[UA] Booth Bait

[HHHugginsAtlas at cs.com]

In a message dated 12/22/99 11:28:17 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
holycrow at mindspring.com writes:

<< There's a thin, thin line between commenting on exploitation, and indulging
 in it.  I really, REALLY do not want the pornomancy element of UA turned
 into any of the following...
 
 For the pornomancers, I want to touch the profound ICKINESS of the sex
 industry.  (You guys seen "Boogie Nights"?)  For me, there's a powerful
 vibe in the concept of "You don't want to want it, you know you shouldn't
 and it's bad for you, but you want it anyway."  
 
 To me, pornomancy is less about sex than it is about gender.  I think it's
 got some interesting ideas in there, and I'd hate to see them buried under
 a slew of stereotypical lasciviousness.   >>

Discriminating between commenting on and indulging in something is an 
important concept for us to keep in mind when we read and play our "edgy" and 
"cutting edge" rpgs and novels. People wonder why anyone would read or watch 
"something like that." I am hard-pressed to define the reason sometimes. 
Perhaps it's the difference between exploring to understand versus seeking to 
embrace the madness. The difference between swimming in the sea and trying to 
breathe the water.

I'm reading David Weddle's biography (If they move, kill 'em) of the director 
Sam Peckinpah wherein he describes the audience's reactions to a 
test-screening of The Wild Bunch. Sam's companion wanted to leave before they 
were lynched by a mob of angry viewers, but Peckinpah insisted on staying. He 
said later that "They want to walk out, but they can't. They can't turn their 
faces away and that makes them mad." 

Perhaps we see something important -- too important to just walk away from 
it. Like someone turned over a big rock and exposed part of the universe that 
we hadn't seen before. Something we don't like, but something we must know 
about now that we have seen it's there.

Still sometimes we have to stop and carefully step back from the abyss. As 
Bugs used to say, "That last step is a doozy."

HHHuggins
"When you stare into the abyss, it stares back into you."

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