Should my creativity be uninhibited?
The answer to that question is yes. Self-censorship & creativity can go hand in hand. Because I want you to read what I right. Oops. Because I want you to read what I write. See what I see, and I would love for you to feel the way I feel.
I have the need to write it…
If I have the need to write it, whether that form manifests itself as fiction or non-fiction, I want you to read it. Read it with an open and unbiased mind, (a dream in this closed minded and biased world, eh?). I want you to absorb this data. I want the reader to gather the information and feel the emotions I’m trying to convey, and see the world we live in. Or, transport to another world.
This is hard enough to create without whatever preconceived notion the reader might have. I don’t want him hung up on what he considers an inappropriate word or slang term meant for effect.
How much self-censorship is appropriate?
Everything I fucking write could be a public censor’s worst goddamn nightmare. Every hell, goddamn, and shit I express is going to offend somebody. Someone will complain about the blood splattered brain dripping from the butcher block. Or, if the blood splattered brain doesn’t offend, then the detailed description of maggot infested viscera belonging to a nigger, kike, chink, or wop might. Perhaps the image of the limp severed cock of the twink catholic priest having been neutered while balls-deep in a twelve-year-old boy’s ass in the ironically called rectory. Maybe I should self-censor my story of a teenage prostitute talented enough to shoot ping pong balls across the room from his pussy into a fishbowl for his johns.
The thin-skinned will want more self-censorship.
So, The earlier paragraph has enough information to offend a slew of thin-skinned critics. I present this redacted version to keep everyone’s blood pressure at a respectable level. However, I left enough not blacked out to allow a critic’s hammer to come crashing down on me.
So, the question is, should I feel obligated to self-censorship and how will this self-censoring inhibit my creativity?
Yes. I should self-censor so my readers can feel secure in the knowledge that I will do everything in my power not to offend. Not to rock the boat. I will support the status quo and do nothing to try and change the world. I shall not kick the hornet’s nest.
I’ll just get in line and bitch about the bitching. I’ll remove the creativity gene from my mind and write whatever he wants to hear. I’ll write the truth as he sees it and not my truth. My truth has no place in the world of creative license.
Fuck that!
Let me be clear. We must use common sense, (a subjective term). Like with any superpower, the power to write your truth comes with certain responsibilities. Some are laws. Yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater is illegal. It is considered dangerous speech. According to the Supreme Court’s 1919 decision in the case Schenck v. United States, the first amendment does not protect dangerous speech. Defining dangerous speech could be a slippery slope to creative censorship if not defined using common sense. Hmm.
Who is responsible for my self-censorship?
I am, and should be held responsible for what I write. I should not be held responsible for how you understand it.
However, if I irresponsibly self-censor, then I won’t be able to stir the required emotion to toughen up an overly sensitive society.
Some responsibilities require the writer to know his audience. The writer also needs to know how he will manage the positive feedback or social media mob that may call for his lynching. That last one is not a requirement but good foresight before one disturbs the hornets’ nest.
For example: who caught the heavy sarcasm in the first part of this essay? Who noticed I have been using masculine pronouns throughout this piece? How many didn’t notice until I brought it up? How many have I offended?
Why is the queen inferior to the king in a deck of cards?
Go on…disturb the nest.
But that’s just my opinion. Feel free to have one of your own.
