Uncomfortable Topics

***UNCOMFORTABLE TOPICS***

Every once and a while during your creative journey, the inspirational well will run dry. It happens to the best of us. You get done with one project or you’re waiting on the results of another. And then boom, you’ve exhausted the creative well. Ever since I finished the new version of Beautiful Monster back in…I want to say June or July, I’ve been writing short stories that are hopefully different from all the rest I’ve written. And then just last week, I declare that I’m getting back into writing fantasy with the short story “3:16”, which I’m convinced has been a complete failure due to its hokey nature, vanilla characters, and silly antics. I’m back to square one as a man without a country, so to speak.

And that got me thinking about a piece of advice that budding authors frequently receive: “Write about things that make you uncomfortable.” It’ll make for some raw material and it’ll get you out of your creative rut. You’ll have new stories and your audience will believe that much more in them. Everybody wins! This whole time I’ve been afraid of making myself cringe by the mature content my stories have. And then I remembered: Beautiful Monster is about rape. Rape is the most uncomfortable topic there is. I’m already halfway there! Now I need a new story with a different uncomfortable topic. I’ve come up with nine different topics that make me squeamish whenever I see news stories about them on TV.

***ANIMAL CRUELTY***

Forget the fact that animals are cute and cuddly. Even if you disagree with that sentiment, animals are still defenseless in the hands of abusive or neglectful owners. Every beating a small kitten receives. Every pit bull who’s chained outside all day long in unbearable weather. Every circus elephant who yearns for freedom after being confined for so long in a cage. This shit hurts me on a deep level. I have animals of my own and if I found out somebody was abusing them, I’d beat the living shit out of said abusers and take my jail sentence gracefully. Animals should be comfortable and cozy, not fearful and traumatized. Two years is the maximum prison sentence for animal abusers. It should be higher. I’d also dare say that like sex offenders, animal abusers should be put on a multi-tiered registry. I love my fur babies. I love everyone else’s fur babies too. I donate to the ASPCA every month and I take care of the fur babies I have.

***CHILD KIDNAPPING***

I may not want children of my own. I may not be overjoyed whenever I have to sit next to a noisy child on an airplane or a bus. Having said that, it still horrifies me whenever I see a news story about a child being kidnapped by a pedophile and held hostage for decades at a time. Jaycee Dugard is a major example of this. She was kidnapped at age eleven and set free at age twenty-nine. Jesus fucking Christ! What about Ariel Castro’s three victims? For ten years he held them hostage and raped them. Ten fucking years! Keep in mind that this trauma is happening during their most developmental years. Even if they were adults when they were kidnapped, that kind of brutality can drive a person insane. There’s a special place in hell for people who kidnap and have sex with children.

***CLASSISM***

Every once and a while, a viral video will pop up of some asshole republican chewing out a poor customer at a store for using a food stamp or welfare card. You also see classism on dating sites, where profiles demand that their dates have a bazillion dollars and sports cars up to yin-yang. Poor people get labeled as being “lazy” or “leeches”, to which I say is complete and utter bullshit. You don’t know what that welfare recipient is going through. You don’t know what the broke college student will do for love. Classism is just like any other form of prejudice. And no, it’s not something that the individual has control over despite what the bashers will say. This economy was not designed to close wage gaps. It does marginalize the less fortunate.

***FAT SHAMING***

We live in a world where unrealistic beauty standards are squeezing the life out of everyday people who don’t have sculpted bodies or skinny frames. The body positivity movement is not about celebrating unhealthiness. It’s about celebrating absolution. In other words, we don’t have to feel guilty about our bodies just because some muscle head says we should. I’ve said this before: people who fat shame are secretly pissed about having a shortage of people they can jack off to. Yep. That’s your reward for losing weight: more people will jack off to you…unless of course you’re below the poverty line.

***MENTAL HOSPITALS***

If Terminator 2: Judgment Day has taught me anything, it’s that mental hospitals are nothing more than prisons for sad people. They operate like prisons, they make money like prisons, and the guards/orderlies beat their inmates like prisoners. You have no rights once you’re in a mental hospital and you can’t leave whenever you bloody well feel like it. That’s the dictionary definition of a prison. Most of the people in these facilities didn’t even commit crimes. They’re just locked up and treated like animals over something they have no control over: their own mental illnesses. As someone with schizophrenia, this pisses me off to no end.

