Fear is the Mind Killer
While the title is taken from Frank Herbert's Dune, this isn't About Dune. With that said, I have the following I have to get off my chest as it has weighed on my mind for the past thirty years since the first time I read the first book.
Hot Take: Dune is Over-Rated
It is by no means 'Bad.' Lord no. It is deserved of praise for its imaginative transposition of essentially european style monarchal politicing blended with essentially a resource war along with asking questions of indiginous people, culture, relegion, and what it means to be one's own person. It is, by far, excellent in doing the thing SciFi does and take a modern issue and make it abstract enough that it can be safely addressed and discussed without invoking people's tribal primate brain.
If 'you' are a fan of the series dear reader? Don't let my complaints get in the way of that enjoyment, but to act like Dune is the height of literature is basically tying one's own self worth and image to what they read and so slamming what someone else reads is an attempt at devaluing them as a person for the same. That is pretty much the main reason I dislike the Dune franchise. It's held up by people who turn their noses up at other works while proclaiming themselves 'deep'.
Same reason I tend to dislike a lot of things; the fans of said works tend to sneer down their noses at other people who aren't fans, or do the twerpy thing that ca nbest be summed up by the following.
'You are being explained the lore. Do Not Resist.'
Moving On.
So if that's not The Point, What Is?
The one scene. the one THING I took from Dune I feel is most worthwhile was from the 80's movie where ddue got his hand shoved in a pain box that essentially tapped all the pain centers on his body and when asked how much pain he should be feeling the response from the box was 'Yes.' At the same time a needle with super duper scifi insta death poison was put to the man's throat so that if he pulled away he would die. there are reasons for this but basically it was to test if the man that was being trained was a man or an animal. In the book his fiancee/promised/political asset/it's f'ing complicated recited it, but I remember the (frankly badly done) voiceover narration by the guy in the movie.
'Fear is the Mind Killer.'
It really is. Fear steals your options because it forces you to consider any choice to be a bad one, or forces you to make choices you wouldn't otherwise because you've been reduced to 'escape the thing that makes me afraid.'
My entire adult life has been ruled by fear. Collage? Terrified because that security I'dh ad Knowing that I was smart and literally the best in my class got yanked out from me and my arrogance got punched i nthe face. Fear at the fact now I'm in my middle eyars and even if I had the ability to drive and get steady job that removes someone from helping my family. Fear OF my family because we disagree on so many things and the whole lot of us are tempermental. Fear of never fitting in with differing online groups ecause I'm a bulldozer in a land of false smiles and hidden knives and on... and on... and on.
Mostly I'm just terrified of never being Enough. Because frankly? I never have been.
It's time to let go of that fear. I just have no idea what t odo with myself because i don't even know what realistic options I have, and that is utterly terrifying.
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/gemlog/2023/