Writing the Other SIde of Politeness

I like reading writers who say what they think in simple, blunt terms. I like writers who do not worry about offending anyone or losing friends through what they write. Pure, honest brashness is an honorable quality in my book, especially when it is a touch overdone.

I do not care about accuracy; I do not care about fairness; I think political correctness is the lowest common denominator of human intellect; The book that I want to read is one that is wrong, incorrect, offensive, moody, and not written from the potential prospective of potential readers. There are writers out there who seem to write just to write, not to be read. Or so I like to imagine.

I like reading books from sexist, racist, impure, and imperfect writers. I want a view of life from the other side of politeness. I do not want to waste my time with page after page of etiquette. Etiquette is for the turds. I want to me amused, I want to laugh, I want to think my writers are not very good people. I want to read life how it is- even if it is not the way that it is written.

I am reading Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad right now. It is a good book. It makes me laugh. It is a good specimen of the architectural assemblage of American humor: curt, base, offensive, cynical, and roaring with jokes that are disguised with astute seriousness. I think Americans sometimes find themselves in hard spots because of our rather underhanded brand of humor. It seems as if many people from other cultures do not know when we are joking, or do not find our jokes very funny.

Or maybe just do not realize that I am joking, and think that I am not funny.

I always carry many books on me at all times. Too many oftentimes. And if I am going to carry these bricks over mountain, desert, and sea I want them to at least stimulate my imagination and make me laugh in waves of uprorious, unpious laughter. Writers somehow become the surrogate friends of their readers.

I like my friends to walk on the askance side of the line.

Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
Honduras
March 5, 2008