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A new moralism is gripping the literary world

persuasion.community

121–130 of 293 posts

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#121
When the right wanted to ban media, a quire reasonable counter argument was "you don't have to buy, or read, the things you don't like".

Where's that argument today? Why is anything "problematic" an assault against society as a whole, automatically, as well as whatever underprivileged group its offensive to?

Have humans lost the ability to tolerate the knowledge that someone, somewhere, may disagree with them? Or is it just the attention elite that think this way?

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#122
I was genuinely disturbed to discover that some publishers are asking agents about the sexuality of the writers they represent.

Right and left seem to have turned the culture wars into different flavours of tribal lifestyle branding - engaging and marketable, but also superficial and substance-free.

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#123

> 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…

Doesn't really fit, but still interesting especially if you have read what Moses Farrow has to say about it http://mosesfarrow.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-son-speaks-out-by-...

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#124
post #65

Earlier 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.

So I guess you think OJ Simpson is a swell guy then?

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i’m not familiar with JKR’s anti-trans speech. got a quote?

Might be this is the kind of thing you’re looking for: https://www.glamour.com/story/a-complete-breakdown-of-the-jk...

> On June 6, 2020, Rowling retweeted an op-ed piece that discussed “people who menstruate,” apparently taking issue with the fact that the story did not use the word women. “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

I'm still not convinced this is anti-trans. I mean it's reality so for people to want to cancel her over this is ridiculous (which sums up the woke-ideology pretty much).

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#126

Earlier 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?

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.

Lots of other peoples voices go into writing a book. You are in essence saying that they should all be forced to lend their voices and help someone they feel has merely dogged responsibility. Laws are not the same as justice and never will be

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#127

I always have trouble with stuff like this, because my inner teenage hacker is cheering that "information wants to be free!" while at the same time I'm cognizant of the fact that we have to treat information with a certain level of care. Here's a take I don't necessarily believe, but is about as generous to the new left as I can make it: Ideas can be powerfully virulent, and we're especially susceptible to them when…

The "virulent" media these days is 280 chr tweets, videos of guys talking into their phone in their car, and Facebook groups. The idea that anyone today is radicalized by long-form prose is pretty out there. Instead, banning problematic books creates the perfect rallying cry for our generation's ideologues to recruit more followers on social media platforms and Youtube. Of the people talking about the recently discontinued Seuss books, how many have ever even read them? I know I haven't.

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#128

This article is ridiculous. The current wave of book burning, censorship and denunciation is completely different from previous ones, because I support the positions of the mob. I know that this wave of book burnings, censorship and denunciation will lead to a brighter tomorrow. I should point out that I don't support 100% of the positions of the mob, but I won't say which ones I disagree with because I don't want to…

Haha, this is excellent sarcasm. Bravo!

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Bugs Life is an abominable appropriation of insect culture. You're not an ant so you lack the authority to write or read anything that represents ant culture.

come to think of it, Hobbits and dwarfs have also been grossly caricatured. As have goblins and those "swarthy men" from South (or whatever). Tolkien's in big trouble. He is alienating us from the whole of Middle Earth, no doubt.

There is "The Last Ringbearer" [1] for an alternative view.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

Re: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

#130

This article is ridiculous. The current wave of book burning, censorship and denunciation is completely different from previous ones, because I support the positions of the mob. I know that this wave of book burnings, censorship and denunciation will lead to a brighter tomorrow. I should point out that I don't support 100% of the positions of the mob, but I won't say which ones I disagree with because I don't want to…

> This article is ridiculous. The current wave of book burning, censorship and denunciation is completely different from previous ones, because I support the positions of the mob. I know that this wave of book burnings, censorship and denunciation will lead to a brighter tomorrow. > I should point out that I don't support 100% of the positions of the mob, but I won't say which ones I disagree with because I don't want to be next. The differences I have are minor, and I'm willing to change them immediately if necessary.

My tired brain can't figure out if this is a joke or not?

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