***MILLENNIAL BASHING***

Bill Maher once said on an episode of Real Time that ageism was the last acceptable prejudice we have…and then during the same rant talked shit about millennials like the hypocrite he is. Bill Maher is a crabby old man, so that’s to be expected. Millennials bashing their own generation is even worse, however. That’s Candace Owens levels of selling out. Why all of this hatred for people born in the 80’s and 90’s? What did we do that was so wrong? Nothing. These stereotypes against us are just that: stereotypes. We all come in different flavors, your mileage may vary. More people need to call out millennial bashers until it’s recognized as the blind bigotry it is.

***POLICE BRUTALITY***

Whenever an ordinary civilian commits a crime, he goes to jail and serves his time. Whenever a police officer does something even worse (“hold my beer”), he gets administrative leave, which is really just a paid vacation. Cops are revered by society as being these superheroes who can do no wrong, and yet they continually get away with murdering, beating, or otherwise harassing minorities. This gross imbalance of power pisses me the fuck off, especially because there’s not a whole lot I can do about it short of spreading awareness on the internet. Even then, these cops continue to murder their own citizens for absolutely no reason.

***STEM SUPREMACY***

Whenever an artist rightfully complains about his stagnant or nonexistent wages, the first thing some asshole tells him is to get a tech job or go to trade school. Blind conformity equals good pay. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d rather make little money and be able to create whatever art I wanted than get paid a gazillion dollars to be a mediocre husk of my former self. Then again, if I did go to trade school or get a STEM degree, I’d be able to close the wage gap long enough to get a date on classist websites. But then I’d have to lose a bunch of weight or else nobody will jack off to me. Hmm…it’s a catch-22 if I’ve ever seen one.

***TRANSPHOBIA***

Turns out ageism isn’t the last acceptable prejudice after all. It’s transphobia. People are so scared of transgender people using public bathrooms for fear of their children getting molested, yet they’re perfectly okay with a rapist president sitting in the white house and a rapist sitting on the supreme court bench. Transgender people deserve to be treated with respect. So do non-binary people. And gender fluid people. They’re human beings, just like you and me. Why is that so difficult to see? And don’t give me that shit about Fallon Fox having an unfair advantage in MMA when you’re more than willing to condone steroid abusers.

***CONCLUSION***

Yes, these topics are pretty appalling. In fact, I’d say they’re beyond appalling. They’re uncomfortable as hell. So what kinds of stories could I write about these topics? Well, just last night, I came up with a novel synopsis for a story called “Fat Camp”. It’s not officially my next project yet, but if I develop it, it could be.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

1. Adrian Evans, Fat Camp Student
2. Rufus Lynch, Sadistic Camp Counselor
3. Stella Masters, Sadistic Camp Counselor
4. Tiffany Crowder, Fat Camp Student
5. Nameless Students and Counselors

SYNOPSIS: As part of a new initiative to combat teen obesity, students like Adrian and Tiffany are sent to a fat camp with a penchant for tough love and military discipline. Every time the students rebel against their harsh treatment, counselors like Rufus and Stella get violent with their punishments, such as cutting off flesh, breaking limbs, and Rufus’s personal favorite method of torture, twisting faces with pliers. The combination of extreme fat shaming and physical torture would lead the students to believe that none of this is legal, but when they try to contact a lawyer or the police for help, their pleas fall on deaf ears and the beatings intensify. Can Adrian and Tiffany survive this hellhole and graduate with their rights intact? Not without bruises and emotional trauma, they won’t.

Prepare to cringe. Prepare to cringe hard!

***QUOTE OF THE DAY***

“Mental illness may be a life sentence for some of us, but it does not have to be a death sentence.”

-Mauro Ranallo a.k.a. The Bipolar Rock n’ Roller-

Mauro Ranallo

***MAURO RANALLO***

In the 35 years The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has been giving out annual awards, WWE been the recipient of Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic a record 19 times. In 2017 amidst the mistreatment of Smackdown announcer Mauro Ranallo, WWE could be shooting for lucky number twenty. Since this is an issue that involves both bullying and mental illness, it’s a story that’s close to my heart as I have experienced both in my younger days. Even people who don’t watch professional wrestling can relate to Mauro’s story in at least one or two ways.

