"when people know you’re always being straight with them" - well, they often suspect you're not anyhow. I also loved Pratchett's writing and humor and straight man. Earnest, rather than hip, as Randy Pausch has said. This is what makes everyone's life better around simple people.
I hate how earnestness kinda has a bad reputation these days, or at least a painfully uncool one. But Pratchett was smart enough to deliver his with absurd belly-laughs (always a great delivery mechanism for good ideas) and I will forever have mad respect for him because of it. When you look at what his Discworld books were really saying about people, it's almost all good. Occasionally incensed, taking a stand, yelling at the idiots, but essentially he thought that human beings were lovely and we should all be a bit more aware of it.
We need that kind of earnestness, and that kind of simplicity. Not sure there are many other massmarket writers out there right now who can say the things he did without getting labelled as excessively sentimental and corny. And maybe that's a huge shame...
The “Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socio-economic unfairness” is one of the passages I remember best. You're quite right that humo(u)r is an excellent vector. Thanks for sharing this link; it provides some hope in a challenging time.
"when people know you’re always being straight with them" - well, they often suspect you're not anyhow. I also loved Pratchett's writing and humor and straight man. Earnest, rather than hip, as Randy Pausch has said. This is what makes everyone's life better around simple people.
Yes, that's the word: earnest. Perfectly said.
I hate how earnestness kinda has a bad reputation these days, or at least a painfully uncool one. But Pratchett was smart enough to deliver his with absurd belly-laughs (always a great delivery mechanism for good ideas) and I will forever have mad respect for him because of it. When you look at what his Discworld books were really saying about people, it's almost all good. Occasionally incensed, taking a stand, yelling at the idiots, but essentially he thought that human beings were lovely and we should all be a bit more aware of it.
We need that kind of earnestness, and that kind of simplicity. Not sure there are many other massmarket writers out there right now who can say the things he did without getting labelled as excessively sentimental and corny. And maybe that's a huge shame...
And then there's this, from just last week:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jan/26/terry-pratchett-jack-monroe-vimes-boots-poverty-index
I am so glad his influence endures so strongly.
The “Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socio-economic unfairness” is one of the passages I remember best. You're quite right that humo(u)r is an excellent vector. Thanks for sharing this link; it provides some hope in a challenging time.
Update! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60287010 Full points awarded to Jack Monroe & Terry Pratchett. :)