Trust

This YearlyKos attendee described the experience as building trust - no, that's not quite it. Just go read it.

I got back into the field of comic books after experiencing "the real world" for 10 years. While I was in the real world, I found out how it operates: it operates on distrust. Think about it: Why do you have to put your John Hancock on everything? Why do you make copies upon copies of everything?

I went back to the field of comic books because I felt that there, I could relax and not have to fill out forms in triplicate because someone might be out to get me. I felt that most of my peers grew up on "Truth, Justice and the American Way" and had the same idealism I had, the same principals I had.

To a large degree, they had. This is the kind of field it was: my boss and the attorney CEO/publisher were talking over a contract at a convention and neither bothered to take notes. I repeat, they were NEGOTIATING a contract, and neither took notes. They looked at me in surprise when I suggested (partially because I didn't really trust that particular publisher, but partially because the convention was noisy and distracting and I wanted to be sure no points were missed) taking notes. Both of their responses were, "But I trust him."

Name another field that's like that.

BTW, I'm not sure today's comics pros are like that. After all, these are the ones who grew up on the ilks of the Punisher and Lobo. Not exactly hero-inspiring material there.

More and more, the world is saying in little tinny voices just below hearing - trust no one. I am so sick of that message. I think I'm going to participate in Daily Kose a bit more, if that is what they're hoping to build - trust.