Books Are Safe Spaces Now

originally posted by: Mike Stivic
a reply to: DBCowboy

I said I appreciate your humor ..

Sheesh..maybe I need a sensitivity reader for my posts....

Respectfully,
~meathead

I'll be your sensitivity reader.

Thanks for the offer but I'd be better off with Larry Flint...



Respectfully,
~meathead

Ummm......OMG...finally...an outlet for all my repressed victimization...

Where do I apply...?




YouSir

a reply to: ketsuko

Well many people enjoy alternative realities online, pretending to be someone they are not. Some of them are really good actors.

I can't imagine it would be hard, just stick to the script and put yourself into your new hypothetical you.

I'm humoured but for $250 a script I could be convincing too, you make a good point.

To get back on topic, let me ask a question.

Who needs to burn books when they are censored before publication?
It is a scary notion,and if you follow that road it leads to a very dark place.

Who decides what is acceptable?

Who watches the watchers?




Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: ketsuko

Who gives a rat's a**. There are more important things going on in the world.

My brother in law has written 3 books his books evidently do well,as a fictional writer,and to be honest I have never read any of his,perhaps I should,wonder if my sister has?

originally posted by: fiverx313

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: ketsuko

And they conclude by whining about how too many books about straight, white characters, likely written by straight, white authors. Obviously the answer is for their sensitivity readers to get off their butts and learn to write? Don't you think? If those people wrote narratives about the kinds of people they are, then those stories would exist with the characters accurate to those experiences with no extra policing necessary.

they likely do. it's a lot harder to get published if you're not coming from the dominant social paradigm. often writers who write characters of color who manage to get published find their characters whitewashed in cover art.

you're spending a lot of time complaining about a non-issue, imo. writers often do want to make sure they're writing knowledgeably for a diverse audience and not needlessly upsetting people or writing in ways that ring false to members of different cultures.

and when they do want to play against type or use a reader's discomfort as a part of the narrative, that's often pretty easy to tell when coming from a skilled writer, vs. just making a stupid characterization out of unfamiliarity.

of course if you don't like you, you can also write your owon books, don't you think?

You forgot to read the article again, didn't you ?
R , is that you ? In a 2nd reincarnation ?

originally posted by: Lurker1
a reply to: ketsuko

Who gives a rat's a**. There are more important things going on in the world.

Books form an important part of our social fabric. A large part of the article in Slate talked about adolescent lit. Given the thrust of common core to find exemplar books on more modern topics, these are the sorts of books your kids will be reading in school now -- books written after having been carefully screened by the thought police.

It is a subtle form of thought control where every character presented must think and act in an approved way.