I can hear the answer: well, we need military-style weapons so that it doesn’t get really out of hand. It’s already out of hand. This quote says it:

“If the reason you own guns is to respond to tyranny – you would have acted by now.”

Meanwhile, real people are dying in real life.

The problem is basic – people who are most afraid of tyranny are those who think Obama is a Marxist. Obama. It’s hard to take these people seriously – especially when they didn’t care about the Patriot Act the first time around. And they don’t even seem to care about indefinite detention – so long as Muslims are the targets. The main thing they scream about is “socialism” in relation to a minor increase in taxes on rich people. The same people who scream about a minor regulation on 30-clip semi-automatic weapons. I don’t what the hell is wrong with the human race that people get this upset about shit that is not that big a deal.

Do you think people should have unlimited access to machine guns? No? Then you know how gun control advocates feel. Gun control has nothing to do with tyranny, militias, or Hitler, but general safety. Gun control might not work – James Holmes or Adam Lanza might find another way to kill people. But it could work. And this could is more important than stopping an imagined Fourth Reich.

There’s already a tyranny of mass murder happening today: “In 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 Americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour.” If the government was doing this to its own citizens, people would be revolting. Yet those who are most paranoid about government genocide are the most complicit in letting this continue.

My problem with the constitutional argument is it treats the 2nd amendment like it’s scripture. Even scripture isn’t scripture. The 2nd Amendment makes about as much sense as ““You shall have no other gods before me” in the Ten Commandments. Modernity has moved on from that. People are meant to evolve – to adapt and change according to the environment. So are countries. It is no great surprise that gun rights fanatics are less likely to believe in evolution, and more likely to worship old time religion. The “tyranny” they’re most afraid of is their own irrelevance.

Maybe it comes down to this: I fear a lunatic with a loaded gun far more than I fear my government. And I hate what’s become of the government.

In Part I, writer Eugene Myers begins dreaming of people who turn out to be real, and realizes the novel he is writing is coming true as well: every paranoid conspiracy theory is a reality, and the demented, fanatical President Winchell is trying to bring the Book of Revelation to life.

In Part II, Eugene Myers takes his group of dreamers public—he’s elevated to the level of messiah, and Anti-Christ, while President Winchell wants to start a second civil war. And then the aliens arrive…

Praise for Part I:

“Part apocalyptic sci-fi and part psychological thriller with elements of more accessible literary novels and even neo-noir, this is a deep story that transcends genres.” Steve Anderson, author of The Losing Role

“Apocalyptic lit in the tradition of Wilson & Shea’s Illuminatus!, TABOTD explores the double-edged roles that religious faith and warfare play in the human drama. An impressive blend of conspiracy theory, satire, philosophical musings, and intense mindf*ckery.” Moxie Mezcal, author of Concrete Underground

“This book is as important to modern American literature as Fight Club.” Catherine Tosko, author of The Bull and The Ban

“A tight, character-centered book that has some urgency in its message. Why? Because Baum’s frightening future is something that could easily happen.” Rememorandum

“An oddly outstanding piece of literature.” Geek Life

“Really great—reminds me of Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut.” Scott Booker, Manager of the Flaming Lips

eBook

Also Available

In Part I, writer Eugene Myers begins dreaming of people who turn out to be real, and realizes the novel he is writing is coming true as well: every paranoid conspiracy theory is a reality, and the demented, fanatical President Winchell is trying to bring the Book of Revelation to life.

Now in Part II, Eugene Myers takes his group of dreamers public—he’s elevated to the level of messiah, and Anti-Christ, while President Winchell wants to start a second civil war. And then the aliens arrive…

Praise for Part I:

“Part apocalyptic sci-fi and part psychological thriller with elements of more accessible literary novels and even neo-noir, this is a deep story that transcends genres.” Steve Anderson, author of The Losing Role

“Apocalyptic lit in the tradition of Wilson & Shea’s Illuminatus!, TABOTD explores the double-edged roles that religious faith and warfare play in the human drama. An impressive blend of conspiracy theory, satire, philosophical musings, and intense mindf*ckery.” Moxie Mezcal, author of Concrete Underground

“This book is as important to modern American literature as Fight Club.” Catherine Tosko, author of The Bull and The Ban

“A tight, character-centered book that has some urgency in its message. Why? Because Baum’s frightening future is something that could easily happen.” Rememorandum

“An oddly outstanding piece of literature.” Geek Life

“Really great—reminds me of Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut.” Scott Booker, Manager of the Flaming Lips

eBook

Also Available

I also believe in God. I’m not connected to any religion, but I believe in the possibility of God – I believe the world we see is potentially much more complicated than what we can currently see with our five senses. I can’t quantify this, but there may be a “God” that’s one day quantifiable by science. This is also fascinating and important and shouldn’t just be dismissed with mockery, calling it the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Like UFO cultists, religion has given the concept of God a bad name.

