China rocks on

Over the years I've heard a lot of pundits talking about America's cultural imperialism. In some cases this is seen as good, in some bad. A lot of people lament the disappearance of traditions and traditional pasttimes, clothing and food in favor of cigarettes, jeans and McDonalds in third world countries.

It IS sad to see the old things disappear entirely. But at the same time it's great to see the ideas behind democracy and the rule of law gaining currency around the world in lockstep with our TV shows.

And then we have China. Through sheer numbers and political cussedness they've managed to maintain a measure of cultural independence not seen in many other countries that were, until so very recently, incredibly poor.

I'm kind of stoked about it to tell you the truth. Any country that throws parties like that one is focusing on things other than the United States, negative or otherwise. They've got their own concerns and interests and artistic vision.

Frankly, I'm kind of sick of a lot of the pap that we're turning out as a culture nowadays and of being the only country that matters on the world stage.

Artistically, new blood is exciting and some of it is going to come from China. Politically and economically, well...I for one would like to be among the first to express my admiration for our new occidental masters...

Elizabeth Moon and the Ground Zero Mosque

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="190" caption="Elizabeth Moon"][/caption]

I know Mrs. Moon. Not particularly well. We've sat across from each other at dinners, talked while we walked around a con, and so forth. She's a very nice lady. We differ on many political issues.

She wrote a blog post this year about the proposed mosque at ground zero. I thought it was well written, thoughtful, and I largely agreed with it.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Elizabeth Moon was disinvited as Guest Of Honor from WisCon because of the contents of that post. She is being described as a bigot and a racist. In a shallow search of the internet the negative response to her post was vociferous and ill-informed. By that I mean that the vigor of those decrying her words seemed inversely proportional to how well they understood what she'd actually said in the post itself.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. For decades now ideologues have been preying on individuals who can't be troubled to fully understand any given issue. If the soundbite doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy, like a kindly revolutionary, well, you must be against that. If the soundbite doesn't resonate with your own fears, give you a sense of belonging to the in-group, well, you must be against that. Carry on, wave your placard, dump your trash on the ground for the workers to pick up.

Mrs. Moon's post was largely a call to active citizenship, to responsibility, to personal accountability. A democratic republic cannot function properly if the citizens are worried only about themselves. The well-being of the group, the nation, the country, must figure largely into a good citizen's responsibility equation. Mrs. Moon is well entitled to make that statement having served in the Marine Corps among a great many other things. Presumably she did at least a few good things that got her the Guest of Honor invitation to WisCon in the first place.

Part of being a good citizen here in the United States is a willingness to openly consider ideas that may be different from your own. Discuss them on their merits. Examine your own ideas in their light to see if, perhaps, you can learn something. It is the mark of intellectual cowardice and dishonesty to refuse to examine, refuse to discuss, refuse even to entertain, ideas that may be different from your own.

I'm looking at you WisCon.

OK, it's seriously time

that I saw Nathan Fillion in something serious. Like a drama. Something more serious than Firefly.

Being a Loser

Just read an interesting article on bullying in the Christian Science Monitor (Thanks Stacy!). It talks about what does and doesn't work when you're the victim of bullying. Looks like good advice to me. Excellent advice even.

Two things jumped out at me. First, it links to another article with the following statement:

A decades' long focus on self-esteem may have given some kids too much pride, making them more forceful with others. And psychologists suggest the focus on kids' confidence may mean a subsequent lag in mediation and negotiation skills - knowledge that could defuse volatile situations.

The idea that too much pride makes kids more forceful with others and lacking in mediation skills is fascinating. I don't think it's true. Real, healthy pride or self-esteem does not lead a kid to bully others. It leads them to do what they think is right despite peer pressure, among many other positive things.

But we're not talking about real, healthy pride or self-esteem. In the public school systems and many private ones were talking about false praise handed out to kids who haven't earned it because educational group-think prescribes handfuls of it regardless of performance.   The problem is and has been for years that the subjects of that false praise, the kids, know perfectly well that it's false. And the kids who earn the real praise can't tell the difference between it and the stuff you're handing to the moron at the end of the row.

