The REAL No Spin Zone

I'm guessing you didn't come to my site today for political news and views. In fact, given that it's an election year, you might have come to my site to get away from political news and views. If so: Welcome! You will be safe here. 

Like you, I'm sure, I know what I think is right. I know what I think is wrong. I know what I think is smart. I know what I think is dumb. I know what I think is vile and outrageous. I know what I think is annoyingly repetitive. (This paragraph.) And I know the proper place to discuss all that. 

Not here, that's where. For one reason why, you can read this essay I wrote for the supercalifragilistic Elizabeth A. White and her expialidocious website. It led to some great discussion both there and here. 

The main point of my essay was this: I'm not successful enough to piss people off. What do George R.R. Martin or Orson Scott Card care if they alienate a few thousand readers? They've got billions! (Well, hundreds of thousands, anyway. And that's plenty.) 

But there's another reason I shy away from politics in public. (By "in public," of course, I mean online. Ask me to talk politics when you bump into me at the grocery store and I might be happy to oblige...assuming you agree with me and won't start chucking vine-ripened tomatoes at my head.) I know what I am. I'm not a policy analyst or a crusader or (god forbid!) a politician.

I'm an entertainer. I want to make life a little more fun for folks. I want to brighten their days. I want to turn frowns upside down. I want to turn scowls sideways and mush them around with my thumbs until they look like this.

Which isn't to say my books are all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns picnicking with puppies under the Big Giggle Tree. There's darkness in all of them. They are mostly about murder or zombies, you know. My newest, Cadaver in Chief, is about murder and zombies. And politics! Yet still, first and foremost, it's supposed to be fun. Fun for me and fun for my friends.

Because you know what? My readers are my friends. And do you stomp into a party for your best buds and start ranting and raving about how "Conservatives are all blah nasty blah!" or "Liberals are nothing but yada hateful yada!" when you know you'll be insulting half the people there?

Answer: No, you don't. Not unless you have Tourette's or were raised by Klingons or you're Orson Scott Card. If one of those conditions applies to you, have at it, I guess. You just can't help yourself. But me, I'll leave politics to the politicians and the pundits and the spittle-spewing zealots.

Well, unless I can work zombies into it, obviously....

Comments

[Greg Daniel]

You have my vote, Steve!

I am fine with reading writers whose political opinion differs from mine. My frustration/alienation occurs when they feel the need to repeatedly pontificate. When a visit to a writer's blog results in hearing more about politics than entertainment on a repeated basis, I look for a new blog and sometimes a new writer.

Let's be honest, I am not going to a political pundit's website to read about his writing process, Doc Savage, or Castle; why would would I go to a genre writer's website to for snarky political comments or a detailed analysis of a party's platform.

[Jeff Q.]

Personally, I'd love to hear about your political views, but only on an extremely local level. What our your thoughts on the school board? How about your city council? The public needs to know!

[Steve]

I'm with you, Greg -- I don't mind when writers are of the opposite political persuasion. Why should I? Half my family and friends are, too. What I don't like is when writers get self-righteous and nasty. Then, for me, it becomes personal, and that ruins my ability (or at least my desire) to enjoy their work.

And I really, really don't want to go on the record about local politics, Jeff. When it comes to what the school board and city council are up to, folks here get freakin' *intense*!