I often say things definitely in this blog. Sometimes I do it because I am very strong in my convictions. Sometimes I do it just to sound like I'm strong in my convictions. I would rather write something that becomes a point of controversy because of speaking too strongly than something that becomes a chore or a bore because it tries to make everyone happy.
On occasion, I say things that even I would argue with. That's fine, though. I like to argue (as long as we are talking about the same kind of arguing). If you disagree with me, argue with me. Leave a comment and let me know that I'm wrong and exactly why. If it's good enough, I may just argue back.
Having said all this, I wonder if other authors have been doing this all along. I have read some essays that were pretty stupid. They held beliefs and gave suggestions that were so foolish as to make me deface the pages they were on in frustration. I'll tell you, though, they sure did get discussed a lot more than the ones I agreed with and passed on.
Maybe it's true that any publicity is good publicity.
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I think part of the problem is sometimes, we're forced to take a stance on an issue we might not particularly care about. I couldn't really care less about abortion. I have my views and it's just a boring issue. But it's a topic that could crop up.
ReplyDeleteThis is an extreme case, but granted, I know that when I was taking English 213 the second time, a lot of it was around environmental issues. Though important, they also happen to be pretty boring. Unless it's something like the BP oil spill, or something. I think I found myself padding a few sentences into entire paragraphs just to get my "word count" on a topic I couldn't find enough data on or couldn't be bothered to dig really deep and do some real thinking.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of these essays are just frustrated kids who are doing their best to subvert a broken system.
And then there's the fact that, even when given a good english class, it gets draining. Halfway through English 111, which was decent, I just became a cynical bastard towards the whole thing. I remember we had a zombie survival outbreak thing and I was voting to bring in a fat guy because he'd be more food in the long run...
Yeah, it didn't go over too well.