Gary Kleppe wrote:

Here's a little challenge of mine: write fics based on whatever manga or
anime you have ideas for, whether they be popular or obscure. Read
whichever fics interest you, and C&C them. Leave the rest of us to make
our own choices.

That was sent to me 5/4/99.  This is the price being played for everyone
else making their own choices.  "This is life, pal.  Deal with the
issues," writes Brian Payne.  "You're beating a very dead horse," writes
Gary.  No, I'm sorry.  I will not put this to sleep.

First of all I don't really understand why Ranma is so great.  First of
all, the lead character (Ranma) insults the heroine (Akane), and she
mallots him.  He doesn't duck, he doesn't fight back; all he gets is
pain from the beating.  And all the other characters within the series. 
They all seem to lack any normal knowledge what-so-ever.

This, first of all, is a creation of one person.  Rumiku Takahashi can
make shows that can touch the sences and not just a few tired-out ones. 
But to me she has failed miserably with Ranma 1/2.  What I thought was a
great martial arts cartoon turned out to be a concurrent lesson in
domestic violence.  Remember, the door swings both ways.

My constant complaint is the fact that people will take anything they
recieve from the hands of well known organizations and except them to be
as is.  It's like with the Jesuits and the Inquisition in
Post-Renaissance Europe.  "They show me a piece of white paper and tell
me it's black.  Then they ask me what color the paper is, and I say that
it's black."  This is the type of mentality occuring all over the
place.  And someone has to step on people like me because I think that
there's something wrong.

I tried my hardest, mind you.  Eva, Oh My Goddess, Nadesico, Idol
Project, several of my crossovers.  I've managed to get some replies. 
But it didn't cause any long "Re: Flame Wars" which I've been witnessing
since I joined the FFML.  I also gave my replies to some of the works in
there.  Just to let them know that they have a thing going there.

The time when one guy came out with a "Slim Tenchi" filk.  I didn't
insult the guy and said, "May you rot in hell" like Eternally Lost
Lurker.  I don't like Eminem either, but I went in to help him since I
do like Tenchi Muyo. [Any fan of TM, wether novice or expert, is flesh
of my flesh... ^_^ ]  Besides, wasn't the internet made possible because
of the need to escape from jerks like him?  We get enough of that on
highways and traffic jams.

And that shooting at that poor Colorado high school.  Do you people
actually believe that video games, movies, etc adn made these teens go
in and blow some heads off?  Let's look at their lives and families
first.  Maybe they were little Shinji's when they were young.  Maybe
they hate how happy everyone else's life is compared to theirs; and
decided to get everyone as messed up as they are.  The First Lady is
wrong:  It takes good parents to raise a child.  The village has got
other problems to deal with.

My bottom line is that you can't just sit by and idly let people feed
you their ideas.  Because maybe their ideas don't coincide with yours. 
Sometimes you have to get off from your butt and make things happen. 
The following will come afterwards, they always do.  Thinking for
oneself is a gift and a responsibility.  Forgo that gift, and I assure
you there will be millions of other that will gladly fill the spaces in
your mind with anything they please.