![\"fights](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2015\/01\/fights-in-good-faith.jpg\")
<\/a> Every week, I put up a \u201cRadio Readings\u201d post, so you can track down the books, articles, and (this week) non-violent resistance movements that I cite on the show. So, without further ado, here\u2019s what I\u2019m talking about this week.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Small (and Petty!) Gods of Discworld (Small Gods<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- This section is rooted in\u00a0Small Gods<\/em><\/a>, the first Discworld book I ever read<\/li>\n
- In that book, Pratchett explores a religion that has made an idol of its ritual and lost its god. \u00a0In\u00a0Strange Gods<\/em><\/a>, Elizabeth Scalia describes how we can recognize and resist this tendency in our own lives.<\/li>\n
- Trolleyology<\/a> is the name for the study of trolley problem-like questions \u2014 moral hypotheticals of varying usefulness. \u00a0(My friends and I do sell a trolleyology related t-shirt<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Religion that\u2019s \u201cIn Me Like a Fever\u201d (Witches Abroad<\/a>, Carpe Jugulum<\/a><\/i>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Granny Weatherwax on why belief in God is the most boring aspect of a relationship to God<\/a><\/li>\n
- Granny again on what religion that takes root in your soul would really look like<\/a><\/li>\n
- A\u00a0New Yorker\u00a0<\/em>feature on nuns (and others)<\/a> in the Plowshares movement<\/a>, who resist nuclear arms by getting themselves arrested<\/li>\n
- I recently read\u00a0The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness<\/em>\u00a0which wound up being an example of an evil I\u2019m not sure how to oppose<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cThey Starts with Thinking of People as Things\u201d (Carpe Jugulum<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Granny Weatherwax gave me my most reliable moral test for my actions<\/a> (and failures to act)<\/li>\n
- Thinking about whether I was treating people as things helped me change my plans about the Senior Class Gift<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The High Stakes of Small Lives (Men at Arms<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Night Watch<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality<\/em><\/a> wrapped up today, and featured a much smarter than usual Harry and, accordingly, the author said, everyone else had to be upgraded as well.
\nRule One: If you do anything to increase the protagonist\u2019s power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. You can\u2019t make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. Otherwise, even if it is well-written in all other ways, your story will suck because the reader will know to expect an unending string of easy victories, leading them to neither wonder or care about what happens next. The Mary Sue is not defined by her power being too strong, but by her challenges being too easily overcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- Discworld did a great job making some lower-stakes problems\u00a0important<\/em>\u00a0(Sam Vimes is, at baseline, a policeman). \u00a0Even when the\u00a0plot<\/em> is large (as in\u00a0Night Watch,<\/em> when he travels in time and needs to return home, with the murderer he\u2019s pursuing, sans paradoxes), his\u00a0life<\/em> is still a series of small choices with bigger ramification for the people he interacts with (i.e. when he defuses a burgeoning riot). \u00a0When Pratchett increased Vimes\u2019s powers and increased the power of his enemies, I was a little less interested (looking at you,\u00a0Snuff<\/em><\/a>) because Pratchett\u2019s characters had the gift of taking all their decisions seriously, not just the epic feeling ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did wind up going to an HPMOR wrap party today, and I made Black-Hearted Oatmeal Pie<\/a>, since the end of the story fell on Pi Day.<\/p>\n
Religion that\u2019s \u201cIn Me Like a Fever\u201d (Witches Abroad<\/a>, Carpe Jugulum<\/a><\/i>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Granny Weatherwax on why belief in God is the most boring aspect of a relationship to God<\/a><\/li>\n
- Granny again on what religion that takes root in your soul would really look like<\/a><\/li>\n
- A\u00a0New Yorker\u00a0<\/em>feature on nuns (and others)<\/a> in the Plowshares movement<\/a>, who resist nuclear arms by getting themselves arrested<\/li>\n
- I recently read\u00a0The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness<\/em>\u00a0which wound up being an example of an evil I\u2019m not sure how to oppose<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cThey Starts with Thinking of People as Things\u201d (Carpe Jugulum<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Granny Weatherwax gave me my most reliable moral test for my actions<\/a> (and failures to act)<\/li>\n
- Thinking about whether I was treating people as things helped me change my plans about the Senior Class Gift<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The High Stakes of Small Lives (Men at Arms<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Night Watch<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality<\/em><\/a> wrapped up today, and featured a much smarter than usual Harry and, accordingly, the author said, everyone else had to be upgraded as well.
