One of the things I like about cities is the ability to see characters at arm's length while remaining anonymous. Rural now comes with many negative connotations. For example, Idaho is stuck with the image of having lots of survivalists and Nazi types. And southern states are considered anti-progressive. Stereotypes to be sure but that's how we operate.
Those characters remind me of donkeys braying. Not that I have anything against donkeys. It's just that sort of personality. One that just brays loudly over and over without any real substance. The more logic you introduce into the conversation, the louder and more confusing the braying gets. I dread dealing with these people, or even worse, two of them together. Which has happened, unfortunately.
February 7, 2013 at 11:23 PM
[Image]
close examination
the schoolmarm: righteous. old-fashioned. square. bound (trapped?) by tradition, closed to anything new or, odin forbid, which smacks of the outside. outside is anything beyond the city limits and a few places within them. "fear" and "fright" are frequent words in her vocabulary. a veritable slave to the rather arbitrary rules. afraid to dare. afraid to look up. afraid of new ideas. afraid to look beyond immediate borders. tho' very opinionated is actually a bit afraid of her own opinions when it comes to it - always looking to some form of authority to nod at her and let her know it's ok. a natural frowner. a bit hard to discern why she is involved when the most frequent phrases out of her mouth are "i don't have the energy" and "i don't really understand, so i hope there are others who will take care of it."
frequently resorts to the "you're not of our culture" (i believe there's a name for that: racism) argument (in the absence of any real logic or actual arguments) and this evening came with some weird statements about trust which i can make no sense of whatsoever.
i've noticed that when people lack a proper argument, they resort to things like, "oh, you're not from here, you don't understand." "you didn't grow up in our culture, so you don't know how it works." "we have all this under our skin, but you don't understand because you're not one of us." and you know what? those are utterly crap arguments, not mention racist and xenophobic. and it's so disappointing, because i really enjoy a good argument with a worthy opponent. and it doesn't have to be an argument per se, but just a lively discussion. but an unworthy opponent that can't even come with a proper, logical response, those just drain your energy.
happily, i can conserve energy by taking notes and calling upon my inner anthropologist. and i definitely get a lot of satisfaction from sharing it with all of you.
the trick will be to take these character sketches and give them some worthy plotline, because i can tell you that real one is too boring for words.
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Close this window Jump to comment formOne of the things I like about cities is the ability to see characters at arm's length while remaining anonymous. Rural now comes with many negative connotations. For example, Idaho is stuck with the image of having lots of survivalists and Nazi types. And southern states are considered anti-progressive. Stereotypes to be sure but that's how we operate.
February 6, 2013 at 8:07 AM
Those characters remind me of donkeys braying. Not that I have anything against donkeys. It's just that sort of personality. One that just brays loudly over and over without any real substance. The more logic you introduce into the conversation, the louder and more confusing the braying gets. I dread dealing with these people, or even worse, two of them together. Which has happened, unfortunately.
February 7, 2013 at 11:23 PM