I'm taking a stand against political correctness in my writing group...

[Vastator]

...and I'm already making enemies.

The Education Officer has invited a "diversity discussion and panel" to talk to our writer's group and that has me alarmed.

You see, I've included all sorts of diversity in my science fiction book series, a mixed bag of characters which include people of all races, species, sexual orientations, sexual identities, and what not. Foolish me, I thought that was a good thing.

Apparently not.

When "white, straight, cis males" write anyone who isn't white, straight, cis and male, apparently we need special pointers from self-appointed guidance counselors so that we can avoid "offending" people.

Today, I made a big stink about it on the group's Facebook page, telling the group I'm not going to submit my work for approval by censors.

The Vice-President of the group told me to "give it a rest" and the Education Officer tried to shut down the debate as "destructive." So I know they're both against me, because they're trying to censor the discussion.

Tell me what you think. Is this a fight worth fighting? I think it is.

Bypass those giving you flack; and disseminate your work, and opinions directly to your fellow members.

 

[Lysistrata]

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

 

[Blackrook]

The Vice-President was threatening to ban me from the Facebook page, so I tendered my resignation. I have been invited to join another writer's group by one of the Vice-President's enemies. I think I will.

 

[Blackrook]

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

 

[OldLady]

I changed my mind, I'm not giving up the fight to save the writer's group.

I have called for emergency recall elections to remove the Vice-President and the Education Chair from their positions, and replace them with people who believe writers should write whatever the hell they want to write, with no restrictions imposed by busybodies and modern-day Inquisitors.

Well, if you're not too busy drowning out her words, I'd be interested in knowing why that line would offend anyone to start with. Report back to us?

What line?

I described one of my characters as a "straight woman who experiments with lesbianism."
She said, that phrase might "offend" some in the LGBT community.

She did not explain why that concept was offensive, and that's really the point, isn't it? No one has to explain why they're offended, it is enough to know they are, and then the onus is on the writer to change his work so as to remove the offensive material. It's a crazy run through a House of Mirrors they're trying to impose on us.

Oh. I thought you said the woman was coming (future tense) to talk to y'all. As in you might find out if you attend the diversity workshop.

 

[Blackrook]

Well, I resigned from the group after the Vice-President/Facebook Admin threatened to ban me from the Facebook page.

However, to make up for it, I got invited to join another writer's group by a very nice lady who fully supported what I was saying.

 

[bodecea]

...and I'm already making enemies.

The Education Officer has invited a "diversity discussion and panel" to talk to our writer's group and that has me alarmed.

You see, I've included all sorts of diversity in my science fiction book series, a mixed bag of characters which include people of all races, species, sexual orientations, sexual identities, and what not. Foolish me, I thought that was a good thing.

Apparently not.

When "white, straight, cis males" write anyone who isn't white, straight, cis and male, apparently we need special pointers from self-appointed guidance counselors so that we can avoid "offending" people.

Today, I made a big stink about it on the group's Facebook page, telling the group I'm not going to submit my work for approval by censors.

The Vice-President of the group told me to "give it a rest" and the Education Officer tried to shut down the debate as "destructive." So I know they're both against me, because they're trying to censor the discussion.

Tell me what you think. Is this a fight worth fighting? I think it is.

What kind of writer joins a "writer's group" that has things like an "Education Officer" in it? If you're a writer, you're a writer........sounds very suspicious to me.

 

[bodecea]

The Education Officer pointed out this as something I said as offensive:

I described one of my characters as a "straight woman who experiments with lesbianism."

She said, that phrase might "offend" some in the LGBT community.

Imagine that.

They are there to help you. If you don't want their help, then pack your shit and go. Why are you having a childish tantrum?

Every time....in waves......."Education Officer"? WTF?

 

[bodecea]

They are there to help you. If you don't want their help, then pack your shit and go. Why are you having a childish tantrum?

They want to "help" me the way a cop wants to "help" a suspect when he tells him it will go easier for him if he tells his side of the story.

Are you completely insulated from what's happening in the world?

The political correctness Nazis are taking over everything. They've taken over the universities, the law schools and the medical schools. They've taken over the writers' rooms in Hollywood and New York. Now, they're going after writers groups as unimportant as mine.

The reason they're winning is that not enough people are fighting them, because most people are cowards and don't want to make waves.

What's ironic here is that if I had a book full of nothing but straight, white, cis characters, these people would be no threat to me.

So, they're actually TARGETING the people who are TRYING to be inclusive.

Did you go into your childish rant about Nazis with them too? I suspect you won't need to make a choice anyway. They will probably kick your crazy ass out of the program anyway. Grow up you big baby.

So you're taking a stand in favor of censorship.

I'm glad you've declared yourself so openly, now I know you're an enemy of America and everything it stands for.

What ever, BooBoo. Tell me more about the Nazis trying to help beginning authors.

You are an enemy.

Ok.....so now we get to the crux of this whole deal......you're crazy.

 

[bodecea]

I've made the decision that initiating a Facebook discussion about this issue is not enough. I am a lawyer, so I'm going to take on my writer's group using legal means. I have PM'd the Vice-President and asked him to mail me a copy of the by-laws. Once I have studied the by-laws, I will see if there are provisions for an emergency election of new officers. If there are, I will attempt to rally together an alliance of writers who oppose the "diversity workshop" and put them up as candidates for officer. I already know there are three officers who need to be replaced, the Vice-President, the Education Officer, and one other officer who I do not yet know his position, but will make it my business to find out.