Where am I going with this? I used to really enjoy the speculation surrounding conspiracy theory – it gives a little jolt to be tapping into a greater reality and think that you’re getting the “real” story. But now I’m seeing that conspiracy theory is as unhealthy as any religious fundamentalism. I always knew this – it’s hardly an epiphany, or very original – but I’ve never recoiled like I have in the wake of Newtown. I got pissed at people I respected talking about mind control after Aurora. Now I’ve totally run out of tolerance.

I find something very narcissistic about claiming you know the “real” story about Newtown before it could possibly be known. It avoids empathy for the people involved while concentrating on shadowy people who may not exist – like fundamentalists believing in Satan. A dangerous, religious-like devotion to fictions which neglects tangible problems like gun control and mental health. Like fundamentalists ignoring science.

Before you think conspiracy theory is relegated to the fringe, it has permeated the mainstream as well. Hannah Rosin writing on Slate, responds to “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” by stating:

One reasonable conclusion is that Long is in the middle of one of those lunatic divorces where the kids get sacrificed to the altar of parental hatred. Another is that she has some kind of mommy blogger Munchhausen syndrome, where she creates narcissistic fantasies in which she stars as the long-suffering mother.

This is disgusting. It is impuning a pained woman’s entire character based on partial information. This is conspiracy theorizing – making wild claims based on limited information. All the worse because Long was being brutally honest, totally vulnerable – she was trying to get at the truth, and she’s being accused of having dark ulterior motives. Even if Long is enjoying her moment in the limelight, this does not mean this was her intention when she wrote the piece – she was baring herself. Rosin has a history of rewriting people’s character based on her own theories.

Similarly, cartoonist Matt Bors was targeted because he was Facebook friends with Ryan Lanza – a “friendship” because Lanza was a fan, as is the case for many artists. He writes:

The outpouring of vitriol directed at me I’m still trying to figure out. I was feeling shitty about the human race due to the shooting, this wasn’t helping, and as someone used to getting their share of criticism and trolls, it was on a level that surprised me. People all over the web were immediately passing around unverified nonsense, creating fake profiles of Lanza, burn-in-hell Facebook pages, raging on people they don’t know – like me – with the most tenuous connection imaginable to Lanza.

We’re not thinking straight.

Social media purports to connect us but it often does the exact opposite. The barrier, the anonymity, the lack of accountability; all encourage the worst in people.

Some amount of anger and confusion is understandable – people want some way to vent their rage and fear. But like a comment on that post states: this is also the impulse of vigilantes and lynch mobs. It’s being steered by belief, rather than verifiable information. It’s turning everyone into a fundamentalist.

The world is mad. Some conspiracies are real. But to me knee-jerk conspiracy theorizing is as dangerous as secrecy. That secrecy will never be uncovered if it’s continually shrouded in fiction – another word for lies.

And the language! No thanks, I don’t need to read all that profanity and tasteless talk. Why couldn’t this adult book be written for grown-ups? Why is something considered “adult” because it is filled with bathroom talk?

Reading what I did of Casual Vacancy left me feeling violated, like I need to wash my mind out with a bar of soap.

After the first three chapters of this book, I had had enough of being splattered with a verbal buffet of offensiveness.

These are adults talking. Adults who live in 2012, not 1812.  I should say that I haven’t read the book, but this doesn’t seem like something that adults should give a shit about. This was my snide response to one review:

Honestly, grown ups don’t get overly upset by an arrangement of letters in a certain order.

Which received this response:

Although adults use such foul and obscene language now does not make them grownups. It simply proves how immature they are and a lack of communication skills. Not only is it disrespectful to those around you to use such vile language, but it shows a great disrespect for yourself as well. Not to mention it is a repulsive and ghastly example for our children and youth today. It’s very upsetting how accustomed to this our public has become. Not to mention the fact that so many people use these words and fail to understand their meaning. Does that say grownup to you? It certainly does not to me.

Oddly, I partly agree with a statement as conservative as this. I’ve long thought that oversexualization in the culture is not taboo-breaking, but careless, if not outright devolution, where people are more obsessed with the body than the mind. There’s something to be said for propriety and a sense of grace. Still, there’s music to profanity, just like there’s music to other sorts of dissonance. Profanity can be descriptive in ways that other words cannot. And the world’s profane – whitewashing this isn’t telling a truer story. Saying that people can’t use the full range of language in fiction is more odious to me than any writer overusing profanity.

