moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (01/07/86)
One of the most unpleasant of all post-Christmas tasks has to be coming back
from vacation and re-discovering how nasty people can get over an emotional
discussion. I was going to leave the issue alone, like a decaying roadkill
carcass, when I remembered an article I read this month that had some impact
on this issue. It's from the popular radio (NPR), TV (Nightline), and
literary "social critic", Ian ("I gotta go") Shoales (aka Merle Kessler and
the Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre). It's on censorship, and while it
doesn't completely fit the current flame-out on Ellison, CBS and Twilight
going on, I thought it provided a capper and/or summary of my feeling on the
whole issue of censorship, written much better than I ever could (yes, I
know, that's not much of a feat). Any flames will be cheerfully dumped on
the compost heap.
Reprinted without permission from _I_Gotta_Go_ by Ian Shoales; I suggest you
read at a breakneck speed, it sounds more like Ian:
According to the self-appointed watchdogs of our culture,
_Huckleberry_Finn_ is too racist for the young to read,
_The_Color_Purple too violent. Kids today can't have prayer in schools,
fairy tales, evolution or breakdancing at the mall. Even Disney
cartoons are under attack. [...] I know that the price of freedom is
eternal vigilance, but can't the vigilantes take a break once in a
while? Right-wingers like to brag that this is the greatest country on
earth, yet they think their own children are potential psychopaths who
need only the spark of bad pop culture to set them on a rampage.
Vigilantes on the left, on the other hand, worry about books and movies
creating a "climate of violence," "desensitizing" our children. This
concern for the sensitivity of the young is touching, but don't the
critics realize that the very elements they object to are the same
elements kids think are the "cool parts"?
What's at stake here, you see, is America's moral fiber. Moral fiber is
a mysterious substance strong enough to make America great, but flimsy
enough to unravel at the merest hint of undue excitement. Critics think
that American youth is a fragile boat rocking in a pitiless sea of
immorality. One little tip and kids will either drown in a sea of evil
or grow up to be hit men.
All of this leads me to hate parents -- not mine, of course, but the
principle of the thing. Parents are OK when they stay at home, but when
they start messing with what America can do or see, they're trouble and
a discipline problem to boot. I've got nothing against burning books --
I've burned the best by Norman Mailer and Joan Didion myself; it keeps
me warm on a cold night and makes me think my opinion has an impact; but
I've got my own fireplace and my own matches. Don't keep books and
movies out of my grasp just because you're afraid they'll give your
precious one nightmares.
And what do we want books and movies to be about anyway? Puppy dogs and
kitty cats? Smurfs and bunny rabbits? Sure, pop culture gives us inane
fantasies based on our deepest fears and desires, but remember,
bitterness, lust and greed are the stuff of art as well as dreck. Go
ahead and number and code the culture, and you'll get exactly what you
want: a culture as sensative and moral as all get out, smarmy
bestsellers and bland blockbusters with no cool parts at all. I gotta
go.
'Nuff said. I gotta go, too...
"If you tell the truth, you must smile. Otherwise, people will kill you."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
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