Mauro Ranallo has been the lead announcer for WWE Smackdown since January of 2016. Week after week, he’s done a phenomenal job with his puns, encyclopedic knowledge, undying energy, and overall intelligence. It’s because of these factors that he has won The Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s award for Best Television Announcer for two years in a row (2015 for his work in Japanese wrestling and 2016 for his work in WWE). If he wanted to, he could rack up a huge winning streak for that award until the end of time itself.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ranallo is also bipolar. It’s a condition he’s had since he was 19 years old. The trigger that set him off was the death of his best friend in 1989 due to a heart attack. Mauro has never attempted suicide before, but he’s had suicidal thoughts. Ever since managing to cope with his disorder, he’s been an outspoken supporter of the mentally ill community and wishes to end the negative stigma surrounding it. As someone with autism and schizophrenia, I look up to this guy every time he speaks on the subject of mental illness. The fact that he can work as hard as he does while still holding bipolarity at bay speaks volumes.

With this much talent and humanity under his belt, you would think that WWE would want to protect this guy as much as possible. But instead, fellow Smackdown announcer John “Bradshaw” Layfield uses the show Bring It to the Table to belittle Ranallo for celebrating his winning of the Best Television Announcer award on Twitter. It should also be known that John Layfield won the Worst Television Announcer award in 2014 and 2015, and with good reason. Layfield has also reportedly picked on Ranallo backstage multiple times and triggered his bipolar disorder to where he wants to quit WWE.

The hashtag #FireJBL has been circulating around the internet ever since this story made it into mainstream media coverage. While firing him would be an easy solution, JBL is just a small part of a much bigger problem within WWE’s corporate culture. Pro-wrestling is a business where the guys on top try to test the toughness of the guys down below on a frequent basis and bullying is the way they do it.

JBL has been accused of grabbing people’s asses, stealing passports, throwing luggage of other wrestlers out on the curb, screaming at them until they cried, stuff like that. His behavior is encouraged by people like Vince McMahon (CEO), Triple H (Vince’s son-in-law), and Stephanie McMahon (Vince’s daughter). Even if the older guard dies of natural causes, there will still be other people in the company who condone this kind of behavior on a daily basis as a way of “weeding out the weak”.

But seriously, what purpose does all of this harassing behavior have other than satisfying sadistic urges? If you really wanted to test the toughness of someone in WWE, pay attention to their body of work. Can they take bumps effectively? Can they endure the grind of world travel? Can they train hard enough to perfect their crafts? I believe WWE wrestlers are self-motivated enough to do these things that they don’t have to be bullied in order to prove it. In my opinion, the upper management bullying has nothing to do with testing toughness and has everything to do with being a dick. Tough or weak, nobody wants to be treated like that. Nobody at all.

Another example of backstage misconduct comes from Bill DeMott, an NXT trainer who back in 2015 resigned from the company when he was being accused of bullying his trainees. He would make them perform dangerous drills, he would make bigoted slurs at them, he’d sexually harass them, and there are even stories of him pulling a gun on his students. Again, this awful human being resigned from WWE; he wasn’t fired. Maybe if there’s enough pressure put on the company, JBL will leave on his own too. It’s farfetched, but there’s no sense in feeling hopeless just yet.

My only wish is that Mauro Ranallo can find peace in his life outside of WWE. Bipolar disorder is no joke and it’s even worse when the person is being bullied or harassed in the way he has. Mental illness dilutes your defenses when it comes to taking in trauma or other negative events. It’s not a matter of not being tough. It’s just the way mental illness works.

Mauro, if you’re reading this somewhere out there, I wish you a speedy recovery from your recent bout of depression. I’m sad to see you leave the WWE, but I’m also happy that you can get away from that troglodyte JBL and everybody who condones his evil behavior. You’re easily my pick for Best Television Announcer in 2017 and every year beyond that.

And as for you, JBL, enjoy your Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic award when you eventually get it. Let’s see you mock that on Bring It to the Table.