Perhaps we’re in a transition period before natural things like sex and language are not feared like they are today. Eventually, the puritanical view of sex and language will look quaint – and people won’t need to flaunt it either because people won’t care enough to be shocked or titillated, any more than people are shocked about  bearing your calves (I’m talking in 1000 years). Same goes for language – eventually “fuck” won’t be any more shocking than “duck,” not because people have been desensitized, but that they’ve smartened up and started caring about things that matter. That is, ideally. If everyone’s only using profanity, then, yeah, it’s Idiocracy. But it’s also a step toward Idiocracy if adult themes are cut out of books and all fiction needs to be palatable to the mindset of a ten-year-old.

I’ve never been quite enamored with the idea that “at least people are reading” in regards to Harry Potter (or Twilight, or the Hunger Games). The Harry Potter series is extraordinarily inventive and smart, but they are also unchallenging about the realities of modern life. Voldemort is Darth Vader – a definable evil, where the world is actually a lot messier than that. Obviously, fantasy is an escape, and there’s a place for it, but readers are not just attracted to the safe language of the series, but the safe language of good and evil. The books are, after all, about child wizards, and a lot of HP fans are proving they’re more comfortable with language aimed at children than the messy reality of adulthood. That’s not progress, even if reading is better for the brain than watching television.  If this is all people are reading then we have a problem because it means people aren’t just trying to escape reality, they’re afraid of it.

I’m glad JK Rowling wrote this book – and hopefully it’s instructive to the publishing industry about what sort of literary environment they’re fostering. If you take this process to its logical conclusion: books will more and more have to be written at a third grade level because this will be deemed the most “marketable” to the greatest number of people. Over time, books will need to be more and more remedial. This is already happening. It’s not just that there are fewer readers, there are fewer readers who want to read books for adults. That strikes me as far more of a devolution than bad language could ever be. Really, it’s a kind of censorship.

It was brave of JK Rowling to write this novel, knowing that she would be offending a sizable portion of her audience – damaging her “brand,” and other bullshit terms that pass for book marketing, and get in the way of true self-expression. Maybe she overdid the profanity to divorce herself from her young adult past, I don’t know. Maybe the reaction is surprising to her and her publisher. But the fact that people are this upset by four letter words shows that this book needed to be written.

He also says this, so he’s not a total lunatic:

I hope that they watch it and get the message. But the message is not, “Hey you should kill people.” Only idiots would watch it and take that away. And if anyone goes and shoots someone because they saw this movie, even money says any episode of The Golden Girls would have had the same result. Because they are crazy.

But still there seems to be something missing from the movie: and that thing might be reality. There’s still a place for it in satire. The detachment is shown in people’s reaction to the movie. I’ve been poring through the internet looking for people connecting Aurora and GBA – or word from Goldthwait himself, and there’s nothing. Reviews on IMDB and Amazon written after Aurora don’t mention the massacre. And how you can watch a movie with people getting shot in a theatre and not be slightly disturbed is proving Goldthwait’s point – but not the point he was trying to make. The anti-hero continually laments people’s detachment from real feeling – and the reaction from people who like the movie is totally detached from what has happened in real life. It’s a satire and a farce, but what Goldthwait doesn’t seem to get is that shooting a gun at another person is as dimwitted a thing as you can do – thereby negating whatever righteous ideas the character might have.

I think he could have gotten away with this if the killers were a little more clever in how they killed people. Otherwise, they’re just as stupid and brutal as the things they’re criticizing. It is possible to mix satire and violence, but given gun rampages are a reality, and there’s nothing funny about them whatsoever, the movie version loses some of its satire. It’s not just that he’s “unsympathetic” – it’s that he’s proving the desensitization that he’s railing against, and I don’t think that’s Goldthwait’s point, as his anti-hero is the good guy, and all the morons are the enemy. In this case, the anti-hero is also a moron.

Disclaimer: I write books about violence. My novel, The Golden Calf, is about a celebrity stalker, lamenting many of the same things about celebrity culture that the anti-hero in GBA does. It owes a lot to “Taxi Driver,” as does GBA, with many direct references. There are great lines in “God Bless America,” and a lot of what he says is cathartic. Seriously, fuck Sean Hannity or Westboro Baptist. And maybe I’m a little oversensitive in the wake of Aurora – but, again, that’s the point. If this movie was released immediately following Virginia Tech, the same feelings would have arisen. But a couple years later, I’ve forgotten the depression and sense of doom any time one of these killings happen…until the next one comes around. Without letting some of that reality creep into “God Bless America” then you’re only telling part of the story, and in a movie that’s trying to jolt people back into honesty, it loses some of its message.

How to be the wind
You take your mind off

She is a wave
And she departed
She is the way
It all started

How do you begin
When it’s all over
Do you go on
And grow older?

What if your skin
Has no shoulder
To park or to drive
And grow older

How do you win
When you’ve got eye on
Everything you wish
Will solve your problems

How to be the wind
You take your mind off

New interview with me at Horror, Sleaze, Trash where I get to talk about horror, sleaze, and trash. Really great questions about porn, Hollywood, and other things.