As some of you might be aware, I went a bit viral over the weekend. No, no - not in that way. I'm not infected. Not yet anyway. I mean I went, y'know, sort of viral online.
The above picture, of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon as Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is closing in on four thousand retweets and seven thousand likes, has made the front page of Imgur, and been seen by 20,000+ people on Facebook.
It also pushed my Twitter followers over 5,000 - which is small potatoes compared to some of my peers, and ultimately rather meaningless... but nevertheless some sort of milestone, I suppose (watch them flee this week, as they realise they're not going to get stuff like Trump-Krang every day...).
It's virtually impossible to find out the names - or Twitter account names - of everyone who retweeted it, though somebody did tell me it had been shared by Guillermo del Toro, which is nice (and almost as exciting as the time Colin Baker retweeted me).
I've had a few things go viral before (though this is the first time it has been artwork I've done with my own fair hand), and it's a boost to have created something which lots of people think is worth sharing. I'm not above admitting that a bit of positive reinforcement goes a long way.
Of course, it also brings with it a certain degree of frustration, given that my brain can't always think up stuff like that on cue. It seems that the magic formula is grafting something with pop culturally nostalgic significance onto some sort of witty topical observation.
Unfortunately, that sort of inspiration can't be forced... though at the same time, you can't do it if there's not at least some part of your mind dangling a rod in the river. So to speak. But get this: I realised something else from the whole nonsense... being liked, or loved, is nothing short of seductive.
The above picture, of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon as Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is closing in on four thousand retweets and seven thousand likes, has made the front page of Imgur, and been seen by 20,000+ people on Facebook.
It also pushed my Twitter followers over 5,000 - which is small potatoes compared to some of my peers, and ultimately rather meaningless... but nevertheless some sort of milestone, I suppose (watch them flee this week, as they realise they're not going to get stuff like Trump-Krang every day...).
It's virtually impossible to find out the names - or Twitter account names - of everyone who retweeted it, though somebody did tell me it had been shared by Guillermo del Toro, which is nice (and almost as exciting as the time Colin Baker retweeted me).
I've had a few things go viral before (though this is the first time it has been artwork I've done with my own fair hand), and it's a boost to have created something which lots of people think is worth sharing. I'm not above admitting that a bit of positive reinforcement goes a long way.
Of course, it also brings with it a certain degree of frustration, given that my brain can't always think up stuff like that on cue. It seems that the magic formula is grafting something with pop culturally nostalgic significance onto some sort of witty topical observation.
Unfortunately, that sort of inspiration can't be forced... though at the same time, you can't do it if there's not at least some part of your mind dangling a rod in the river. So to speak. But get this: I realised something else from the whole nonsense... being liked, or loved, is nothing short of seductive.
LOVE TO BE LOVED
I'm a tit, apparently. I found this out, because I went looking on Twitter for people who'd been sharing the Krang pic without crediting me.
Unfortunately, this meant that I stumbled upon a couple of people calling me "a tit" for weighing into the Nazi-punching furore in recent weeks. Suffice to say, I know that my stance on the issue doesn't seem to chime with the majority of people in my social media bubble, or even those who read Digi2000 (our hits last week were way down - potentially because I won't shut up about this).
For my part, I do feel that where I stand gets wildly misrepresented and misinterpreted. I mean, I'm all for Nazi-punching. Punch them in the head, the neck, the nips... heck; kick them in the scrotum... I just think there's a time and a place when it'll help... and a time and a place when it backfires. Furthermore, others would rather I - Mr Biffo, of the funny video games magazine Digitiser - stayed away from politics altogether. Well, I do try, but I'm going to have to accept that it probably isn't going to happen, so long as this site is part-blog.
But anyway...
Over the weekend there I was being held up by the anti-Trump lobby as their newest hero, for nailing Trump as a robotic golem controlled by his extremist advisor Steve Bannon. A lot of these people, suffice to say, were very much pro-Nazi-punching, and would no doubt be demanding that I myself be punched-up good for refusing to share memes of the white supremacist Richard Spencer getting lamped on the news.
And yet... despite knowing that we might be at odds on certain issues - while fundamentally on the same 'side' - I found myself wanting to please my new admirers.
I felt accepted and celebrated, and - for a brief flicker of a moment - I wanted to forget all my profoundly unpopular convictions, and give them what they wanted. Heck... I even considered drawing something which showed a Nazi getting smacked in the face. Like... a cartoon of Richard Spencer as, I dunno, Skeletor or something, with that balaclava-wearing liberal protestor as He-Man. I dunno. But that sort of thing.
Being on the receiving end of any degree of affection, or applause, or being put on a pedestal of any kind, is not only nice and seductive: it's addictive.
Now brace yourself for another hard lesson; it's also why the Nazis exist.
