GOOGLE! GOOGLE! ON THE WALL! WHO'S THE BIGGEST BESTSELLER OF ALL?
Yeah, that's the answer I expected. A bit of a, uhhhhhhh, weird author photo, but you answered my question. I have an audience participation question, as much as I can in this space. Who are the loudest people who screech about cancel culture? I have an easy answer for you: people who have some pretty big platforms.
James Patterson is the most recent of a pack of assholes who claim that cancel culture, or wokeness, is destroying the writing community. He says that white male authors are losing jobs because of the so-called phenomenon. That's coming from someone who has never lost a writing job in his life.
(I saw someone mention on Twitter that he couldn't get a job writing his own books, which made me laugh.)
How can someone in such a powerful position make such a tone deaf statement? Well, it's pretty common. Congress is a hotbed of people screaming about being silenced in front of an open mic for the entire country to hear. Same goes for Fox Opinions. I'm not seeing a lot of silencing going on, here. Probably because they need a boogeyman for their fans, constituents and viewers, so why not make one up that will make everyone fear that they're next? It's got mass appeal, after all. Self-interest is one of the most motivating forces on the planet, so why not make people think that's going to be taken from them against their will?
Here's the key to not being next: stop being an asshole. You are not being silenced. You are doing the exact opposite of Mark Twain's advice. To wit: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Now, if you really were being silenced, you'd be detained, murdered and quietly buried in a long stretch of lonely desert.
 |
| This is what being silenced looks like. |
So I'd like to hear you stop blubbering about the First Amendment.
But to get back to creative endeavors, where I started with Patterson, one of the things I hear the most is that wokeness means not being able to push the envelope anymore. There is only an approved set of things to write about, and if you stray from that, then you're canceled. Which, by the way, is not true. If it was, I would be in deep doo-doo. For Dong of Frankenstein alone, I'd be hung from the yardarm.
I identify with Bobcat Goldthwait a lot, mostly because he makes extremely offensive movies and yet doesn't have people coming after him with pitchforks and torches. Dare I say he's a man of Questionable Taste? Look at World's Greatest Dad in particular. That is some dark shit right there, offensive on so many levels. But why listen to me talk about him. You can read his own thoughts here, and you can see what I mean.
So why is it that he and I don't get those pitchforks and torches I mentioned earlier? I have a theory, although I can only speak for myself. Very little of my writing comes from a place of hatred. Some of it comes from anger, which leads to hatred, which, eh, you know where I'm going with this. But for me it more or less stops at anger, and it's always in reserve for people who take advantage of the powerless, corrupt politicians and the corporate overlords who pull their strings. I think, if you read Poor Bastards and Rich Fucks, that comes through pretty clearly.
All right. Rant over. Probably.
 |
| Sorry. False alarm. That is all. |
 |
| Just kidding. There is one more thing. |
The funniest thing about cancel culture is when Fox Opinions exploded over Dr. Seuss being canceled. I wonder sometimes if they even listen to their unhinged rants. First of all, never happened. The Estate decided to pull one of his books from publication because maybe, just maybe, children's books shouldn't have the n-word in them. Secondly, I seem to recall when they were trying to ban Cat in the Hat, in particular Peter Roskam. What was it Jesus said about those who should throw stones?
No comments:
Post a Comment