The message that effusive unearned praise sends is not the intended one. Instead of telling the kids that they're worth something, we've been telling kids they're not worth anything except false praise. In a situation where they get praised no matter what they do, there is no way for them to earn real praise. All they get is a constant repitition of the refrain "Here have some false praise, you're not worth the real stuff." And when you hand the same crap to those who excel as you hand to those who don't, where's the incentive to even try? As far as the kids can tell, trying isn't worth squat.

I haven't done and can't do a real study of the matter but I would not be at all surprised if bullying was a direct result of a desperate search for a way to get ahead, excel, stand above one's peers. To WIN. There have always been bullies. When I was a kid, they were usually the poor bastards who had real problems at home or in their personal lives. They were trying to lift themselves by pushing others down. The problem we're running into now is that the false praise we've been handing out for that decade mentioned above doesn't make troubled kids feel better about themselves, it makes all the kids feel worse, because it's a lie. So they look for self-esteem in the hall.

Don't get me wrong. Kids who fail don't need to be ridiculed. They need to be praised too. But it has to be real praise, and sometimes it's hard to find a way to hand that out. It's never impossible though.

And it never hurt anyone to be told, "You failed at this because you didn't try hard enough. Study more, practice longer and you'll succeed." Being a loser at something isn't the end of the world.

And now we come to the second thing that stands out. What happens to the kids who fight back against the bullies?

Seriously, what happens to them? When bullying gets physical, the appropriate response is physical. If a big bully is trying to hurt you, stabbing him with your pencil is perfectly appropriate. Heck, your buddy stabbing him with his pencil is appropriate. Yet, in our culture today, the kid defending himself or another kid in that manner would be kicked out and sued. That's another underlying problem in our society. We protect bullies by denying the victims, their friends, and any civic-minded bystanders the ability to respond appropriately.

Bullying on a Bus in New York

This story appalls me for several reasons. It's about three kids who beat up another kid on a school bus, apparently because they thought he was gay.

The story mentions the victim being afraid to come forward. It says that some people think parents should get involved, asking their children, how was your day? It even mentions that the driver and 'matron' (whatever that means) are being questioned for not reporting the preliminary bullying that had, apparently, been going on for weeks. All well and good.

I think a better outcome to this incident would have been the driver and/or matron storming to the back of the bus as the three little bullies stomped kicked and punched, grabbed them by their collars and either sat them down at the front of the bus or simply tossed them off to fend for themselves. Then they should have tended to the victim and called the cops, names in hand.

Think about what would have happened to the driver and matron though, in the political climate we live in today. If the bullies resisted them, very likely, the adults would, very likely, have been castigated in the press for assaulting minors.

You know it's true.

Michael Chiklis, The Shield, and No Ordinary Family

I first encountered Michael Chiklis in The Shield. The Shield is a very violent cop show with dark, anti-heroes for protagonists. It's also one of the best cop shows I've ever seen with one of the best endings of all TV in my opinion.

I didn't see Chiklis again, really, until No Ordinary Family came on. I was pulled into trying the show by the premise, as advertised on Hulu, of an average family developing super powers. I've watched three episodes now and, I think the writers are getting lazier.

They've made the same mistake one too many times in my book. Moving the plot along by making the characters do stupid things is just awful.

I realize now that it was really the combination of the super-power premise with Chiklis himself that led me to try it out. I kept imagining The Shield with super powers thrown in. But Chiklis does NOT play Macky with super powers. Which is too bad, because that would have been super cool.

Ooh, interesting

Scientifiction DOES predict the future.

Nicely put, Brad

Political Correctness

Have a song

This came up in my shuffle this morning. Made my commute to hear it again.

Money as a Brainwashing Tool

So, a lot of brouhaha in the news recently about where money that American organizations spend on American political campaigns comes from, foreign money being bad.

I'm not all that worked up about the issue. I'm a little leery at the idea of foreign interests meddling in our elections. They should mind their own business. But at the same time, that kind of crap works a lot better in the systems they're used to, thinly veiled or open dictatorships, or rule by the elite; and not so well in an actual functioning democratic republic. Which is probably why we've had so much success meddling in other peoples elections over the years.

But in the end, in our country, an election is about the candidates and their ideas. If people are voting for someone because they've seen them in more TV spots, the fault lies not with the people who paid for those TV spots but with the morons making their decisions that way.

