| |
|
By (un)popular demand, here is my interview. I’ll hang around this thread for the week to answer any follow ups. I’m not sure if some of my answers are useful … feel free to ask more pointed questions. I'm sure after reading this, no one would dare!
Where are you from? Can you tell us any biographical information about yourself, or at least could you tell us what you think we should all know about your non-fictionsuit self?
Born in the US sometime in the 1970s, but I’ve lived in London and Hong Kong. Right now back in the States. I don’t know what biographical information you want.
What do you think you have gained from being a regular poster on Barbelith?
An end to boredom during downtime at work. What a strange question. I don’t think it adds to my life in any way.
What is your favorite thing about your childhood, or if you'd rather not answer that, what is your favorite thing about someone else's childhood.
When I was a kid, my family didn’t have much money. But my mom used to scour garage sales and snap up dozens of books every month for five or ten cents each. We had nearly complete sets of the standard mysteries – Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, the Boxcar Children. Lots of strange science fiction and fantasy, too. Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet, The White Mountain and so on. Bridge to Terabithia. I read all the time. I think a lot of my current worldview comes from those books – the silliness of the adult world, the idea that you can do anything yourself. So my favorite thing about my childhood was all the books, I suppose. Maybe all those series are part of the reason I love serials - X-Men, The Sopranos, EastEnders.
Why the name Laurence Llewlyn-Bowen?
In addition to being a fab designer and pirate, Laurence is the living personification of want I want for the 21st Century. Watching him, you’d never guess that he’s a happily married heterosexual. Stereotypical gender attributes are meaningless, and so are discussions based on them. But really it's just because it takes a real man to paint in leather pants.
I'd be quite interested in finding out about your politics, worldview, philosophy and so forth.
“Radical liberal” probably sums me up best, although I vote mainstream Democrat down the line in a nod to the real world. I think we should be proud to pay taxes, and I think that money should be filtered right back into society via universal health care and social safety nets. I don’t believe in God. I’d like to believe in magick, but it’s really just nonsense. Dissenters, please feel free to prove me wrong by having Anubis appear live on The Today Show Tuesday. I think every individual and company to make at least $1 million annually should pay at least 75% in taxes. Those making under $30,000 should pay nothing.
I think free-market capitalism is a joke. I think utilities should be state owned, and their use "free." I wish to eliminate Chapter 11 for businesses. I think corporate executives should have salary and bonuses legally tied to the salary of their lowest-paid employee. I think executives who run companies into the ground should be barred from ever holding public office or serving in the upper echelon of a publicly held company.
I think Palestine should be a state. I think Israel should submit to UN arms inspectors.
I think China will be the sole superpower within our lifetimes.
I have little time for conservatives in my life, but less time for stupid liberals. Conservatives I expect to be intellectually hidebound and a bit dim. We should be better. Maybe this is why I have more venom for Andrea Dworkin than Ann Coulter. It’s Dworkin who lets the side down. However, I find that mainstream liberal thought is as wrong as mainstream conservative thought, and the intellectual lock step as useless. There’s the same amount of non-thinking and pat explanation on both sides. Republicans spouting errant facts are only mildly irritating, because I don’t expect better of them. I hate when liberals get their facts wrong, because it undermines the position. Naomi Klein is a liability because even though the theme of No Logo is admirable and true, many of the facts and their interpretations are wrong or distorted. It makes it harder to make the case for real the next time.
My one major divergence with mainstream liberal thought is my revulsion at the West’s drift into victimology. I hate it. You’re a thinking human being, fucking pick yourself up off the ground and make something for yourself. Yes, I believe that social constructions create inequity. Yes, I believe we do not start out equal. Yes, I believe different groups face different trials. But fucking be an adult and take care of yourself. The world put you where you were born – what you do after that is up to you. Do I think that means everyone has an equal shot at being president? No, of course not. But everyone can choose not to be a victim. I’ve met people from every minority group better off than me. They’re the proof.
I’m a big fan of engaging the world. Fuck the anarchist lesbian pub. Go to a human pub. You’re a person, not a demographic. And yes, before you ask, I do put my money where my mouth is in this regard. Living in a minority subculture is like only reading superhero comics.
I think should all just be nice to each other.
I think you should always give the homeless guy a dollar, even if it means you'll be buying one taco instead of two. Of course he'll use it on liquor - wouldn't you if you were homeless?
