1, Freedom to Be an Ass; 2, the Book and Not the Author

(Warning: I seem to be extra parenthetical and footnote-friendly tonight.)

Part the First
I read recently about how Target gave a lot of money to a gubernatorial candidate who is strongly anti-gay*, and many people are upset at that, and some are vowing to stop shopping at Target because of it. And I thought, Hmmm.

*And it turns out they've also given money to groups against the anti-gay-marriage Prop 8 in California.

I'm not planning to stop shopping at Target myself*. It's not that I like the cause that guy's supporting, but I feel like he has the right to do what he wants with his money**, even if it's to support something that makes me despair for the future of the country. (It's my variant of the "I hate what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it" theory.) (Yeah, you know me: not to the death. Not even to the pain. But whatever, I still think the theory holds.)

*though if you decide to do that, I support your choice
**and if you agree, but don't want that money to have come from you, I can't argue with that either

Call me a pessimist, but I'd be willing to bet that every company I support financially does things I wouldn't approve of with the money. I can't control that. I try to be responsible and aware up to a point*, but I simply can't deal with getting into it very deeply. I can hardly handle all the everyday tasks of life without giving up and reading instead.

*I spend more at Trader Joe's than at Walmart, do I get credit for that? Watch, it will turn out that TJs is secretly supporting Al Qaeda or something. I can't win, is my feeling, and I haven't the energy to try. Trying to be perfect would keep me from ever getting anything done, and I come too close to that regularly as it is.

Part the Second
Then, I read a woman's reaction to Anne Rice's recent declaration that she is no longer a Christian, and this woman was essentially saying, "Too bad, because I used to like Anne Rice, but now I can't read her books anymore." And I thought, Hmmm.

When I read a book that I like, it makes me think that I would like the author, too, but that's a theory that doesn't bear much examination. You only learn so much about someone by reading their writing. People are so multi-faceted; there's always more than meets the eye. Maybe I would like the authors of my favorite books, and maybe they'd like me*, but I pretty much guarantee that it wouldn't happen 100% of the time. And that's all right.

*though an awful lot of them are dead, so it's often a moot point

I don't require an author to be a person I would like. I'm okay with liking a book, not its creator.

These days, many authors (like many other people) have blogs, and sometimes they become a way to learn that you don't have that much in common with an author whose books you love.

• "Oh, I love her writing, I'm sure I'll love her blog ... hmm ... my, she's political, isn't she?"
• "Her books are so good, I'm sure I'll love what she writes here ... except ... it's just links to things she's read about ... and not even what she thinks about them ... she's not really writing here, is she?"

And conversely, in at least one case, I enjoy an author's blog much more than her books. What kind of weird is that?

I don't have a nice summation for this. (Do you? Lay it on me.) Sometimes the blog is just for getting things out of my head.