Shadows of Light

It has occurred to me, that there are people that stumble in here claiming that love is - in fact - not a cunt. Of course, there is so much evidence to back them up that the myriad words and arguments come spluttering from their mouths, dribbling over each other and congealing into sticky pools of poetry and sweetness.

Usually, I spit in those pools and move on. Discussing Love Is A Cunt is not about discussing Love Is Not A Cunt. But today, our esteemed contributor Illegible has burbled her way into their ranks. This distresses me, and perhaps it's time I stopped spitting and thought about our front for a second - what does LIAC look like to the world?

See, I've always had this idea about the nature of content here at LIAC. It facades itself as a bunch of jaded fuckers - which we are, mostly - but the subtle undertone of everybody being a hopeless, helpless, lovestruck romantic is being lost on too many people. To the point where they forget that - no matter how jaded we are - we are still willing to go through it again. And again. And again. However often or much it hurts. I thought the value we saw in love was inherent in all this wailing and moaning. I think it emphasises the power of love so much more than, say, someone grinning inanely and talking candy like some sort of shit-kitsch pop ballad.

I also think that it would be very hard to find a single post that states 'love isn't worth it'. To me, that's not what LIAC stands for.

Now,

I'm going to sound like I digress now, but I'm not really - stick with me here.

An ex-girlfriend of mine enjoyed graphic novels (read: comics). The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman was one of them, and one which I also thought was brilliant. She used to read them to me, pointing like a child at the pictures and giggling at the deeply disturbing storylines. Fuck, I miss her. Anyway...

Each revolved around a character named Dream - who is the embodiment of dreams, and is one of a number of godlike characters called "The Endless". His other brothers and sisters being (in order of age) Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium. Dream was born between Death and Destruction.

In one of the comics ("Brief Lives") Dream's brother, Destruction has left his realm and forsaken his duties. 300 years later, Dream travels to find him, to bring him back to the family and take care of the realm of Destruction. When he eventually does find him, he finds that Destruction is holed away on a little Greek island - he has become a sculptor, a painter, a cook. He had spent a month fighting for pay in Africa, and a decade helping dig the Panama Canal.

The point being, that Creation defines Destruction. Destruction wanted to Create, in order to understand himself better. They are the same concept, just at opposite ends of the spectrum. Destruction left, because nobody understood this. As he says in the book, "there are two sides to every coin".

So,

I feel that LIAC and LINAC are just opposite ends of the same thing. That 'coin', whatever that might be termed. The indefinable thing which can only be defined by its opposing sides.

This is why I think that LIAC is, strangely, a celebration and exploration of love. Just as you cannot understand shadow without light, you cannot understand light without shadow.

And the fucked up thing, is that each is blind to the other. That's the cunt.

Blinding shadows, blinding light.

LIAC. LINAC.

Same thing. Different, blinkered angle.