Post by Timothy on Jul 21, 2007 23:08:14 GMT -5
Some of you have heard this rant already, so please bear with me.
As I was on the computer today, I sat next to a girl who was talking to her boyfriend back home (the poor bugger...). Anyway, the discussion was, as everything this week has been, Harry Potter. In case you were unaware, the world stopped at precisely midnight so that God himself could come down without fear of landing in the wrong time zone to pick up a copy of the latest (and final) installment of the young wizard's tale. (Reports are that Jesus can't put the series down calling it "the best series since the books of the major prophets!")
This poor girl, who had been fiending for these books like a sex-starved cammie at his first con, was discussing the fact that certain character(s?) died in the book. Now I don't begrudge a fan for enjoying a book series. Sure, I'll give them shit over their near blind loyalty and fanatasism, but it's not like I've never been there before (I saw the first Batman movie with Michael Keaton 9 times in the theatre and had a different Batman shirt for every day of the week. I was 10, get over it.) However, I was completely floored when I heard the next line:
"Yeah, they've hired grief counselors..."
What...the...fuck.
I'll say it again so it sinks in. Grief counselors. The same types of people they called in following Columbine and Virginia Tech to console people that witnessed their friends and classmates being killed, wondering if they were going to be next. People in different parts of the world have apparently hired these masters of coping to ease their beleaguered minds over an epic tragedy and one of the greatest losses our society has had to endure since the death of the first red shirt on the old Star Trek. What was his name again? Hmm.
My first thoughts were along the lines of, "Seriously...what gives? We have people dying daily due to starvation, wars, and diseases, and you idiots are crying because a fictional character, brought to life through mere words on a page, and about as meaningful to the existence of humanity as a pimple on the author's nose, has died?!? What the hell kind of world am I living in?"
However, I've had time to think about this, and now that I'm a bit more clear headed, I think this is a great thing for humanity. In fact, everyone who hired a grief counselor over this has done the world an important service...you've self-identified.
We no longer have to spend countless tax dollars and man hours trying to figure out the effects of a fictional world on the emotionally distressed. You've done it for us! We now know, and can separate, those who get a little too involved in their fictional worlds. We can now expect, and even schedule for, these people to go to pieces whenever any piece of their alternate reality goes haywire. As an aside, it also gives us a preliminary lead on any death threats the author may receive for killing such important people off in a story. I hope Scotland Yard is all over this.
The gruff part of the rant aside now, this is a serious problem. I'm sorry to any of you Harry Potter fans who may have been offended by the above, but for the most part I consider the people of this domain rational human beings. You can enjoy the books, movies, and alternate realities, then turn off because it's not real. You can recognize Alan Rickman and Daniel Radcliffe (yes, I know who he is), and not run up to them yelling for Professor Snape and Harry. Most people have that separation of realities, and deal with it as you would deal with any sadness from a book. You may cry, it may tug at your heart, but in the end you're ok, because it's all fiction. I understand that most Harry Potter fans are in that category.
It's the whiners, snivelers, and pathological escapists to whom this rant is directed (despite the ironic fact that they probably won't read this). There is, in fact, a life outside of the alternate world you know. J.K. Rowling is mortal, which means that life did just fine well before she was born, and will go along fine well after she, or any of her other characters die. Get over it already. If life is so sad that you have to hinge your overall happiness and mental health on fiction, then I would have to say you don't need a grief counselor, you need a full shrink, and perhaps someone else to show you that life is good and wonderful and you don't have to rely on this alternate world like fish rely on water.
Escapes are temporary. The rest of the world is here, and we want to welcome you back to it.
As I was on the computer today, I sat next to a girl who was talking to her boyfriend back home (the poor bugger...). Anyway, the discussion was, as everything this week has been, Harry Potter. In case you were unaware, the world stopped at precisely midnight so that God himself could come down without fear of landing in the wrong time zone to pick up a copy of the latest (and final) installment of the young wizard's tale. (Reports are that Jesus can't put the series down calling it "the best series since the books of the major prophets!")
This poor girl, who had been fiending for these books like a sex-starved cammie at his first con, was discussing the fact that certain character(s?) died in the book. Now I don't begrudge a fan for enjoying a book series. Sure, I'll give them shit over their near blind loyalty and fanatasism, but it's not like I've never been there before (I saw the first Batman movie with Michael Keaton 9 times in the theatre and had a different Batman shirt for every day of the week. I was 10, get over it.) However, I was completely floored when I heard the next line:
"Yeah, they've hired grief counselors..."
What...the...fuck.
I'll say it again so it sinks in. Grief counselors. The same types of people they called in following Columbine and Virginia Tech to console people that witnessed their friends and classmates being killed, wondering if they were going to be next. People in different parts of the world have apparently hired these masters of coping to ease their beleaguered minds over an epic tragedy and one of the greatest losses our society has had to endure since the death of the first red shirt on the old Star Trek. What was his name again? Hmm.
My first thoughts were along the lines of, "Seriously...what gives? We have people dying daily due to starvation, wars, and diseases, and you idiots are crying because a fictional character, brought to life through mere words on a page, and about as meaningful to the existence of humanity as a pimple on the author's nose, has died?!? What the hell kind of world am I living in?"
However, I've had time to think about this, and now that I'm a bit more clear headed, I think this is a great thing for humanity. In fact, everyone who hired a grief counselor over this has done the world an important service...you've self-identified.
We no longer have to spend countless tax dollars and man hours trying to figure out the effects of a fictional world on the emotionally distressed. You've done it for us! We now know, and can separate, those who get a little too involved in their fictional worlds. We can now expect, and even schedule for, these people to go to pieces whenever any piece of their alternate reality goes haywire. As an aside, it also gives us a preliminary lead on any death threats the author may receive for killing such important people off in a story. I hope Scotland Yard is all over this.
The gruff part of the rant aside now, this is a serious problem. I'm sorry to any of you Harry Potter fans who may have been offended by the above, but for the most part I consider the people of this domain rational human beings. You can enjoy the books, movies, and alternate realities, then turn off because it's not real. You can recognize Alan Rickman and Daniel Radcliffe (yes, I know who he is), and not run up to them yelling for Professor Snape and Harry. Most people have that separation of realities, and deal with it as you would deal with any sadness from a book. You may cry, it may tug at your heart, but in the end you're ok, because it's all fiction. I understand that most Harry Potter fans are in that category.
It's the whiners, snivelers, and pathological escapists to whom this rant is directed (despite the ironic fact that they probably won't read this). There is, in fact, a life outside of the alternate world you know. J.K. Rowling is mortal, which means that life did just fine well before she was born, and will go along fine well after she, or any of her other characters die. Get over it already. If life is so sad that you have to hinge your overall happiness and mental health on fiction, then I would have to say you don't need a grief counselor, you need a full shrink, and perhaps someone else to show you that life is good and wonderful and you don't have to rely on this alternate world like fish rely on water.
Escapes are temporary. The rest of the world is here, and we want to welcome you back to it.
