Political Post

I’ve been talking on Facebook a bit about politics and I’ve noticed a lot of my friends are doing the same.  I’ve also noticed that it’s turning into some really intense arguments on a number of posts. (My friends have been awesome, I mean friends of friends and stuff.)

I have thought about just not posting anything but I want to explain why I think it’s important:

1. I’m worried the way campaigns are run in this country.

It’s reflecting our neighbours to the south. Attack and “patriotic” ads are what we have to deal with.  Not ideas on how to make this country better, not showing why these people would make great leaders.

I know one thing, and I recognize that all parties do this, in the real world you don’t get a job by digging up dirt on the other people being interviewed.  You show why you are the best person for the job, you do this because you respect the person interviewing you.

A good democracy isn’t blindly patriotic, a good democracy recognizes its faults and addresses them. Now the focus seems to be on who is more Canadian.  More Canadian?  What do you think that means? I think most people have different ideas, which is what an election is for.

The more we allow these ads to sway our vote the more we are going to get these ads.

2. I want young people to vote.

We use facebook and twitter to interact.  These debates and argument get people thinking and hopefully it gets them acting.  If you disagree with my points please tell me but also go down to the voting booth and tell them.

I live in Calgary one of the most conservative cities in Canada and we recently voted in a liberal minded partially Muslim mayor. Why? Because he got the youth vote. Obama was elected despite the loud voices of the opposition because he got the youth vote.  All this to say, it really does matter what we think.

3. I have a political leaning.

I think that a lot of what makes this country great, like health care, education, and social programs, come from left leaning ideas.  I think caring for the poor and sick is important and ties into my world view.

I’m not one for just picking a party and only voting for them regardless of their actions, and I have never done that but I know where I stand on a large number of issues.

Although I don’t like the rhetoric of Harper as a dictator, or comparisons to Hitler or Darth Vader, that just isn’t true.  I do however disagree with him on many issues.

I think people should have equal rights regardless of sexual orientation, I don’t understand why we are at war, and I think the conservative party has shown contempt for parliament.

Most of my friends are conservative and I won’t argue with them face to face about it because I’d rather talk real tangible stuff, like how their day was.  I also understand where they are coming from.

Social networking sites are a good way to just say what’s on my mind and get people talking.  Their are a lot of conservative voices out their and I want to throw my 2 cents in.

4. We need change

I feel like this country is at a low point.  I feel we need change.

I know we aren’t as bad as other countries.  I know this government compared to other governments around the world is amazing, but I also know that it’s really awesome that we live somewhere where we have the opportunity to say good enough isn’t good enough.

Thoughts?

Editing: Things I’m Learning

Timing matters - The amount of time it takes for a character to respond will really alter the mood and feel of a scene.

It’s OK to let things go - Sometimes you can grow attached to a joke, a line, or a scene, especially if you also wrote and/or acted it.  Sometimes though the over all film will benefit if you say good bye.

The story is shaped in the editing room - Also being a writer I like to think that that’s where the story is really formed, but it’s amazing how much is decided in the editing room. Performances, timing, cutting all determine so much about what story is being told.

It takes a lot of time and I love it.

Also I learned that I’m damn sexy.

Why haven’t I leaped yet?

I haven’t really had time to blog lately because I’ve been editing a movie.  So here’s a play I wrote that you can read.

Why Haven’t I Leaped Yet

(Also let me know if you want to perform it)

Fundamentally Useless

Back when I was trying to find a job at a church, I wasn’t very picky about what denomination I would be willing to work in.  On one occasion, I was in an interview and the pastor referred to his church as fundamentalist.  What I wanted to say was, “what the hell?!” but what I did say was, “oh.”

I don’t like fundamentalism, I think it’s very dangerous.  It has way too much blood on it’s hands.

Jesus was here in a time of legalism, the area he lived had different sects of people trying to do things to win God’s favor.  They didn’t want to their people to mess up again so they took the laws and expanded them, making sure that they wouldn’t accidentally break a rule.  Jesus spoke out against this regularly.

Fast forward 2000 years.

Jesus says, love is the greatest commandment and so many modern Evangelicals says, let’s look through the bible with a fine tooth comb and see what we have to do to win God’s favor.

The problem with that is that it doesn’t look at what Jesus’ message was actually about,  it reads the bible as a mathematical code that can be cracked.

I remember when I was in dorms, many years ago, we started talking about divorce.  I said, “nope divorce is never an option,”  In a smug tone with no basis in any sort of life experience, based on passage of scripture I had read and not understood, my friend gave me an angry glance, what I should have said was, “sorry,” what I did say was, “well, that’s what the bible says.”

This is one of those stories that even today when I think about it I get a sick feeling in my gut.

I looked at the bible and I picked out a rule, it’s easier than reading it in context.  Ironically it was from a verse in Matthew 5, a chapter telling people to look at common rules and conventional thinking differently and to stop judging others for their actions.

Fundamentalism takes away the trouble of using your mind and heart.  It says, judge and protest, when Jesus says, be kind and spend time with.

Instead of just loving it says things like, “love the sinner, hate the sin,” or “you have to love them but you don’t have to like them.”  It takes what is at the heart of Jesus’ message and devalues it into a catch phrase.

Whatever you think you know about God, what ever theological beliefs you have, however well thought out and articulate,  no matter how “assured” you think you are, if you don’t care about people,  if you have no desire to understand what it really means to love the unlovable, not just in theory but really hands on love people, then you might as well just give up now.  Leave the faith and go about your life, it has been a pointless endeavor.

Without love you have done nothing.