\nRule One: If you do anything to increase the protagonist\u2019s power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. You can\u2019t make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. Otherwise, even if it is well-written in all other ways, your story will suck because the reader will know to expect an unending string of easy victories, leading them to neither wonder or care about what happens next. The Mary Sue is not defined by her power being too strong, but by her challenges being too easily overcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- Discworld did a great job making some lower-stakes problems\u00a0important<\/em>\u00a0(Sam Vimes is, at baseline, a policeman). \u00a0Even when the\u00a0plot<\/em> is large (as in\u00a0Night Watch,<\/em> when he travels in time and needs to return home, with the murderer he\u2019s pursuing, sans paradoxes), his\u00a0life<\/em> is still a series of small choices with bigger ramification for the people he interacts with (i.e. when he defuses a burgeoning riot). \u00a0When Pratchett increased Vimes\u2019s powers and increased the power of his enemies, I was a little less interested (looking at you,\u00a0Snuff<\/em><\/a>) because Pratchett\u2019s characters had the gift of taking all their decisions seriously, not just the epic feeling ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did wind up going to an HPMOR wrap party today, and I made Black-Hearted Oatmeal Pie<\/a>, since the end of the story fell on Pi Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey Starts with Thinking of People as Things\u201d (Carpe Jugulum<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Granny Weatherwax gave me my most reliable moral test for my actions<\/a> (and failures to act)<\/li>\n
- Thinking about whether I was treating people as things helped me change my plans about the Senior Class Gift<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The High Stakes of Small Lives (Men at Arms<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Night Watch<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality<\/em><\/a> wrapped up today, and featured a much smarter than usual Harry and, accordingly, the author said, everyone else had to be upgraded as well.
\nRule One: If you do anything to increase the protagonist\u2019s power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. You can\u2019t make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. Otherwise, even if it is well-written in all other ways, your story will suck because the reader will know to expect an unending string of easy victories, leading them to neither wonder or care about what happens next. The Mary Sue is not defined by her power being too strong, but by her challenges being too easily overcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- Discworld did a great job making some lower-stakes problems\u00a0important<\/em>\u00a0(Sam Vimes is, at baseline, a policeman). \u00a0Even when the\u00a0plot<\/em> is large (as in\u00a0Night Watch,<\/em> when he travels in time and needs to return home, with the murderer he\u2019s pursuing, sans paradoxes), his\u00a0life<\/em> is still a series of small choices with bigger ramification for the people he interacts with (i.e. when he defuses a burgeoning riot). \u00a0When Pratchett increased Vimes\u2019s powers and increased the power of his enemies, I was a little less interested (looking at you,\u00a0Snuff<\/em><\/a>) because Pratchett\u2019s characters had the gift of taking all their decisions seriously, not just the epic feeling ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did wind up going to an HPMOR wrap party today, and I made Black-Hearted Oatmeal Pie<\/a>, since the end of the story fell on Pi Day.<\/p>\n
The High Stakes of Small Lives (Men at Arms<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Night Watch<\/em><\/a>)<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality<\/em><\/a> wrapped up today, and featured a much smarter than usual Harry and, accordingly, the author said, everyone else had to be upgraded as well.
\nRule One: If you do anything to increase the protagonist\u2019s power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. You can\u2019t make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. Otherwise, even if it is well-written in all other ways, your story will suck because the reader will know to expect an unending string of easy victories, leading them to neither wonder or care about what happens next. The Mary Sue is not defined by her power being too strong, but by her challenges being too easily overcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- Discworld did a great job making some lower-stakes problems\u00a0important<\/em>\u00a0(Sam Vimes is, at baseline, a policeman). \u00a0Even when the\u00a0plot<\/em> is large (as in\u00a0Night Watch,<\/em> when he travels in time and needs to return home, with the murderer he\u2019s pursuing, sans paradoxes), his\u00a0life<\/em> is still a series of small choices with bigger ramification for the people he interacts with (i.e. when he defuses a burgeoning riot). \u00a0When Pratchett increased Vimes\u2019s powers and increased the power of his enemies, I was a little less interested (looking at you,\u00a0Snuff<\/em><\/a>) because Pratchett\u2019s characters had the gift of taking all their decisions seriously, not just the epic feeling ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did wind up going to an HPMOR wrap party today, and I made Black-Hearted Oatmeal Pie<\/a>, since the end of the story fell on Pi Day.<\/p>\n
\n
Rule One: If you do anything to increase the protagonist\u2019s power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. You can\u2019t make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. Otherwise, even if it is well-written in all other ways, your story will suck because the reader will know to expect an unending string of easy victories, leading them to neither wonder or care about what happens next. The Mary Sue is not defined by her power being too strong, but by her challenges being too easily overcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- Discworld did a great job making some lower-stakes problems\u00a0important<\/em>\u00a0(Sam Vimes is, at baseline, a policeman). \u00a0Even when the\u00a0plot<\/em> is large (as in\u00a0Night Watch,<\/em> when he travels in time and needs to return home, with the murderer he\u2019s pursuing, sans paradoxes), his\u00a0life<\/em> is still a series of small choices with bigger ramification for the people he interacts with (i.e. when he defuses a burgeoning riot). \u00a0When Pratchett increased Vimes\u2019s powers and increased the power of his enemies, I was a little less interested (looking at you,\u00a0Snuff<\/em><\/a>) because Pratchett\u2019s characters had the gift of taking all their decisions seriously, not just the epic feeling ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did wind up going to an HPMOR wrap party today, and I made Black-Hearted Oatmeal Pie<\/a>, since the end of the story fell on Pi Day.<\/p>\n
![\"hpmor](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2015\/03\/hpmor-pie.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n