Today's Riff

The novelty of a November novel: No V

A work of fiction about a world without vampires, without victims, in a phrase: that doesn't suck.

Wait, you say. Suck is just an idiom, an expression, that literally relates to vacuums (another v word), but not to the world (unless gravity can be said to be “sucking” us onto the surface of the planet), or definitely not to people (because we only “suck” if we're 1)“sucking” breath after hard exertion/exercise, or 2)during fellatio, which is also called by it's opposite -“blow”, but which is really neither blowing nor sucking, or, 3) the possibility -so rare it barely deserves mention- after you've been bitten by a venomous snake, possibly a viper, in which you cut open the site and suck out the venom)... But the only time people suck, normally, is when they've got a cup of soda from a fast food joint, with a straw. And hopefully you won't have to deal with any sucking chest wounds. Perhaps you have a poetic sensibility and are cynical about life, in which the process of breathing is suck and blow, repeated ad nauseum.

Being out of breath sucks, especially if you're asthmatic. Venomous viper bites suck. Diabetes from too much sugary soda sucks. Being a victim of a vampire sucks. But fellatio most definitely does NOT suck, even when it does. Okay, hit the pause button again, you're thinking- vampires are fictional, mythological, nonexistent, and don't belong in a factual explanation of suckage: They only “exist” in our imagination and the collective unconscious, expressed in movies, tv shows, books, and plays, not reality...

But crime exists, unfortunately, and predators suck, being criminals who violate our rights. You might not believe in the devil, demons, sin, hell, or vampires, but these are useful concepts, nonetheless. They're useful both in pre-prevention of the possibility of potential perpetration, and post-punishment of caught criminals. Children believe in monsters, which is good, even if technically untrue, because ordinary people can be monstrous. In the psy-war between our better and worse, greater and lesser, selves, often conceived of as the cartoonish conversation of our conscience between angels and devils, gods and monsters, saints and demons, the battle for our souls, in the epic conflict between good and evil, the light and dark sides of the force, mythological figures and locations are forms that help us achieve more moral behavior, in spite of the sweetness of sin, and the tremendous temptation to turpitude. Love always wins, though, they say.

Heaven and hell, as prospective reward or punishment, carrot or stick as it were, help society avoid potential evil events, and also after crime, in the process of justice. Fear of God, and his henchman's horrific hell, scare people straight. The prospect of eternal torment causes suffering to criminals who might otherwise have no remorse, or possibly even enjoy prison. V and V literally look like two canines (“eye-teeth”), and poetically conjure concepts of vicious vampires (and their violated victims) who in reality are psychopaths or sociopaths who might believe themselves to be vampires, and therefore become “real”in the same way a dad believes himself to be Santa, or a priest believes himself to be God. There's a ring of truth. The virtual becomes real for those that believe. Operationally if not objectively true. Victims become vampires, too, when the thirst for justice becomes a desire for artificially created karma, in a word: revenge. Personally, I think this just makes things worse, adding suffering to suffering, torment to torment, potentially creating a never-ending cycle of violence and hate. Justice must err on the side of less net suffering. Incarceration, whether prison or jail, should not exact more suffering than the criminals caused in the course of their criminality. In fact, ideally, the criminal will keep his freedom, and go forth and sin no more, as they say.

War sucks. As General Sherman said, “war is hell.” As a former friend of mine said, “chess is war.” Causing war is the crime of the powerful, sending armies to kill each other in an orgy of bloodshed, for nonexistent entities called “nations,” who fail to see the commonality, the shared humanity, between peoples with different languages, skin colors, and religions. Some powerful people get bored, and think war spices up life with a little excitement, like a mma or wwf match, that cleanses society, kills off excess population, creates an economy, reduces the number of evil people, focuses and unites societies, improves and tests new technology, and distracts us from other bad news, perhaps perceived as worse than war. War can be painted in pleasing (non-red) colors (such as self-defense, security, safety, strength, protection, sacrifice, duty, valor, courage, honor) in the pubic mind.

Some of the evils of the modern world that might conceivably contribute to causing a distractive war could be the anomie of nihilism, or the banality of evil- in such things as the industrialized slaughter of animals, an unrecognized modern holocaust, or the existence of more slaves in modern society than in any other period in human history, or such extreme economic inequality in the world that the richest 85 billionaires have as much money as the bottom 3.5 billion people (nearly half the world's population!) ...supposedly equal human beings, I might add, who share the global village of this third rock from the sun, planet earth, an island paradise of life, in an infinite and indifferent universe. Also, we're in the midst of an extinction event, with ecosystems screaming under the weight of climate change and habitat destruction. People aren't surviving, either, with the tolls of natural disasters, crime, disease, war, suicide, and poverty. Malnutrition exists along side of obesity and food wastage. Addictions to sugar, nicotine, heroin, or any product at all really, drain economies and lower the quality of life. Pharmaceutical companies have a vested interest in the maximized unhealth of the world's population, so as to be in perpetual need of their medications, a dependency with vast societal and personal ramifications. The “mentally ill” receive government money, and can be trapped in unemployment, as well as suffering from stigma and resentment. Some of us have access to quality free healthcare, while others don't have access to either clean water or sanitation. Global inequality is unacceptable. We are all a part of the human community, on spaceship earth, a global village, with equal rights, and the capacity for ALL to have our basic needs met, with minimal suffering and maximal well-being, in a world that cares.

In sum, the issues of ecology, equality, slavery, poverty, meat, crime, and unhealth (such as obesity, malnutrition, and mental health problems like depression, anxiety, psychosis, suicide) for starters, add up to a need for distractions/escape like books or vacation or tv and religion, to make us feel better, in what can be a sick, sick world. Universal healthcare would be a good start, in my view. Getting into nature, exercise endorphins, the occasional restaurant meal, staying informed, breaking routine, and remembering the neediest, are just a few ideas that work for me.

War is not the answer. What is? Compassion, kindness, love, charity, service, community, cheerfulness, humor, friendship, wealth, comfort, security, freedom, respect, status, equality, education, recreation, entertainment, art, literature, poetry, dance, health and fitness, work, helpfulness, trust, truth, courtesy and respect, lawfulness, righteousness, rectitude, thrift, bravery, cleanliness, intelligence, curiosity, engagement, prayer and meditation, spirituality, libraries/reading/books, discipline, strength, integrity, honor, happiness, bliss, mental health, self-improvement.

We're all human, and we all want the same things. We want love, pleasure, sex, respect, status, comfort, security, money, freedom, companionship, camaraderie, friendship, laughter, humor, entertainment... These are what I want, anyway.

Terrorism. We're terrorists, too: Animals, babies, criminals, soldiers. We should stop killing. Thou shalt not kill. Meat, abortion, capital punishment, and war are stains on our collective humanity. Prisons shouldn't be hellholes of institutional terrorism, either, where racism and rape are rampant. Religious tolerance needs to be a global human value, recognizing that All religions seek Goodliness as Godliness and eschew Evil as Sin, in a universal human ethic of righteous moral love and respect.

God out.  Cheers!

final thoughs
Happiness and Health in Heaven.  Hatred and Horror in Hell.
Good or Bad.  Suffering or Bliss.  Love or Hate.  Life or Death.
"He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!"