Aphelion Editorial 038

Hello and welcome!

I ought to use this time to rave about the X-Men movie -- 'cause I really liked it and I hope that it'll spawn half a dozen sequels -- but I figure that most of you have seen the movie by now and anything else I say about it will be just sad fan-boy gush. If a sequel happens, I just hope that it doesn't premier opposite a Star Wars or Trek movie. There's a lot of fan-crossover there and fans on a budget can only see so many movies a year.

Instead, I'm going to muse about how this editing gig is turning me into Peter Parker.

Now, I haven't got sticky fingers or toes, and I can't lift a bus and throw it at someone... although there have been times -- I'm talking about Stan Lee's greatest observation; "With power comes responsibility, with great power comes great responsibility." This is Spider-Man's greatest driving motive -- to use his power responsibly. How does that apply to me? Simple, some of you have used me as a spark-plug of ideas to craft stories around. Not only from the Writer's Challenge page, or my Mare Inebrium stories, but even here in my editorial I spark ideas in people.

That's a sort of power -- one I never dreamed I'd receive, by the way, when I was thrust into e-publishing -- the power to induce others to think. That sort of makes me the opposite of a TV advert, LOL! Now I have to be responsible and use this power for good. So don't look for me to endorse a particular political candidate, or even a brand of after-shave... Sometime this year, I'd planned to run an editorial about the superstition that whoever gets elected president this year stands a good chance of getting shot at by some lunatic. You remember, "presidents elected in years that end in zero wind up being stalked by assassins" is the way the superstition runs. I was going to point out that if the trend holds, then whoever runs for vice-president will be more important than the candidates for president. Now I can't do that. Some crazy might be prompted to fulfill my "prophecy" and take it upon himself to shoot some innocent ( I hate to use the word "innocent" to describe a politician, but in this case it really does apply ) politician whose only crime ( in this one instance ) was to be elected. However, if someone uses that illustration to write a story from, then that's OK. Stories are fine, hurting folks is out. Clear?

How could I use the power to generate ideas to do good? What sort of ideas could I cause? What impact could I have upon society?

Very little, I would suspect. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a guru, nor a prophet. In a vague way I suppose that one could consider me as some sort of un-trained English teacher. ( Very un-trained, as compared to Jeff, who is an English teacher, or Kim, an English major in college. ) I can honestly say that I don't have all the answers, nor even all the questions. Shall I be provocative or conservative? Which way does responsibility lay? Or should that be "lie"? See? Infallibility is one thing that I'm never going to have to live in fear of... of which I will never have to live in fear... whatever.

I'd call myself a philosopher, but hemlock tastes too much like gin.

I'd call myself a commentator, but I'm more of an opinionated jerk.

I guess I'm a idea man. I like that. Sounds good, evocative even. I give others the fuel to brainstorm. Wow, what a concept! Then the responsibility kicks in -- I can affect people, and people can affect reality -- the more people I affect, the more I affect reality. Awesome sort of concept, really -- I can change the world. By becoming an e-publisher, I touch people's lives. I can only pray that I affect them for the better.

Thanks for your time.

Dan

THE END

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