Ok, now that the preliminaries are over, I'd like to make the following observation about my character: I have an alarming and unintentional habit of shouting things at the TV which are diametrically opposed to my nearest and truest beliefs. For instance, on 24 the other day--one of my favorite shows--a mole within CTU (the government counter-terrorist unit that the show's protagonists work for) was discovered and taken into custody. My reaction to this was to urge the good guys to "torture that [expletive]*." Now, I stand firmly against any sort of violation of civil liberties and disagree very strongly with any notion that the ends justify the means. And yet there I was, howling for our favorite spooks to tear out the traitor's nose hairs with needle-nose pliers. Similarly, although perhaps not so similarly, whenever my Patriots (who are fantastic, by the way) have some poor quarterback on the ropes, scrambling from Tedy Bruschi and Willie McGinest and any number of other defensive beasts, I have been known to urge those hounds to rend said quarterback limb from limb. And yet of course I am a peaceful man who wouldn't wish anyone to actually harm anyone else. in a football game or otherwise. So there's this apparent contradiction between deeply held convictions and gut response to televised instances of violence, real and imagined. Am I a monster? A product of a society that has commodified and marketed violence to me and my peers since we were impressionable youngsters? Has a sort of conditioning taken place deep in my psyche that primes me to react with instinctive aggression in certain situations, while allowing me to live an unsuspecting and tame mental life the rest of the time? I haven't the foggiest.

While I sort it all out, though, go ahead and see what that [expletive] knows. And make it painful.

please don't hurt me,
TR

*I need to read the terms of service of this site to see if I can post cusswords. (I know, I'm a wuss.) If I can, I will edit this entry to include the exact term. If not, use your imagination.