Morwen’s Reviews > He Who Fights with Monsters 2 > Status Update

“It sounds like you're just making excuses for doing whatever you like,” Sophie said.
“Oh, I’m absolutely doing that,” Jason said. “I told you it’s a life philosophy. I’ve just found out how to make it work.”

“When you take a very specific approach to things, the way I do, you have to accept that some people will respond to it and others will reject it wholesale. It’s a numbers game and you have to accept that a certain number of people are going to tell you to sod off. Some people like what I’m selling, others can’t stand it. I work with the ones that do and don’t bother with the ones that don’t.”

“So all this strangeness is just an act?”
“Not at all,” he said. “There’s method to the madness, sure, but there’s also madness to the madness. It’s about leaning into your strengths and working with what you’ve got—a lesson you could stand to learn, by the way.”

“Why do you do that?” she asked. “Make reference to things you know people won’t understand. Is it part of the whole crazy persona you have going?”
“No,” Jason said. “Well, yes, probably. They call it a weirdness coupon. If people expect you to do strange things, then they accept it easier when you do. Have you ever noticed how people don’t expect me to respect authority or adhere to ordinary codes of conduct?”

Figure out what you are, and be the ever-living crap out of that thing. Then find the people willing to put up with it.

I’m constantly causing trouble politeness would avoid. I pick fights I have no business being in, make enemies that would overlook me if I just learned to keep my mouth shut. I’m prickly, manipulative. Completely lacking in deference.”
“If you’re so self-aware, then why not fix that?”
“Because they aren’t problems,” Jason said. “They’re part of who I am, and I’m happier with that now than I ever have been.”

“We all manipulate the people around us,” Jason said. “We all show different faces to friends, family, colleagues. Enemies.”
“You think that’s the same thing?”
“You think it’s different? You think my friends don’t see past the bombast and the bluster? Do you think Jory doesn’t know how I feel, healing people in his clinic?”

“Jason is a lot like Danielle Geller. She’s subtle and refined where he’s outrageous and disruptive, but they operate the same way. There’s always a sense with Danielle that she’s playing a game only she knows about. It’s like you only ever see her from an angle. Jason is the same, except loud and distracting instead of subtle and nuanced. Basically, they’re both good people who think like bad people.”

“Wouldn’t that make people wary of you, once they figure out what you’re doing?”
“That’s where the second lesson comes in. When someone believes something, they believe it hard. They’ll dismiss good evidence that contradicts their belief and accept spurious evidence that supports it. So, in their mind, if you’re wrong, they’re very wrong, and the whole point is that their thoughts don’t go down that path.”

I learned two lessons about people that have always held true, in my world or yours. One was that people really like to fill in the gaps in a story. You give someone the right selection of facts and you don’t have to lie to them. They’ll connect the pieces in accordance with their own beliefs and lie to themselves for you.”