we have now. Wouldn’t even blink an eye.


And each time another shooting happens, more people come to my side. More people are changed by their disgust by the utter lack of effort our politicians have put into trying to solve any of the causes at the root of mass shootings.


So if you want to avoid an outright ban on guns, please start supporting reasonable measures to restrict them. Because the approach you’re using now is making you far more enemies than friends.


And that’s all I can think of to say today.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.

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Published on February 20, 2018 11:11

February 16, 2018

Don’t Feed the Trolls

[image error]I’m at a library meeting in Bangor today, so I’m short on time, but I wanted to hop on here to write a quick post about an article I saw yesterday. In a nutshell, Russian bots have been flooding Twitter in the aftermath of the school shooting yesterday, furiously Tweeting out pro-gun posts.


Even taking all the different arguments out of the equation, I hope we can all agree this is bad for our country. It’s clear Russia thinks it’s bad for us, since they’re certainly not doing it to try to help us out. (How despicable is it, that someone would use a horrific event to try and further their own designs? Though it’s such a hot button topic, many are doing it more subtly.)


What can we do to combat this? For one thing, I’d encourage people to share more than pithy articles. Engage in real debate, not generic articles that happen to fall in line with your preconceived notions. My stance on gun control remains firm, and I’ve written extensively on it. I personally feel it’s only a matter of time until the bulk of the country agrees with me, and we at least start trying some potential solutions, instead of merely wringing our hands and doing whatever the NRA wants us to.


But again, this isn’t about politics. (Not this post, at least.) It’s about recognizing that our country shouldn’t be so easily swayed that Russian bots can cause a serious problem to become even worse. Real discussion and discourse needs to take the place of retweets and shares.


Or maybe I’m just idealistic.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $8/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.

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Published on February 16, 2018 09:29

February 15, 2018

When Your Friends are Accused of Sexual Harassment

[image error]Last night, a friend was discussing the recent #metoo movement into children’s literature. I’ve been following the #metoo movement off and on, and I’d recently seen a backlash start to emerge, as quite a few people were posting about how they couldn’t stand how much credence anonymous accusers were getting, and how we needed to slow things down instead of destroying careers over baseless accusations. Up until then, my general stance was that the #metoo movement is a positive, if difficult, process. Something each person needs to go through, to recognize sexist, harassing behavior and stop it.


But my friend mentioned a few names (just first names) of people who had been accused, and they were names I recognized. Not just recognized. They were people I was friends with. Good friends with. Myke. Dan(!) But it couldn’t be them, could it? I was sent off to scouring the internet, trying to figure out who accused whom, when, of what. And I was led to this post on School Library Journal, where the comments section was basically outing whomever people had seen harass other people.


I was relieved to see that the accusations against Dan Wells were later retracted, and he has blogged about his reaction here. But it wasn’t that way with all my friends. Myke Cole is a guy I know and like. I roomed with him at Boskone several years ago. I look forward to seeing him at cons, and we share the same agent. He was accused. He has since blogged about his response, and I really respect him for being as open about things as he has been. James Dashner has now lost his agent over the accusations. I don’t know him well, but he’s friends with many of my friends.


On the one hand, I can see why people are upset about the anonymous accusations. I can see why the “witch hunt mentality” discussions are arising. People gather in an anonymous forum, lob a general “So and so harassed me and is a creep” without any sort of explanation, and suddenly so and so is put on a blacklist, his career ruined?


Some of this is complicated by how broad “harassment” can be, and how its definition can vary from one person to another. In the worst cases in the news, it involved rape. Using position of power to force others to do humiliating things. In milder cases, it can be about inappropriate touches. Leers. Creepy flirting. To conflate all these behaviors and punish them all the same would be a mistake. Making an unwanted pass at someone at a party is very different from groping someone, which is also different from outright rape.


But on the other hand, I understand the need for anonymity in these cases. People in positions of power (or perceived positions of power) can have a real dampening effect on accusers. People who have been harassed fear to come forward, because there is a very real and very vicious backlash against many of the harassers. So they become victims twice, first when they are harassed, and then when they’re torn apart publicly by fans of the author they accuse.


So where do I come down in it all? Because I think that’s a very important question to ask yourself. Failing to engage in this discussion is the same as dismissing it, and I definitely believe dismissing it is a mistake. Have I ever done or said anything at a con or conference that came across as hurtful or harassing to others? I hope not. But I also realize I’ve got a mouth that sometimes says things without thinking. And that sometimes casual comments can cut other people. I look to Myke and Dan’s posts for cues on how I might be sure to be a part of the solution, not the problem. It’s very interesting to me that Dan responded with continued support of the #metoo movement, even after being falsely accused. People calling for an end to that movement might want to think about that response some.


But beyond all that, there’s something more I wanted to say to the people who are claiming “It could never be _______,” and then justifying their defense because of the number of interactions they’ve had with that person and never been harassed or seen harassment. Just because you haven’t seen it or experienced it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. It doesn’t invalidate the experiences of those other people.


People are complex. They have good sides and bad sides. We have all done things in our lives that we should not have done. Serial harassers will out. An accuser comes forward, and they’re followed by more. Many voices join together, and action is taken. I’m reminded of the people who come forward after a serial killer is caught and express surprise. “I never would have thought it was him.”


It’s not like we walk around with scarlet letters across our foreheads, proclaiming our sins. We are good at showing one face to the world. The acceptable face. Hopefully we’re all trying to become better people, but it can be a rocky path.


In areas where there are clear victims, I believe those victims have a right to be heard, even anonymously. Especially if that’s the only format they’re comfortable coming forward. They shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed because they’re finally coming forward. If it’s a one off, hopefully it will catch someone before they become a serial harasser. If it’s the very rare case of a false accusation, it will do the same thing. Cause a person to reflect, change behavior if necessary, and move on. But if it’s a deeper problem, it needs to be stopped.


Those calling for an end to the #metoo movement should stop. You can’t choose to be out of this. Or rather, you can, but not without being complicit in what continues to happen.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $7/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.

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Published on February 15, 2018 09:06