I Look at Myself and See Nothing Worth Liking

The whole of human history
can be viewed as a struggle
between good and evil
because that's what it
essentially is,
polar opposites strangely
interacting, becoming one.

People have a tendency
to either crave the spotlight
or shun away from it,
and that's the same dichotomy.

I think the biggest trouble
comes when someone succeeds
in intersecting these impulses,
the person who hates people
but who is otherwise a real
people person, capable
of charming anyone they please to,
sometimes whether they want to or not.

The Matrix films came
within a hair's breath of
becoming the new Star Wars,
up until the second and third
installments were released
(with the new Star Wars themselves,
it only took until the first),
and people suddenly realized
what was really going on
(like they themselves woke up).

The story of Neo
was a classic example
of that inner war.
It turned out his adventures
weren't just about
cool fighting or
a wicked premise,
but a true exploration
of man's self-loathing
desires to see his world
crumble around him
(even before Morpheus
came calling, Neo
was a hacker, after all)
while being its savior,
which exactly in
the biblical sense,
ended up costing him
a personal happy ending.

I think that's what made
Christianity the draw it became,
actually, the reverse of Neo,
becoming popular because
of its paradox, that good
could come from evil.
I'll bet the early converts
heard more about the cross
than the beatitudes
(like I said, the reverse Neo).

That's the spirit of the revolution.