Money can have a huge effect on an election but the only legitimate gripe is if a candidate's ideas are never heard by the electorate  due to a lack of funds. In this, the information age, that's less and less of a concern. A voter going to the polls while uninformed has only himself to blame today. Trying to shift that blame from the voter to the evil corporations or foreign investors who failed to inform him through TV is missing the point entirely and taking it as a given that the voters are mindless sheep.

The constitution was not written with mindless sheep in mind. Perhaps the voters ARE mindless sheep though. The fact remains that nobody forced them to be that way.

The fact that the candidate with the most money often wins is either a sad commentary on the ignorance of our citizens or a demonstration that those citizens voted with their pocketbooks before ever going to the polls. Since foreign interests can't do the latter, their influence is limited entirely to those who are too stupid to think for themselves. Meh. We reap what we sow.

Bonus link

Not going to war

Not going to war, for most people, is a good thing. Not all.

What could I possibly mean by that, you may ask with a suspicious and horrified look?  Who is this 'all' you speak of in the negative?

Surely, war is bad. Yes it is. There are still worse things.

Surely, no one sane would WANT their country to go to war. Absolutely true. No one sane wants their country to go to war. In the same way no one wants to have to shoot a burglar in their house.

Surely, no one sane wants, personally, to go to war. Meh, yes and no. I'm sure there are people who would very cogently and succinctly make the point that I am not sane. For I want to go to war.

Surely I have done my part, having already been to war. Surely I could now stay home, honor satisfied, and enjoy my family. Yes, I have, and yes I could. But the war is not over. In some ways it is just beginning. There are still parts to be played, and if not by me, then by who?

I'm thinking about this because of a good friend of mine, who also wants to go to war. The difference for him is that he has not yet been.

My unit is a good one. We have deployed companies to the war on terror three times and once an entire battalion. Collectively we have killed a whole grundle of bad men who desperately needed killing, and helped a whole bunch of other people who needed help. We have done well, collecting honors and accolades. We have yet to lose a man to the war.

The last deployment, though, was a few years ago and the next has been pushed back so far that many of the men in my unit despaired of ever going back and left, seeking other units who ARE deploying soon, or contracting jobs with the famed "military industrial complex." (My unit doesn't typically attract the sort who only join the military for the college benefits though most of us have used them to good effect)

My friend is considering attaching himself to a unit in another state that is deploying but finds itself critically short of men with our expertise. I'm considering going with him. It's a hard sell for a man in my position, but can I let my friend go alone?

We would all prefer that there were no wars, no oppression, no murder, no crime. MacArthur was right when he said:

The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

Yet, if our country is at war, we want to go. It's what drove us to join the military in the first place.

Bonus link

Jump tomorrow

And it's on a brand new dropzone. The third in as many months.



No one in our unit has ever jumped it. I sure hope I can figure out where we are before leading the way out of the plane.

Edit: Well, we lived and it was one of the nicest jumps I've done.

Soft opening. Sherpas or C-23s usually are since they're so slow.

Soft landing. Farmer's field with dirt like talcum powder combined with very low winds.

Pretty. The landscape in Western Eagle Mountain Valley actually looks more like the pic on the right than I expected. Put more mountains on the horizon and you've pretty much got it. Considering the pic on the right is actually over Germany that's saying something.

SG-U S:2 Ep:2

I really got into this series during its first season. I heard about it because Scalzi talked about it on the whatever, and how he's a creative consultant for the show. What an awesome gig.

I watch it entirely on Hulu, and loved the first season. Second season is shaping up to be just as cool and well done. One thing about this episode though, bugged me a little.

Massive spoiler. If you haven't seen the episode yet, do not read on.

The Holy Mill of Murder

Mankind as it is constituted, is a boil and a canker. Observe the specimens of any nation. Man is weak, greedy, craven, lustful, prey to every species of depravity and vice. He will lie, cheat, steal, murder, melt down the very statues of the gods and coin their gold as money for whores. This is man. This is his nature, as all the poets attest.
"Fortunately God in his mercy, has provided a counterpoise to our species' innate depravity. That gift..., is war.
"War, not peace, produces virtue. War, not peace, purges vice. War, and preparation for war, call forth all that is noble and honorable in man. It unites him with his brothers and binds them in selfless love, eradicating in the crucible of necessity, all which is base and ignoble. There in the holy mill of murder, the meanest of men may seek and find that part of himself, concealed beneath the corrupt, which shines forth brilliant and virtuous, worthy of honor before the gods. Do not despise war, nor delude yourself that mercy and compassion are superior virtues, to manly valor."

