On Writing and Censorship
Jan. 29th, 2020 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI posted this in an essay on Ao3, but it bears repeating here.
I tend to believe that all stories should be permitted to be told, no matter how painful or offensive they may be, because often we learn far more from the painful and offensive ones. And writing, good writing should be to a degree at least dangerous or unsafe. And you should feel free to tackle dangerous and emotionally heated topics. But how you write about these topics, whether they be fictional or otherwise is important. And as readers and viewers, I think it is important to figure out how to listen, to hear the joke, the story, the tale in our heads and hearts in a manner in which we can see inside another heart or head to the degree to which we can understand. But understanding can be thwarted in how its told. It is also important to appreciate and pay attention to the context, medium, and manner in which the story is told.
I remember joining a fanboard back in 2002, and what charmed me about it was the moderator and host of the board had a strict policy against censorship. She even struggled with deleting spoilers (it was a non-spoiler board) and put up with items that made her blood pressure boil. For example? There was a homophobic poster on the board, who didn't know the Board Owner was a lesbian or that anyone else was. She allowed the woman to post homophobic essays and just ignored them. I don't know how she did it. I'd have booted the woman's ass off the board, but, she was right -- that would be the wrong thing to do. It would not have fixed the problem, nor provided us with an opportunity to debate the issue and attempt to change the woman's mind or show her another perspective.
You can't change minds or perspectives, if you suppress them or suppress their voices. It's very very important when fighting for a cause that I don't give into the temptation to be the bully and attempt to silence the other person. There are better ways. Always.
That said - I don't like to fight/debate in my journal. Who does?
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.
- Anais Nin
I tend to believe that all stories should be permitted to be told, no matter how painful or offensive they may be, because often we learn far more from the painful and offensive ones. And writing, good writing should be to a degree at least dangerous or unsafe. And you should feel free to tackle dangerous and emotionally heated topics. But how you write about these topics, whether they be fictional or otherwise is important. And as readers and viewers, I think it is important to figure out how to listen, to hear the joke, the story, the tale in our heads and hearts in a manner in which we can see inside another heart or head to the degree to which we can understand. But understanding can be thwarted in how its told. It is also important to appreciate and pay attention to the context, medium, and manner in which the story is told.
I remember joining a fanboard back in 2002, and what charmed me about it was the moderator and host of the board had a strict policy against censorship. She even struggled with deleting spoilers (it was a non-spoiler board) and put up with items that made her blood pressure boil. For example? There was a homophobic poster on the board, who didn't know the Board Owner was a lesbian or that anyone else was. She allowed the woman to post homophobic essays and just ignored them. I don't know how she did it. I'd have booted the woman's ass off the board, but, she was right -- that would be the wrong thing to do. It would not have fixed the problem, nor provided us with an opportunity to debate the issue and attempt to change the woman's mind or show her another perspective.
You can't change minds or perspectives, if you suppress them or suppress their voices. It's very very important when fighting for a cause that I don't give into the temptation to be the bully and attempt to silence the other person. There are better ways. Always.
That said - I don't like to fight/debate in my journal. Who does?