Point of View Column: If you don’t like it, mind your own business
By MIKE LOY
If there is one thing I have learned from listening to hours of talk radio it’s that people are way too uptight and worried about things that are not important or don’t concern them.
The list goes on and on, but there a few things that never fail to flabbergast me every time I hear some whiny activist trying to tell everyone else how to live their lives.
On thing I know is that playing Dungeons and Dragons will not turn you into a cult-joining devil worshiper. I’m not a hard core "gamer," but I have played the game, and you know what I learned? The deep dark secret behind D&D that these weirdo activists don’t want you to do or even know about?
I’m not afraid; I’ll tell you what it is. You have to use your imagination (gasp!). God forbid we lose ourselves in our imagination for a while.
The D&D haters come back with a weak retort saying, "Yeah, you have to think about ghosts, and demons, and, and, and big scary monsters and stuff; it corrupts you if you do that."
Yeah, well, then maybe we should stop watching and reading fantasy stories or even Macbeth or Edgar Allen Poe’s works, not to say they are of equivalent literary value, but the content is similar.
Another thing I know is that Marilyn Manson is not the Anti-Christ. He is very weird, a little crude and a lot disturbing. But it’s good to have a character like that around every one in a while. He helps to stretch the limits and push the boundaries of the concept we call freedom of speech – a concept everyone pretends to be for until someone like Manson tests us.
People say, "Don’t listen to Manson, don’t see his shows; he’s a freak; his lyrics are explicit; he dances around in strange clothing; he makes references to drug use; and it’s just an act to take your money and run."
So what? Act or not, it is a good one, one which allows is to say, "Wow, I wish I was like him;" or "Wow, I’m damn glad I’m not like him."
Bottom line, if you don’t like certain things, don’t do them. Don’t watch, listen, participate, or give them any of your money. But don’t try to tell everyone else what to do.
Just think how uninteresting life would be if everyone had the same opinion.
11/19/98 the Apache