I think I'm probably not alone in feeling frustrated with everything in our highly imperfect political system: candidates, parties, platforms, campaigns...the list could go on and on. The frustrations are many, but I think my core issue is my feeling that I personally cannot do anything to effect change. I live in a state that's dominated by one party, and I'm an independent. I can't vote in our primary, and in the general election I'll be forced to vote for one of the major parties, though I don't want either one.
While simultaneously feeling sorry for myself and raging against the machine, it occurred to me that perhaps we readers and lovers of mystery read in the genre precisely for this reason. In mystery, one person can and does make a difference. It takes just one person to re-open and solve a cold case, or investigate a crime that nobody seems to care about, or take action when the hands of the police are tied. The classic sleuths investigated crimes for a living (and most had independent sources of income, which helped); and of course we still have those who work in crime-related fields (plenty of fictional P.I.'s, detectives, and police officers). However, laypeople/amateurs have become as much a part of the landscape as professionals--and these are normally workaday people who wouldn't be considered "heroes" in their everyday lives. But they take on the system, or the killer, or the villain--and through sheer force of will (or craftiness, or some other positive quality) they triumph.
So--Perhaps the mystery genre is a way for the writer to single-handedly correct the wrongs of society, and for the reader to imagine a world where it's somewhat easier to influence an outcome or make a positive change.
Your post, nay, your entire attitude towards politics, misses the point entirely. The only society I know of in which a single person can influence the outcome of any political event is a dictatorship, and I'm thankful I don't live in one. You have the right to vote, the right to choose. Billions of people around the world don't have this right. And if you don't like the choices printed on the ballot, write in your own. You have that choice. American men and women have given their lives so that you have that choice and to hear you whine about it makes me physically ill. Individuals make a difference in life by being role models in what they say and do. Don't complain about what you can't do; rather rejoice in what you can do.
Posted by: Mysterious Reviews | August 02, 2008 at 06:50 PM
Wow, Mysterious Reviews, maybe we read things really differently but I think you are the one who missed the point. The way I read this is that mystery heroes make more of an impact on the world than the average person does, or that our political system allows us to. I don't know anyone who doesn't think that our 2-party system forces us into choosing the lesser of 2 evils, and that's not necessarily a good thing even if it is the reality we all have to live with. I think the point here is that mystery heroes & heroines buck the system and get things done that way. You took a minor point at the start of the blog and turned it into the major point. Are you the type of reviewer who will give a book a bad review because you don't agree with its politics, viewpoint, or perspective?
Posted by: Christine | August 03, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Actually, Christine, I agree with (almost) everything you said. But I really hate when people whine about what they can't do instead of focusing on what they can do.
I do confess to objecting to mystery authors using their story to advance their own agenda, political or otherwise, but fortunately these types of books are few and far between. If I want an author's opinion on a topic, I'd prefer to read it on their blog or some other forum and not embedded in the middle their novel.
Posted by: Mysterious Reviews | August 21, 2008 at 10:03 AM