I'm a tit, apparently. I found this out, because I went looking on Twitter for people who'd been sharing the Krang pic without crediting me.
Unfortunately, this meant that I stumbled upon a couple of people calling me "a tit" for weighing into the Nazi-punching furore in recent weeks. Suffice to say, I know that my stance on the issue doesn't seem to chime with the majority of people in my social media bubble, or even those who read Digi2000 (our hits last week were way down - potentially because I won't shut up about this).
For my part, I do feel that where I stand gets wildly misrepresented and misinterpreted. I mean, I'm all for Nazi-punching. Punch them in the head, the neck, the nips... heck; kick them in the scrotum... I just think there's a time and a place when it'll help... and a time and a place when it backfires. Furthermore, others would rather I - Mr Biffo, of the funny video games magazine Digitiser - stayed away from politics altogether. Well, I do try, but I'm going to have to accept that it probably isn't going to happen, so long as this site is part-blog.
But anyway...
Over the weekend there I was being held up by the anti-Trump lobby as their newest hero, for nailing Trump as a robotic golem controlled by his extremist advisor Steve Bannon. A lot of these people, suffice to say, were very much pro-Nazi-punching, and would no doubt be demanding that I myself be punched-up good for refusing to share memes of the white supremacist Richard Spencer getting lamped on the news.
And yet... despite knowing that we might be at odds on certain issues - while fundamentally on the same 'side' - I found myself wanting to please my new admirers.
I felt accepted and celebrated, and - for a brief flicker of a moment - I wanted to forget all my profoundly unpopular convictions, and give them what they wanted. Heck... I even considered drawing something which showed a Nazi getting smacked in the face. Like... a cartoon of Richard Spencer as, I dunno, Skeletor or something, with that balaclava-wearing liberal protestor as He-Man. I dunno. But that sort of thing.
Being on the receiving end of any degree of affection, or applause, or being put on a pedestal of any kind, is not only nice and seductive: it's addictive.
Now brace yourself for another hard lesson; it's also why the Nazis exist.
NAZI PEOPLE
Imagine you're a bit of a racist. Imagine you're a bit of a misogynist. You're not too sure about gay people either.
Now imagine that a load of people tell you repeatedly that you're a bad person for having those feelings. They call you names. They say you're a monster.
Now imagine that there are a bunch of other people who tell you that those feelings are not only normal and understandable, but you can join a cool club with loads of other people who feel the same way as you. Heck, they've even got a special wave that they can teach you. And as for the uniforms... hubba-hubba!
That's how it works. It's that simple. From those conditions, extremist groups swell their numbers, and recruit more moderate individuals - who go all-in with the extremist shit when they realise they're going to be even more accepted for it. It's also why Trump is in power - because he told a huge percentage of the American population that he wasn't going to ignore their fears. That he was going to listen. Their fears, he assured them, were valid and real.
And that was far more powerful than any objection they might've had to him being - potentially - a stooge of the Russian government, who mocks the disabled, associated with mobsters, never paid his taxes, is quite possibly a mentally-ill narcissist, and by his own admission guilty of sexual assault.
I've gone on before about how I spent my wilderness years training to be a psychotherapist, inexplicably. I turned my back on it for a number of reasons, but I also learned a lot about how we function. The way talking therapies work are, at their core, simple; the therapist listens and doesn't judge. In the hands of a good therapist - and I admit that they're few and far between - it is nothing short of profound and life-changing.
Unconditional positive regard - essentially, showing a client "love" - is one of the most effective tools in the therapist's box. A therapist has to learn to be able to apply that to anyone, no matter how objectionable they might find their actions and beliefs. Everyone deserves a chance to change, to grow - to be a better person.
The bottom line is that we all want to be accepted, and acceptance is healing. However, in order to heal and change and become a better person, who is able to accept others, we need to be accepted warts and all.
Once we are, we can see that the things we object to, our prejudices... are just that. Only then can we in turn offer that unconditional acceptance to others.
Imagine you're a bit of a racist. Imagine you're a bit of a misogynist. You're not too sure about gay people either.
Now imagine that a load of people tell you repeatedly that you're a bad person for having those feelings. They call you names. They say you're a monster.
Now imagine that there are a bunch of other people who tell you that those feelings are not only normal and understandable, but you can join a cool club with loads of other people who feel the same way as you. Heck, they've even got a special wave that they can teach you. And as for the uniforms... hubba-hubba!
That's how it works. It's that simple. From those conditions, extremist groups swell their numbers, and recruit more moderate individuals - who go all-in with the extremist shit when they realise they're going to be even more accepted for it. It's also why Trump is in power - because he told a huge percentage of the American population that he wasn't going to ignore their fears. That he was going to listen. Their fears, he assured them, were valid and real.
