On Post: Capital G
Date: January 9
My struggle with this was not to make it a polemic political screed, which was definitely my kneejerk reaction. With all the Occupy (blank) stuff in the air and Market Call still fresh in my mind, Trent Reznor’s reported meaning of the G in this song, greed, was a tempting topic to tackle. I was worried, though, that it would be about using fictional people as a mouthpiece for my politics and that rarely goes well. I tried to be more symbolic about it, but it just was not coming together for me.
So, I ran towards. I embraced the extreme stereotypes of the conservative and liberal sides. I wrote them down and just looked at them. The idea of people spitting them at each other came from that and then it was just a matter of wrapping a story around it.
Given that most of us are closer in our politics beliefs than we realize and we still say terrible things about one another, I thought of the whole “brother pitted against brother” label that often gets mentioned in regards to the Civil War. I made that literal with significantly lower stakes and VIOLA! Capital G was born. I doubt Reznor would approve and, truth be told, I think I am guilty of some false equivalencies here, but I still like it.
My explanation not ring true? Do you have questions that this piece left unanswered? Reach out and touch me at tim.g.stevens@gmail.com or @ungajje on the Twitter. And, as always, spread the word.
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