Nevermind their smiley faces
When writers don jackboots 
             
It might seem a given that persons who work in words for a living, or who at least aspire to do so, would support free speech and intellectual openness. That they would champion unbound inquiry and not press for restrictions on creative expression.

Writers, ideally, are believers in untrammelled thought and communication liberty. They do not endorse the stifling of any voices. (It's an old idea that freedom of thought must enjoy preeminence over every other faith for truths to be established; I won't drag out the "I may disagree" quote so often attributed to Voltaire.)

But as was just impressed upon me, some contemporary writers who litter their prose with earnest appeals to "inclusiveness" and "diversity" can be no less cruelly intolerant and demanding of ideological orthodoxy than any book-burning tyrant from Central Casting.

Recently, the administrator of a science fiction writing group's Facebook page posted a cartoon based on male-female interaction. Its ultimate message was that a speaker's genuinely non-offensive intent was wholly irrelevant, and that a listener's erroneous, negative interpretation should be the standard honored.

Or, as the post declared, "Impact, not intent!"

That is, obviously, a silly, unfair, and illogical notion. There probably are no statements that would not be objected to by some random audience member. 

Were that rule accepted, no one, including its endorsers, could put even one sentence to paper. (Besides, how many now-favored ideas were once controversial?)

As a reader, I greatly value differing perspectives. Contrasting them is educational -- much more so than simply redigesting the same point of view, articulated in identical vocabulary, each time I take up a book.  

I responded simply that any writer who censored himself in favor of an imagined majority prejudice should put away his pen, as he would not be likely to produce distinctive or interesting writing.

(Yes, I am familiar with 'writing to market dictates' for commercial viability. I have always thought persons so devoid of personal auctorial ambition as to follow that path should look into bricklaying.)

Others in that Facebook writing group conversation were furious with my advocating basic writing freedom. The administrator blasted me as an "insensitive boor," cursed at me, accused me of speaking from a "privileged perspective," and advised me to "GTFOH."

Another attributed misogyny to me - bizarre, as I had not so much as broached that or any other odious and condemnable bigotry, simply stood up for free expression. But such is the zealot's belief. The world is neatly divided into two sides, and all who do not share their particular zealotry are automatically the hated enemy, no evidence being required. 

I was advised to heed PC decorum, "if you want to get paid." Seeking to facelessly cater to audience desires may be a fine rule for penning microwave mashed potato directions, but not for worthwhile literature.

I wanted to punch down, so to speak. To inform these critics of my writing credits which stretch back to 1982, include not only music and political magazine and newspaper bylines but contracted website and book writings, and for which I've enjoyed remuneration despite not having the benefit of their wise counsel.

But I did not. Though I did leave the group.

And I recalled advice I've seen attributed to Malcolm X:

"Don't be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn't do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today."


DC Larson is a science fiction novelist, blogger, and freelance journalist. Previously on the staffs of Rockabilly and Pin Up America magazines, he has contributed writings to Counterpunch, Huffington Post, OpEdnews.com, American Thinker, Daily Caller, and Independent Political Report, among others. Newspaper credits include USA Today and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He served as Iowa Coordinator for Ralph Nader's 2004 presidential campaign.

His blogs are http://www.AmericanSceneMagazine.blogspot.com and http://www.DamnationDanceParty.blogspot.com. He may be contacted at dcltrueleft@yahoo/com.