Uh, this is definitely going to be a "more heat than light" thread.
A new moralism is gripping the literary world
71–80 of 293 posts
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#72I think the author here misrepresented the JK Rowling thing quite a bit. The idea is not to "scour" her texts for hidden anti-trans sentiment. The idea is that Rowling makes money off of selling her books and has built an empire, and the resultant power is now used by her as a platform to propagate anti-trans speech. Quite a different issue and also quite novel (pun unintended). Death of the Author is a concurrently…
But why is it considered anti-trans speech, when a villain is "a male serial killer known to have worn a dress"?
Surely, in many other books the serial killer is a straight male. Why are their authors not accused of anti-heterosexual speech? Are we promoting some sort of discrimination against straight males? Are they the only ones allowed to be evil?
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#73Every major publisher is a capitalist enterprise. Editors, et al., are merely devices to operate such enterprise in order to deliver monetary value to board members and shareholders. All decisions, one way or another, are toward that aim, regardless of surface appearance. Those who have a problem with the current situation actually, then, have a problem with capitalism but don't know or can't admit it. Capitalism is…
I mostly agree with what you wrote, but "Capitalism is not a moral force (except unto itself)" isn't right. It absolutely is a moral force that has passed judgment on lazy , poor , and uneducated rubes who don't toil endlessly and retire unhappy to die early and not drain the system. Our society constantly shames people who don't buy the propaganda about our moral overlords, the Bezoses, Gateses, and Musks of the wor…
That is what I meant by 'unto itself'. The only type of morality it allows for is what can be deployed as a defense of and perpetuation of itself. (Those whom God has blessed with riches, as the ancient tautology goes, are favored by God. Is there much distinction between the invisible hand of the market and the invisible hand of God? Did we finally invent a God that moves on its own?)
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#74> In March 2020, staff at the publishing house Hachette in New York, including employees of Little Brown and Grand Central Publishing, walked out over the planned publication of Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, because the film director was the subject in the early 1990s of a molestation allegation, for which he was twice investigated without charge. Hachette caved to employees’ demands and canceled the rele…
I disagree. Living in a free and open society means defending everyone's right to have a voice, and that means defending the free speech rights of those we despise.
Nobody owes you a megaphone. You can write what you want but a publishing house doesn't need to be involved in selling a product that they and their customers may consider abhorrent (like defending Woody Allen).
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. Living in a free and open society means defending everyone's right to have a voice, and that means defending the free speech rights of those we despise.
The point is the essay conflates allowing all voices to be heard with being ok with credibly accused sexual offenders. More generally though free speech goes both ways. Are you arguing that you should be forced to amplify positions you find repellent?
There's some conflation going on. "Being ok with" is not the same thing as "allowing to speak." What you do with credibly accused criminals of any kind is, you punish them to the full extent of the law. If they want to write a book or something, they can still do that.
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we're censoring ideas based on culture then computers, and cars, and planes, should only be allowed to be used by white men.
White isn’t a culture. Also BIPOC have made contributions to all those things. Way to erase them.
Then Black, Asian, or Latin aren't cultures either?
The wright brothers, carl benz, charles babbage, invented flight, automobiles, and computers respectively.
All very white dudes.
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is the essay conflates allowing all voices to be heard with being ok with credibly accused sexual offenders. More generally though free speech goes both ways. Are you arguing that you should be forced to amplify positions you find repellent?
WTF does it even mean to be "credibly accused"? It doesn't matter how one is accused if at the end they are not convicted . This is the whole principle behind a nation of law.
But like other people, say publishing house employees, also have freedom. Not actually familiar with this particular case, but also not sure that it’s particularly relevant. Plenty of things are not illegal or not provable while still painting someone in a pretty awful light and what your arguing is that the only moral thing to do in that position is to stand back
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
it's not true that JK Rowling was or is doing that. that's a misrepresentation.
I think this comment exemplifies the core of the issue. It’s not that many people actually have a problem with society holding famous people to account for their misdeeds. It’s that they simply don’t think they are misdeeds. They don’t find a problem with the things JK says and they feel like Woody Allen is probably a nice guy unfairly being attacked. Which like actually fine, that’s a legitimate position you can tak…
The other problem with this claim is that even if you do believe that J K Rowling's personal views are transphobic (and honestly, they probably are), she really doesn't seem to have been using her power to push them. The woke establishment that's been going after her, on the other hand, absolutely used their power to push transphobia in ways that actually mattered, including into UK law.
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As long as you are able to do that, is it truly censoring? No ones burning books here. To say the publishing industry is especially censoring today than before is outrageous. The point is that it self censored in the ethnicity and gender of its authors instead of the material. I've been trying to get the older Seuss books. They're impossible to get. And if one of them does happen to be available, the prices are ast…
A few days ago they were one of the top torrents on a high seas themed site. I archived them if for no other reason than because I’ve been told that I shouldn’t.
Nobody is telling you you shouldn’t archive them. The publishers decided they weren’t comfortable selling them to be shown to children. I’m personally glad that you’ve helped preserve these once-beloved cultural artifacts. However, I’d hope that anyone would hesitate to give these particular books to children in 2021.
Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world
#80I'm surprised more writers don't advertise with slogans like "read the dangerous book they don't want you to read." It's also possible that the most interesting writing is happening in the self-published world, or the near-self-published world. That's where current classics like Lolita or Ulysses came from. Or much of D.H. Lawrence.
I read a rambling self-published screed by what I can only assume is an alt-right man in his 20s called Harassment Architecture. It was really bizarre and like nothing I’d ever read. I couldn’t put it down, it felt almost pornographic him saying things that just aren’t allowed to be said. Like listening to circa 2000 Eminem in 2021. I’m honestly not even sure how I got the book, I think I was drunk and ordered it off of Amazon.
I wouldn’t say I recommend the book, but I think you’re right that there’s a lot of self published stuff now that is really off the wall.