***DEMON AXE, CHAPTER 21***

Speaking of bullies and douche-bags, I bet you all have been waiting patiently for something god-awful to happen to Roger Zee. You’d be right for wanting that. Ever since the beginning of Demon Axe, he slew countless people, tortured his worst enemies, brainwashed the weak-minded, and did it all in the name of anachronistic values. I appreciate your patience throughout this reading adventure, but you’ll have to keep waiting. Chapter 21 will be dedicated to Raven and Shawn doing battle with King Triscloud, though ever so reluctantly since he has a mind-controlling crown of thorns wrapped around his head. Instead of trying to kill him, they’re going to try to hold him down and pry the crown free. Good luck, you two!

***COMEDIC QUOTE OF THE DAY***

“What kind of a name for a gun nut is Wayne La Pierre? Doesn’t that sound kind of fruity to you? “Hi, I’m Wayne and I’m a gun person. Bang, bang!” You know what this asshole’s name ought to be? Biff Webster. Spud Crowley. A man’s name: Chuck Steak.”

-George Carlin-

***POST-SCRIPT***

Laughter is the best medicine and the same is true for recovering from mental illness triggers. Remember that, folks.

Debating

***DEBATING***

Even though I post a lot of short stories with controversial topics and post John Oliver videos on my Face Book page, I actually don’t like debating that much. I agree with the idea of being open to new ideas and not being completely coddled from the opposing side. However, if someone tries to engage me in a debate, the most talking points I’ll ever have in that conversation is…maybe two. After those talking points are on the table, I have nothing left and I’m completely vulnerable to the limitless number of talking points the other guy has. Being on this jobber losing streak in a debate has nothing to do with the fact that I’m right or wrong. It just means that I don’t have an unlimited number of talking points. I suppose I could cure that with extensive research, but that only adds maybe two or three more talking points to the already short list.

It didn’t dawn on me just how bad my debating skills were until I moved into my dorm room at Western Washington University in 2007. I had a roommate named Carl who was always helpful to me and an all around nice guy. However, when he tried to engage me in a debate, I would sit there in silence not knowing how to answer his talking points. Carl described himself as a “conservative with a strong liberal twist”, but most of his talking points were right-leaning in nature. He’d present all of these carefully-worded arguments that went on for about a minute or a minute and a half and it always drove me nuts that I couldn’t debunk all of them.

So whenever I hear somebody talk about open-mindedness, I always tell them it’s a two way street. In other words, if you want me to be open to your viewpoints, you have to be open to mine. But that’s the problem: my viewpoints only have a lifespan of one burst of alphabet soup. After that, it’s over. I’m like a bottle rocket when it comes to debating, which is why I avoid it most of the time.

Of course, there’s another reason why I avoid debates and it’s because I have this fear of offending my best friends by justifying the things they hate. It’s the reason why I don’t wave a Richard Dawkins book in the face of one of my Christian friends. Not only is it offensive to do, but it could kill the friendship. I put love and friendship before politics and religion every single time. If somebody gives me a ride when I need one or cooks me a nice meal or gives me twenty bucks to buy my favorite book, why should it matter what side of the political spectrum they’re on? Of course, I wouldn’t accept a million dollars from Donald Trump, but that’s because…well…he’s Donald Trump. But you get what I’m saying, right?

So if you see me back out of an argument, it’s not because I’m closing myself off to that person. It’s because unlike that person, I can’t keep talking forever and ever and ever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch some more John Oliver videos and chase them down with a rant by Immortal Technique about vegetarianism. Peace! I’m out!

***SWAMPLANDIA***

As many of you have noticed either from my Deviant Art journals or my Good Reads account, I’ve been chipping away at “Swamplandia” by Karen Russell for a little under two months now. According to my Good Reads account, I’m 83% done with it, which means I’m going to spend one day blowing through the rest of it. Even though I’m not finished with it yet, I’ve already decided that it’s going to receive a mixed grade (three stars) when I review it. The concept is great, the depressing themes are great, and even the idea of a World of Darkness theme part ignites the dark fantasy passion within me. But what gives it a three star rating is the pacing. It’s slow enough to tire my eyes out after five or six pages of reading. I don’t know what exactly to owe the pacing to, but it’s definitely a slow one and that would explain why I’ve spent so much time with this book. That and it’s 400 pages long.

***WRESTLING DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***

JERRY LAWLER: If Emma was a vegetable, she’d be a cute-cumber.

MAURO RANALLO: The world is pun-derful and I’m glad you agree, King.