Classic Trevor: Dumb Girls and Dirt Bags

This one didn’t get any comments on the old blog but I had the more views on this than any other post and people told me that they agreed with what I had to say.

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From August 31, 2010

I was talking to my friends last night.  It was one of those conversations where you just move from one topic to another.  The type that you have to trace back how you got to the topic you are on.

At one point we started talking about a dirt bag a couple of my friends know.  A complete jerk.  This led us to talk about why so many girls go for dirt bags which led us to why so many guys go for dumb girls.

Dirt Bags

A lot of guys are dirt bags.  A lot of guys are dirt bags.  That was said twice on purpose.  Not all guys are but a lot of guys are dirt bags.

The Girls

Don’t confuse overbearingness with leadership.  Some women want a strong, take charge, no nonsense guy, a leader.  Dirt bags are take charge guys, in dirt bag way.  They think of themselves and they control situations for their own good. This is the evil version of the stable guy you were looking for, and they are not actually stable in any sense of the word.

I’ve known so many amazing women who have ended up with dirt bags and it always hurts to see.  I end up thinking to myself, “at least they have a car, that is something I don’t have to offer.”

Please dump them. I’m not saying date a geek or a “nice guy.”  Find a great guy who treats you amazingly and treats your friends with respect.

The Guys

I remember once sitting at a bar with some friends, a girl I thought was really great had just started to date someone I didn’t like.  I started saying, “girls like assholes, I need to be an asshole.  I don’t know how to be an asshole.”

In the couple years since I maybe have become a bit more of an asshole, but I still could never be one completely, and I could really never be a dirt bag, but from the guys perspective, whenever you see a women with a jerk you think, “oh that’s all it takes.”

Work on your approach, work on how you are perceived, work on confidence but don’t work on disrespecting women.  That isn’t what it takes.

Don’t be a dirt bag.

Here is a conversation from the movie Say Anything

Lloyd, why do you have to be like this?
‘Cause I’m a guy. I have pride.
You’re not a guy.
I am.
No. The world is full of guys. Be a man. Don’t be a guy.

Dumb Girls

We talked about why some women think they need to act less intelligent and become a dumb girl just to get a guy to pay attention to them and why a guy would want to be with some he views as less intelligent.

The Guys

I’ve talked to guys who are afraid of dating someone smarter than them.  They find it intimidating.

I think part of it is the feeling that the man is supposed to be the provider and if the woman is smarter than the man it puts that role in jeopardy.  They don’t want to feel inferior because that makes them feel weak.

And sometimes the guy is a dirt bag.  Dating someone he views as less intelligent makes it easier to control her and be a dirt bag.

What if instead you date someone you find interesting? If it works out then you will be spending a lot of time with them, you will want someone you have the ability to have a conversation with.  Dating is scary anyway you look at it,  why not make it a little scarier and go for someone that challenges you, it’ll be better in the long run.

Also, don’t be a dirtbag.

The Girls

People adapt.  It sucks that so many guys go for the dumb girls, but is there anyway you can stop giving them that option.  Please stop pretending to be dumb. I’m not saying treat him like he’s an idiot but look for someone you enjoy talking to, someone who challenges you and someone you can challenge.

Do you really want to spend a lot of time with someone who talks down to you?

Also, I’m sorry if feel like you aren’t smart.  I’m sure that’s not true but either way don’t date someone who treats you like you aren’t smart.  You still need to be with someone who respects you.

In Conclusion

Can we just stop thinking of relationships as a game with stupid strategies that destroy who we are?

I don’t know.  I just want to find someone who likes me, who I like.  Who I can talk to and spend time with.  Someone I can figure things out with.  Go on an adventure with.

Stop being dumb and stop being a dirt bag.

Heroes

Yesterday I talked about villains and I briefly mentioned that I don’t believe in heroes.  I thought I would dive into that a bit more.

Neil Young is still looking for a heart of gold and sometimes I think he’s searching in vain.  Not because people are inherently bad but because we are inherently human.

I want to create characters that people see themselves in, and maybe it says something about me but I think people see their flaws more than their strengths.

This isn’t to say they can’t do great things and we can’t cheer for them.  It’s that a good protagonist is someone who does these things in spite of their flaws.

Sort of like John Mclane taking out terrorists without wearing shoes…

But not really.

Besides when was the last time you heard someone say, “I saw a great movie where people were really nice and then good things happened to them as a result.”

Maybe this reflects terribly on human beings, and maybe we still like to watch the gladiators fight, but until things change and we become a utopian world these types of people will have to be our heroes.

Villains

A couple weeks ago I jokingly said that I believe all the people that say the world is going to end in December of next year.  We started discussing what we were going to do on our last day, I said that I would find my nemesis and destroy him.

The problem is I don’t actually have a nemesis and I never really have, besides the one shop lifter I used to love busting when I worked retail.  I swear he came to every store I ever worked at.

Out of anything I’ve written I have yet to write a villain.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m not that good yet or because I haven’t convinced myself that villains, or heroes for that matter, even exist.

Kurt Vonnegut put it this way:

“Another thing they taught was that nobody was ridiculous or bad or disgusting. Shortly before my father died, he said to me, ‘You know–you never wrote a story with a villain in it.’I told him that was one of the things I learned in college after the war.” – Slaughter House Five

If you look at the world as a whole there are terrible, terrible people out there doing terrible, terrible things, but if I was to do a story with someone awful in it I would want to explore that instead of making them a stock character,  what made them that way?  What do they hope to gain from this?  How have they justified these actions.

But in the meantime I would rather have the hero be destructive to themselves because the way I see it that’s how it usually works in life anyway, as well I’d like that destruction to be funny.