Forwarded from not even in the same library
"What struck me as I read the book was that I had completely missed the point of what it was about. I thought Bradbury was warning against governmental tyranny and censorship—about what happens when the powers that be try to control what the people can read. Actually, his book is about what happens when the people try to censor themselves—when we become overly protective of everybody else’s feelings.
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The other (and perhaps only?) real reason a writer might hire a sensitivity reader is to get permission to write their story. To be able to claim that they had received the green light from the Committee For The People’s Books. This is beyond cowardly and pathetic, and more offensive to the creation of art than any art that has ever offended. Writers who do this and still get criticized deserve all the misdirected anger that is aimed at them.
“There is more than one way to burn a book,” Bradbury wrote in a 50th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451. “And the world is full of people running around with lit matches.” The sensitivity readers who get to decide which books are and are not okay to publish, and which words can be said and in what context are burning books—along with the fearful authors and publishers who empower them in their eagerness to avoid trouble. There is no other way to say it".
https://quillette.com/2019/10/01/the-problem-with-sensitivity-readers/
#society #freedom
<...>
The other (and perhaps only?) real reason a writer might hire a sensitivity reader is to get permission to write their story. To be able to claim that they had received the green light from the Committee For The People’s Books. This is beyond cowardly and pathetic, and more offensive to the creation of art than any art that has ever offended. Writers who do this and still get criticized deserve all the misdirected anger that is aimed at them.
“There is more than one way to burn a book,” Bradbury wrote in a 50th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451. “And the world is full of people running around with lit matches.” The sensitivity readers who get to decide which books are and are not okay to publish, and which words can be said and in what context are burning books—along with the fearful authors and publishers who empower them in their eagerness to avoid trouble. There is no other way to say it".
https://quillette.com/2019/10/01/the-problem-with-sensitivity-readers/
#society #freedom
Quillette
The Problem with Sensitivity Readers
The idea of a sensitivity reader, the newest profession birthed in our politically correct times, instinctively does not sit well with writers. Because writing is not about protecting people’s feelings—it’s about provoking them. And nobody pursues a career…