I think drugs and prostitution should be legalized, regulated and taxed heavily.
I think we should consider having a president and Congress for just a few weeks every five years. Their job is solely to create new laws. Why do we want new laws? Laws always tell us what we can't do, never what we can. I think "Do what you want, as long as nobody else gets hurt" should be the whole of the law.
I think if the NRA is too powerful for us to eliminate guns, we should be cleverer and ban bullets instead.
In light of previous 'nerd porn' comments in the Comics forum a ways back - What are the two most personally affecting comic book stories you've encountered in your time? What made/makes them resonate with you and what about them, if anything, do you think is relevant to the greater human experience?
First a brief comment on the whole “nerd porn” fiasco. It’s a term that seems to have been widely misinterpreted. I was describing certain comics as fulfilling the same emotional role as porn, not that comic readers actual jerked off to it or anything. I was really surprised by the reaction to the term. People were actually offended. But I found it interesting that the term “fatbeard” is perfectly acceptable around here. I noticed many of the people who wanted to abolish “nerd porn” didn’t want to give up “fatbeard.” Hypocrites.
On to the question. I have yet to find a comic book story that is personally affecting. I have a passion for comics – I love them dearly. But to date I have not encountered a single work that has moved me the way I can be moved by a film, or a book, or a song. So I’m not sure I can point to something and say, “That’s the one. Changed my life!” I don’t think the canon has attracted writers skilled enough to do that yet, although I certainly hope that one day it will.
I guess I can point to two comics – one recent and one not so recent. I’m going to resist the urge to retcon my reactions and pick some obscure indie book for better Barbelith cred.
The most recent comic to impact me has been The Invisibles, especially the first volume. I like the way Grant synthesizes the booty of his cultural thieving into a unified whole, and it was probably the first time I read a comic and thought, “Yeah, that’s kind of how I see things, too.”
The other will probably elicit hoots of laughter, but I’m going to say that as a kid Uncanny X-Men 212 was the first time I really saw that comics could say something about real life. I’m sure kids like me all subconsciously knew what the X-Men were really all about anyway, but never mind. I’m an unabashed fan of Claremont’s ‘80s work, and feel that many of those issues, if published today under a name like “Grant Morrison” or “Mark Millar,” would be considered revolutionary. Yes, he lost it, but so did fucking David Bowie. It doesn’t mean that Life on Mars is any less genius. UXM 212 is one of these issues. While Morrison and Millar are currently receiving plaudits for their treatment of the consequences of traditional superhero action, we saw it all first in UXM 212. The X-Men have encountered the Marauders and had their asses handed to them. Among Claremont’s soap operatics is a surprisingly caustic commentary on war and violence. Three X-Men go down, as they inevitably would in the “real” world. There’s friendly fire, with Magneto accidentally paralyzing Colossus. We see combat triage. We see that Wolverine is the only X-Man prepared for the real world (back when Wolverine was written with subtlety and care). We see that the consequences of violence aren’t limited to injury and body count, but to spiritual damage (“I miss, I need, your laughter”). We see how war is transformative (Tom Corsi standing guard). But most importantly, we see Storm, leader of the X-Men, suffer a nervous breakdown! For UXM 186 and 212, Storm will always be my favorite comic character. An indulgence, sure. At the time, as a young reader, I thought it was just about the most brilliant thing I’d ever read. Today, I find some of the words clunky and the beats forced, but Claremont’s craft is still evident, his emotional beats ring true, and I admire his subtext, which would soon disappear from mainstream comics only to re-emerge quite recently. In a few issues, the characters would never be handled with such care and internal logic again. I don’t know if this issue “personally affected me.” I didn’t cry or anything.
The “best” comic, in terms of sheer artistry, is probably From Hell. I think that’s probably the only one that could stand with the best works of any medium.
What traits do you share in common with your namesake, and would you consider yourself to be scary?
If we carry on with the Changing Rooms metaphor, I’d be the result of Handy Andy and Oliver Heath in a recreation of the experiment in The Fly. I admire the overt theatricality of my fictionsuit’s namesake, and he’s a good example of the absurdity of maintaining an argument based on stereotypical gender traits, but probably don’t share much in common with him. I’m the mummundrai of scary…
Why do you think people (on Barbelith) are displaying such strong reactions to you?
