I'm so used to "scrolling down" on Youtube (because apparently I hate myself or something) and finding the worst mankind has to offer that when I started reading comments from intelligent folk on my last blog post that I literally dropped my tablet on my face. Or maybe it was because I was holding it while watching an entire episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation just before. Either way it stung for a second. Also, thanks Amazon Prime for the free Star Trek, really appreciate it.
That last blog was about my desire to keep my writing (though I should have used the word "prose" to be clearer, but I'm an idiot) from getting over my own head. It was also about not liking it when people take their over-deep analysis of art, especially my own work, as fact rather than opinion.
I guess I'll share a little bit to get my point across better.
XDF
If you haven't seen NASA's Hubble extreme deep field image (s), I suggest a quick Google search as it's pretty cool. Better yet, here:
This image, despite being just something from the Hubble telescope and entirely scientific in nature, has become a way for me to easily express my entire life philosophy. There are thousands of galaxies in the picture, and billions of stars in each one, and it is one tiny drop of the night sky.
Essentially, the XDF picture shows a universe so vast, so wondrous, that we are all worthless tiny little insignificant dots (stay with me here...). We mean nothing in the grand scheme of the universe. We can affect the massive depths of the expanse beyond our planet not at all. Yet here we are, sentient, together, and able to at least effect each other.
That's why I truly, with every fiber of my being, do not believe that we should ever attempt to bring each other down. Being a troll on the internet doesn't count, that just might be what you do for fun. I mean stuff like cheating on a loved one; telling lies and rumors about people close by in order to make others hate them; stealing from someone for no reason other than for the joy of it; taking a life in anything other than self-defense.
I will always choose to lift up (give someone a ride, help them move, make them laugh) rather than tear down (spread hate, lie, manipulate).
That's the meaning I absorbed from a picture taken by a machine in space. I don't want to convince anyone that that's what they should think about the XDF imagery, or that it's what NASA meant - it's my meaning. I'll share it if allowed or asked, but I won't force people to think the same way.
Because You'll Go To Hell If You Don't
I let someone read a draft of my first couple chapters. Soon after they started accusing me of trying to insult Jesus Christ with my work. It was absolute nonsense, coming from someone whose religion made them feel superior to anything and anyone they chose. Their opinion, to them, was undeniable fact and they didn't understand why I was trying to undermine Christianity. The result: I didn't let them read a single word more.
Being told I was doing something terrible and that I should agree that it was terrible seemed crazy to me. I wasn't committing crimes here, just sitting on my butt writing sci-fi. Though I guess that could be a crime depending on your beliefs.
Doctor Who vs The Riddler
The last season of Doctor Who, the first with Peter Capaldi as the Doc, was alright. Nothing superb, lots of weird plot holes in episodes, but I enjoyed it, sometimes a lot. The big underlying story was apparently incredibly easy to tear apart practically from the beginning of the season. And the big surprises in the last couple episodes were so obvious anyone should have seen it coming from a mile away. I did not catch any of those deeper hints, just the broader ones, and I didn't mind at all; I was still entertained.
I went online searching for some "spoilercast" material. When hearing a pair of recounts as to how terrible that whole set of reveals was, each of the groups of people acted like anyone with half a brain should have seen it coming and that the writers need to do a better job. The details I heard and read about honestly amazed me and made me a little jealous that I didn't see them; what didn't impress me was the uppity attitude of "the writers are bad because I'm so smart." None of the people I heard or read seemed to be enjoying themselves in their discoveries, just taking a dump on anything involved.
I'd say all that expresses why I have such a chip on my shoulder about over-analysis. If you do it and you enjoy it, and it's part of what you do with your entertainment, that's great if it makes you happy. Lord knows non-gamers never get why I love video games, think so highly of them, yet watch nearly no TV.
However, if you find something not to your liking (Doctor Who's story or video games for instance), my view is that you shouldn't partake. Life is too short and sometimes too stressful to drown yourself in things that make you miserable when there is so much that can do the opposite.
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