I just ordered my supply.
John Rezas
Screenwriter ϟ Magus ϟ Novelist
SubGenius ϟ Apolitical ϟ Zombie
Screenwriter ϟ Magus ϟ Novelist
SubGenius ϟ Apolitical ϟ Zombie
I just ordered my supply.
I love the contradictions within people. Thomas Jefferson opposed the international slave trade that brought slaves into the US, and he criminalized it in 1807. And yet, he owned slaves until he died. His view went from opposition to (perhaps) self defense as he aged, while at the same time he still opposed new slave trade markets in the new US territories. I wonder how many of us could stand up to the scrutiny of our own contradictions? Politics and politicians thrive on contradictions, often called lies by voters, when candidates make promises that they never intended to keep once in office. ”I’m a politician, which means that I’m a cheat and a liar. And, when I’m not kissing babies, I’m stealing their lollipops. But, it also means that I keep my options open.” — Jeffrey Pelt (Richard Jordan) from The Hunt For Red October (1990).
Carl Sagan had a few interesting contradictions in his writings as well. Carl Sagan: “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” But, Carl Sagan also said this: “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But, without it we go nowhere.” Sagan does not want to commit to saying that God did or did not exist. Perhaps this line from one of my favorite songs sums up Sagan’s sentiment best: ”We are God, because only we can create the idea of His existence in our holy brains.” — from Domingo by Yello (Stella). But, Carl Sagan more likely believed that Man created God while getting smoking marijuana in a cave.
The SubGenius orbit around the world of contradictions. The Church of the SubGenius simultaneously deny the existence of God(s) while praising the pipe-smoking, smiling J.R. “Bob” Dobbs as their divine savior, following his philosophy as the living slack master and the world’s greatest salesman. “Bob” also has an excellent singing voice, with an invisible angelic choir of backup singers that sing “hallelujah” when you first meet him. As the sons and daughters of many Yeti, the SubGenius fight the conspiracy every day of their lives, while simultaneously smoking as much habafropzipulops and obtaining as much slack as they can possibly smoke and obtain in one mortal lifetime.
When a writer creates these contradictions in their characters, I find that I like that character more. Thomas Jefferson, Carl Sagan, and JR “Bob” Dobbs each represent certain complex character archetypes based on their various interesting contradictions. Whether real people or made up characters does not matter, people (more often then not) subconsciously like a man or woman with contradictions in their characters. The antihero character archetype thrives on this fact. People like a good bad guy and a bad good guy. They like a good guy with bad qualities as well as a bad guy with good qualities just as much as they like the hero with a white hat and a villain with a black hat.
"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded. Because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars. And the only way they could get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today."
Lawrence Krauss
“The Pale Blue Dot” by Carl Sagan
A Universe Not Made For Us (Carl Sagan Tribute Series, Part 1)