And that was far more powerful than any objection they might've had to him being - potentially - a stooge of the Russian government, who mocks the disabled, associated with mobsters, never paid his taxes, is quite possibly a mentally-ill narcissist, and by his own admission guilty of sexual assault.
I've gone on before about how I spent my wilderness years training to be a psychotherapist, inexplicably. I turned my back on it for a number of reasons, but I also learned a lot about how we function. The way talking therapies work are, at their core, simple; the therapist listens and doesn't judge. In the hands of a good therapist - and I admit that they're few and far between - it is nothing short of profound and life-changing.
Unconditional positive regard - essentially, showing a client "love" - is one of the most effective tools in the therapist's box. A therapist has to learn to be able to apply that to anyone, no matter how objectionable they might find their actions and beliefs. Everyone deserves a chance to change, to grow - to be a better person.
The bottom line is that we all want to be accepted, and acceptance is healing. However, in order to heal and change and become a better person, who is able to accept others, we need to be accepted warts and all.
Once we are, we can see that the things we object to, our prejudices... are just that. Only then can we in turn offer that unconditional acceptance to others.
CHANGE MY MIND
Now... don't get me wrong; I'm not for a second trying to sway you away from your ingrained beliefs. Frankly, it's only getting me grief, and I've given up trying.
I get it: you think you're right, and that I'm a tit. You think I want to sit down and chat with the fascists, and the nationalists, and hug them until they change their minds... Even though that's very hard to do en masse (still... Donald Trump has managed it, essentially).
I don't expect you to care about what I've written here. You'll read into it stuff that isn't there, because it challenges what you believe. I fully expect it to piss off a lot of you, stir up some of you, and make some of you angry. Based upon the reaction to my two recent pieces, my words don't even seem to really be digested before the red mist descends.
And that's okay. I respect your opinions. It's perfectly understandable that you'd object. I mean, the idea that some of the most horrible people on the planet might just want to be accepted and loved - just like you do! - is a hard one to wrap your head around, when their actions are so full of hate. Of course you want to resist that. It goes against everything you've been taught to believe.
I get that what you fear and feel and think you understand is deeply ingrained; I stopped training to be a therapist because, frankly, I realised that some people cling to all of those fears like a lifesaver. The time it would take to unentangle clients from all of that would be better served, I felt, doing the same for my family - and myself.
I don't have a solution to where we're all at right now, but I believe - and I say this at the risk of sounding arrogant - that I do understand what works and doesn't work, and why certain things are happening in the world.
I don't think this is based upon any sort of prejudice, but upon years of training. Based upon what I have seen to work - and not least because I was aware of being seduced by acceptance and positive regard this past weekend, as my Trump cartoon went viral. We all have that in us. It never goes away, because it's fundamental to life on this planet.
Love and fear are the two opposing engines of the world; they are the power behind everything. Literally.
So anyway... I might be a tit, but - hey - I can at least say I'm a principled tit.
Now... don't get me wrong; I'm not for a second trying to sway you away from your ingrained beliefs. Frankly, it's only getting me grief, and I've given up trying.
I get it: you think you're right, and that I'm a tit. You think I want to sit down and chat with the fascists, and the nationalists, and hug them until they change their minds... Even though that's very hard to do en masse (still... Donald Trump has managed it, essentially).
I don't expect you to care about what I've written here. You'll read into it stuff that isn't there, because it challenges what you believe. I fully expect it to piss off a lot of you, stir up some of you, and make some of you angry. Based upon the reaction to my two recent pieces, my words don't even seem to really be digested before the red mist descends.
And that's okay. I respect your opinions. It's perfectly understandable that you'd object. I mean, the idea that some of the most horrible people on the planet might just want to be accepted and loved - just like you do! - is a hard one to wrap your head around, when their actions are so full of hate. Of course you want to resist that. It goes against everything you've been taught to believe.
I get that what you fear and feel and think you understand is deeply ingrained; I stopped training to be a therapist because, frankly, I realised that some people cling to all of those fears like a lifesaver. The time it would take to unentangle clients from all of that would be better served, I felt, doing the same for my family - and myself.
I don't have a solution to where we're all at right now, but I believe - and I say this at the risk of sounding arrogant - that I do understand what works and doesn't work, and why certain things are happening in the world.
I don't think this is based upon any sort of prejudice, but upon years of training. Based upon what I have seen to work - and not least because I was aware of being seduced by acceptance and positive regard this past weekend, as my Trump cartoon went viral. We all have that in us. It never goes away, because it's fundamental to life on this planet.
Love and fear are the two opposing engines of the world; they are the power behind everything. Literally.
So anyway... I might be a tit, but - hey - I can at least say I'm a principled tit.
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