I have no idea. I just say what I think. Sometimes it shows people up. Sometimes it reveals me to be an idiot. About par for the human experience, I suppose. I have little time for the pseudo-intellectual posturing that characterizes a lot of Barbelith, and that might rile a few people. I think a few high-profile people here are what used to be called bores – humorless, entertained by their self-perceived brilliance on every subject, and prone to propping up a limping ego by criticizing others on minor issues. Pedantry, after all, is the refuge of the small minded. But all in all I think if someone on an Internet message board gives you stress, therapy is probably in order.
How old are you?
28 years and a few months.
Given your undeniably oppositional stance, what do you get most worked up about when reading Barbelith?
Do I have an undeniably oppositional stance? I don’t post to most threads. When I post to some, generally it’s because I agree with the big picture (e.g. sexism in comics) but think people are botching the analysis (e.g. arguing that Storm losing her powers is a misogynist act). I think sometimes it’s important to do this, because shit arguments and analysis ultimately damage the larger thesis. People have limited attention spans. If you want to convince them on gay rights, lock the costumed people out of the pride parade. You only get X number of attempts before the message is lost. You won’t convince people to protect the environment when the message is being promulgated by zealots tied to trees. Arguing that School Disco exploits women or contributes to paedophilia gets in the way of dealing with things that really do exploit women or contribute to paedophilia. I think a weakness of liberals (or perhaps people in general) is to get up in arms about things that just aren’t that important.
I also sometimes take an oppositional stance because I hate lazy thinking. There’s a tendency here to namecheck as a sort of shorthand of evidence. “Chomsky says…” Fuck Chomsky. What do you say?
I don’t get worked up by much. I’m one of those people who never really gets offended by anything. Sometimes the stars align and I’ll read the wrong post in the wrong mood, which recent readers of the ‘consciousness’ thread experienced. The only thing that really annoys me is pretentiousness, and that old Internet mainstay, the poster who knows everything about everything. I’d suggest therapy for those folks, too.
I think you feel misunderstood here (on Barbelith). Do you agree? If you do, what do you think is the cause of this?
No, I don’t feel misunderstood. But I do think that some people don’t read my posts very carefully, or translate them into what they want to hear. I’ve also noticed that, without exception, every time I challenge people to back up an allegation about something I’ve said, they vanish from the thread without providing quotes. I’m sometimes accused of flipflopping in discussion. Of course, nobody ever provides evidence of this when I ask for it, but even if they did – isn’t changing your position the whole point of discussion? Should you be happy if I’m flipflopping?
Do you feel especially concerned with issues of sex and gender? Why? What assumptions on the board would you like to challenge?
Yes, and in fact I studied women’s literature for four years as an undergrad. But I see women’s issues as those of the underclass. The stuff I read spoke to me intimately, and I’m not a woman. Feminism as an institution I find unhelpful – with our movements we are victim to illusory divisions. The issues of the working class, racial minorities, women, homosexuals … these are largely the same issues. They are attempts at a human equity. To focus on any specific strand is to miss the point. It’s still a division, an us versus them. I find the hostility toward men frequently found in sex and gender discussions absurd. It makes you want to bang your head against the wall and wail, “Have you learned nothing?” I think we’re often a slave to worldview models rather than the world itself.
Are you going to agree to this interrogation?
No.
What brought you to Barbelith?
The Invisibles. I stayed because it wasn’t the Warren Ellis Forum.
What was your first post, and was it significant to you? If so, why?
I can’t remember, so I guess it wasn’t significant!
How do you look at yourself as interacting w/ Barbelith? Do you tend to think of yourself interfacing with individual humans in the Barbelith-scope, or is it more of a plugging-in to a large prismatic entity, a single thing with a vast array of aspects, ficsuit facets and personlaities?
It’s kind of an entertainment machine. I don’t pay attention to posters’ names – I can probably name just four or five people here. I find that helps with discussion, because it prevents me from developing biases against people based on specific threads. I know there are living people behind every post, but I don’t consider the Internet part of my social life, or the people I might interact with as friends or acquaintances. There’s no emotional investment. I kind of see it like a big pub, the kind you’d go to at college, have a few drinks and a roundtable bullshitting session based on woefully incomplete knowledge about the world, but that universal student belief that two semesters of Greek history and a few books from the library make us experts in the field. It’s fun.
My question is, why don't you get you rinsurance straightened out and go to the dentist, you loser?
This is why we should all remain in fictionsuits! |
|
|