Polynikes of Sparta - 480 B.C.

I haven't traced the origin of this quote. I attribute it as I have above because it matches what I've heard over the years. If the attribution is wrong please correct me. And no, I don't think Steven Pressfield was the first to say this.

Monster Hunter Vendetta

The Monster Hunter series is a bit of a phenom in my book. Larry Correia, the author, self-published the first installment, Monster Hunter International. Due to his connections in the world of guns and shooting instruction and general firearms badassery, as well as it being an awesome fun read, it sold a few thousand copies. He got picked up by Baen and now the sequel is out. Monster Hunter Vendetta.

I saw Larry the other day at authorpalooza in a Barnes & Noble. Still a really nice guy and fun to talk to. I bought MHV, had him sign it and I'm halfway through it now. Just as fun, irreverent, and mile-a-minute as the first one.

But the cover quote. It's a little odd. "Fast-paced action sequences and ultra-accurate firearms details." Ultra-accurate firearms details?

It's true enough. Larry is a master of his trade. His firearms details are ultra-accurate. But the book has a much broader appeal than that. No doubt readers of Gun World, where the author of that quote, Jerry Ahern, writes appreciate ultra-accurate firearms details more than most but...the books have so much more as well.

The books have cool twists and emotional depth and really good pacing and nifty ideas. They're just plain fun to read.

Edit: So, I just finished reading MHV. So cool. Not a wasted paragraph. The end is as epically awesome as the first and the ride there as thrilling and fast paced as anything I've ever read. An absolute blast.

Deadly Owls

I really liked this White Ninja.

Blindly Writing the Elephant

So, I'm almost completely done with my second novel. This is the one I'm collaborating with Brandon Sanderson on. Working title: The Lurker.

I think I've smashed my face against, then managed to wrap my arms around, a writing principle worth sharing.

I started with a 10,000 word outline that Brandon wrote. We discussed the world and basic plot we would be working with for about four hours over two meetings before he wrote the outline.

I wrote my first novel with an outline too, a numbered list.  I can't speak for Brandon on The Lurker but for me, coming up with an outline was a very mechanical process.

Arbitrarily I aimed for 120,000 words which translated neatly into 30 4,000 word chapters. My outline had 30 chapters in it. Three viewpoint characters translated to 10 chapters each. Three try/fail cycles worked out to three chapters per cycle per character, which I dutifully labeled as such on my outline.

Then I filled in the basic events for each cycle. What, exactly, were my characters failing and then succeeding at? What did their mini-arcs consist of and how did they fit into the big book-arc?  I already had a basic idea of what I wanted the book to be about and lots of cool scenes that had written themselves in my head and so forth. That made this process a mix of putting the pieces in their proper places and filling in the blanks.

The elephant tromped into the room when it came time to actually write the chapters so summarized on my outline. I stepped forward, hands outstretched, and started feeling that guy.

It was my book. I knew the basic shape.  So there was no, 'Oh, this is a snake...' garbage. But it was definitely a process of discovery as I wrote each chapter. Some details (a lot of them really) made themselves known, either springing from my subconscious or becoming obvious due to context. Others, also a lot, I had to forge and hammer out in the creative fires. And it was all fun to do.

Later I realized that things were much easier for me if I also outlined each chapter before I actually started in on the actual prose. In most cases, what I ended up with was less an outline for each chapter than notes on my brainstorming session for the chapter, roughly chrono-organized. Once I knew where I was going to that level of detail, getting there was almost all fun. The niftiest things pop up out of nowhere.

The principle?  Same as always. Just climb on and write.

My process is definitely more mechanical than a pure discovery writer, but less mechanical than some outliners. It's mine, it works for me. It will probably change. And someday I fully expect to discover that it's not an elephant at all but a bloody Tiger, and have to change everything.

Thus ends my very first POST ON WRITING.