When It's Fiction You Side With The Rebellion, But On Real Life...

You might leave this post thinking I’m a fucking bitch—odds are, you’re correct about it, I prefer goodness over niceness—but I believe it was Mark Twain who said the truth hurts, so keep that in mind.

But, allow me my poetic reverie for the night as I share with those who care the very simple reason why everyone sides with the rebellion in fiction, but that’s not always the case in real life.

My strongest argument is that in fiction, you aren’t asked to give up the small pleasures of your life. When you’re watching Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins isn’t asking you to stop drinking Starbucks, to stop eating McDonald’s, or to stop reading your favorite authors. In fact, all she’s doing is telling a very compelling story that shares very similar traits to a very real situation in a very real life, but there is a reason why it’s a book with a story and not a history book (oh clever).

In fiction, all that is demanded of you is that you feel empathy for the oppressed. It’s easy to give empathy when it asks for nothing else when, in the end, you can finish that story and feel great for siding with the oppressed as any good person would.

Remember what I said about preferring goodness over niceness? Well, most people are very nice—they’ll smile warmly, they won’t call for the manager at the slightest inconvenience, they’ll sign off an email with their warmest regards—but most people aren’t good. Most people will look the other way; they’ll pretend not to know their Frappuccino is a bloody one, they’ll pretend not to know their Big Mac comes with a side of Genocide, and they’ll either feign ignorance or believe false information to keep supporting their bigoted (and silent) favorite authors, but worry not because as any good person, they’re appalled by the death of innocence…but can you be innocent and Palestinian? Can you be innocent and gay? Can you be innocent and Latino? Or is innocence tied to the fairness of one’s skin?

It’s easy to be on the side of resistance when it asks nothing and provides you with entertainment.

Love, Ellie