Jim Blue said: I'd like to think that you're right, Kevin,
but I have my doubts. Much as I love old McGee, I never knew
him to waste any of his ruminating on whether he dipped his
wick too frequently or indiscriminately. He always appeared
to believe he was doing some sweet lass a favor when he took
her to
bed, chased away her bad dreams, relieved all her tension,
restored her good
humor, and showed her the proper rhythm for the horizontal
bop.
His partner numbers could have
rivaled those of Wilt Chamberlain and I doubt it would have
troubled him. Methinks he saw promiscuous women as the
candidates for "death stink," and men as merely
good-naturedly randy. In other words, I don't think he'd have
ever made the gender substitutions that
you did in the text.
*************** Well, it looks like it's pretty much been
decided that Travis McGee had a hypocritical double standard.
But let's not judge JDM too harshly for this. Think of Lou
Ford. That sick sonuvabitch murdered people, and we still
like KILLER INSIDE ME and Jim Thompson, don't we?
My response is part in jest and part serious. An author can
paint a pretty creepy protagonist and make a damn good book
out of it. Personally, I'd gag if all the protagonists passed
the politically correct test with flying colors. On the other
hand, when the reader starts thinking that the bad in the
protagonist is echoing those of the writer, it's time to toss
the propaganda penalty flag.
miker
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