Trigger warnings from the slush pile?

Now I see some publishers want advanced warnings before an editor reads a manuscript of trigger words. Since the publishers I am referring to are in horror, well, isn't that ludicrous?

We write about fear, blood, death, mutilation. We write about torture, fright, decomposition...

If an editor has 'issues' when reading something--stop reading it; get help; get pharmaceuticals and a cup.

We are writing horror. If horror scares you to the point of a nervous breakdown, read mysteries. Most modern mysteries are bland and can be figured out in three pages.

My God we are a pathetic lot aren't we.

Trigger warnings are censorship and should be trampled. Any editor or any publisher that posts this garbage should be run put of business for attacking your right to free speech.

Trigger warnings are not progressive, they are regressive and repressive.

Wake up.

What REALITY Really Means

I don't watch DUCK DYNASTY. I don't watch television anymore. We shut it down. It's all crap including DUCK DYNASTY. Virtually all cable television outside of 'Breaking Bad', 'Mad Men' and 'That Metal Show' are insipid and wastes of time and money.

And hey, sports are no longer sports, but that is a discussion for another time.

So frankly I have no allegiance to the show, the family on it or A&E.

I am also related to and have friends who are gay. I support them in their lifestyles and am pro-gay marriage.

But I am not in favor of free speech being censored because someone in the ether, who doesn't watch the show is offended. A&E is out of line here and if 'reality television' means people can't be 'real' then my decision to cancel my subscription was the smartest thing I did in 2013.

The reality of our reality is getting scary. The reality of our reality is we are no longer being allowed to think or speak for ourselves. If this doesn't chill you now, your mind is more of a vast wasteland than television presents.

Banned Book Week

It's that time of year when we all act incredulously about the writings of Twain, Shakespeare, Salinger, Bierce, Paine, Steinbeck, Vonnegut etc. that have been banned for all kinds of idiotic reasons.

Each year we pledge to fight censorship etc. etc. etc.

Yes that is what we dutifully do. We pat ourselves on the back for recognizing the fight against censorship; we applaud our intellectual broadmindedness, etc. and then we sit down and watch the news that favors our political view, we read the newspaper whose editorial page agrees with us, etc. etc.

Censorship is not just a bunch of banned books; Censorship concerns a message; Censorship looks to ban an exchange of ideas. We need to celebrate banned books every week not once every year.

Those who choose to ignore.....

Never before have I seen censorship as rampant as today. The glaring examples are not present but the subtle insidious spread of the practice is far worse. From school speeches, to letters from the editor, to book and movie reviews, to even statements that some find political on Facebook.

The regulation of any speech is disgusting. To that there is almost universal agreement.

By the NIMBY style in which this premise is practiced threatens us more than the content of the statement.

We need to have a thicker skin, we need to open our ears, stop rolling eyes and wake up.

What brings this about is the almost boiler plate lecturing given everywhere about feelings. I understand feelings but when emotions rule over intellect irrational behavior is spawn. We need to think before we write and be responsible (a dirty word) for what we write.

Censorship is devoid of speech and censorship is more hateful than any hate speech because censorship stifles ideas and the exchange of views.

The soapbox is closed.

First came the floods, then the censoring of Marilyn Monroe's dress?

I had a few days off from writing anything. My apologies. I was dealing with my real job and the fact my basement flooded from groundwater. Takes time to clean and at the end of it all, (if there is an end since there is more work to be had down there), yesterday, in between bouts of bleaching the floor and battling mold I sat and watched movies.

"Dog Day Afternoon" opened the day with Pacino and Cazale. This is one of my favorites and well, you don't want to know about my viewing habits do you? Really?

As the day trundled by and before I knew it I walked in on Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe in the middle of the "Seven Year Itch". When this movie was made, a lot was made over how Marilyn Monroe would be photographed specifically in her flowing white dress and specifically when she stood over that lucky heating grate.

But most certainly the powers that be, those a-moral people who preach morality and always know what is best for rest of society; who always look out for the peasants' best interests; those people who you later find out are as phony as.... well I could get in trouble this morning, so you know what I mean; those pillars of society who want to keep the rest of us pure from immoral thoughts wanted to keep Marilyn's thighs from our lusty view...

Here is my point and it is more pointed than TCM, or the Hayes code censoring an innocent movie shot; the point being, for whatever purpose, we have always been on the receivership of censorship; whether it is in presentation or the collection of content.

We have always sat as panting lap dogs waiting for someone else to entertain us and tell us what is good and bad for us to see, to read, to eat, drink, etc.

Shrug it off, look beyond their soapbox and understand them for what they are. Your best bet is always to vote your dollar.

Bob Woodward and The White House Threat

Mr. Woodward has nothing to gain from his claim; after all his demeanor suggests he is a dyed in the wool Dem and liberal. His claim this morning, which had been rendered to writing, truly ushers in the sense many of us have sensed for some time. Whether it is a guild affilation, i.e. a union affiliation or whether it is the party politic: the whiffs coming out of this correctness are rank as spoiled meat. To look away from the bully is not the answer. We can't be afraid and we need to press on against this 'progressive' movement in continuing to dumb down our literature and our news. This presidency has made Nixon and his enemies list look like a 'Moon Mullins' cartoon.

Free Speech

The attorney in me told me to pull the post down because of possible litigation; but what a world we live in when censorship is shoved down our throats simply because of class.