Intolerance

The other day I was listening to my Wheel of Time audiobook while doing my morning walk and I suddenly got so annoyed I had to turn it off. I'm at the beginning of book six, but that isn't really relevant. It's not really Jordan's fault. I know that the books are full of sexism that is related to the source of magic and the Breaking of the World and that the way that the different factions in the story have their reasons to deliberately misunderstand and misrepresent information is part of the tension of the tale. I get that. (There is also the real-world fact that we draw our conclusions from the available data, even when those conclusions are incorrect.) Unfortunately that sort of thing is way too real and present in the real world and I just couldn't take anymore. (Zealots doggedly stepping to the drum that leads the party conga line. Racists not understanding the core of their own racism. Gender and sex issues that reflect fear and ignorance of human nature. Grinding poverty that kills people every day. The plain bullshit that affects the human race on a daily basis.)

I'm not generally a cynic and I believe in the good that is in our world and that it is everywhere and at all times, not just when the news decides to report it, but damn it, I 'read' for enjoyment, for escapist reasons, for fun. It was just too close to home for my world-weary brain. So I apologize to Mr. Jordan for tuning out on his book for awhile. I will return to your world because I want to find out how your dipshit protagonists finally grow up and accept the responsibilities that they were apparently born for. Just not right now.