Oh great googley moogley! "I am a lawyer".....

 

[bodecea]

I've been posting on Facebook all night and into the wee hours of the morning about this issue, and I've probably convinced no one of anything.

There is no way I can stop this "diversity workshop" from happening, the Education officer who is bringing it in is extremely popular and has many friends, so there is no way I can win a fight with her.

But I have raised a very unholy stink that I hope will taint the proceedings, and hopefully, people will eventually see that I was right all along when the bad things I predict start happening within the group.

"I've been posting on Facebook all night and into the wee hours of the morning....." Yep, I was right.

 

[Correll]

It's actually called a "workshop."

The political correctness people are going to work on us writers, because we're "broken" and they're the people to "fix" us.

Yes, it is a fight worth fighting. They are trying to tell you, you can't write, unless you have the right thoughts.

 

[Correll]

So you're taking a stand in favor of censorship.

I'm glad you've declared yourself so openly, now I know you're an enemy of America and everything it stands for.

What ever, BooBoo. Tell me more about the Nazis trying to help beginning authors.

You are an enemy.

Really? Do I get some sort of badge, or a certificate? I like to stick those to the refrigerator with those little magnets.

You lost this argument like you do with most. Give it up.

There was no argument to be had. He asked if would be worth while to be a whiny ***** because he didn't like the advice given to him, and I laughed at him. Exactly what points do you think he was trying to make ?

What the **** is wrong with you?

 

[Lysistrata]

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

What kind of writers' group were you at?

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

You are not ever prevented from writing anything. Find a book called Writing Down to the Bones. When you write for another character, it is their voice, not yours, that you introduce. Same as acting. You must separate yourself between what is really you as your individual real self and who you are when you go to bed at night and what is an entirely different person from yourself, when you write or act a part. I can go out and write or act at a part tomorrow tomorrow, but it isn't who I am. One of my favorite actors got famous for playing a part of being a bully, a seducer, a bar fighter, macho boy, ****-up on a TV series. The real guy seems to be a lover of doggies and donuts.

Separate yourself! I'm the one who cried when my father took me to see "Old Yeller" and I screamed because they were going to shoot the dog.

 

[Blackrook]

My new friend in the other writer's group has made me realize that the writer's group I was in was trash. I'm glad I made this stink, because now I'm out of there and onto another group, who I hope will be be better because its founder supports what I was doing.

 

[Blackrook]

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

What kind of writers' group were you at?

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

You are not ever prevented from writing anything. Find a book called Writing Down to the Bones. When you write for another character, it is their voice, not yours, that you introduce. Same as acting. You must separate yourself between what is really you as your individual real self and who you are when you go to bed at night and what is an entirely different person from yourself, when you write or act a part. I can go out and write or act at a part tomorrow tomorrow, but it isn't who I am. One of my favorite actors got famous for playing a part of being a bully, a seducer, a bar fighter, macho boy, ****-up on a TV series. The real guy seems to be a lover of doggies and donuts.

Separate yourself! I'm the one who cried when my father took me to see "Old Yeller" and I screamed because they were going to shoot the dog.

I totally agree with you, but the people behind the "diversity panel" believe that a straight white man like me can't possibly imagine what it's like to be anyone who isn't a straight white man.

 

[OldLady]

My new friend in the other writer's group has made me realize that the writer's group I was in was trash. I'm glad I made this stink, because now I'm out of there and onto another group, who I hope will be be better because its founder supports what I was doing.

I would think a general rule of thumb is, never join any group with an "Education Officer."

 

[Lysistrata]

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

What kind of writers' group were you at?

My writers' center never directed me in any particular way. When I was given an assignment to write a dialogue about three people who were waiting for a fourth to come, and only only of these three knew anything about the person they were waiting for, it took me a lot to find a scene, but I finally arrived at two white prisoners (dominant and subservient lover), and the black guard that they were holding captive, who were waiting for one of the white guys to arrive in a helicopter to pick them up (got the idea from a newspaper clipping). I apologized at the top of my assignment for the language that I used, and my writing professor (US Naval Academy) told me never to apologize for what I write. For example, I had to use the word "******," (a derogatory epithet for a person of African descent) which I would never use in my wildest dreams, but my prisoner would.

That's exactly the kind of thing my former friends at the writer's group would say we are not permitted to write.

You are not ever prevented from writing anything. Find a book called Writing Down to the Bones. When you write for another character, it is their voice, not yours, that you introduce. Same as acting. You must separate yourself between what is really you as your individual real self and who you are when you go to bed at night and what is an entirely different person from yourself, when you write or act a part. I can go out and write or act at a part tomorrow tomorrow, but it isn't who I am. One of my favorite actors got famous for playing a part of being a bully, a seducer, a bar fighter, macho boy, ****-up on a TV series. The real guy seems to be a lover of doggies and donuts.

Separate yourself! I'm the one who cried when my father took me to see "Old Yeller" and I screamed because they were going to shoot the dog.

I totally agree with you, but the people behind the "diversity panel" believe that a straight white man like me can't possibly imagine what it's like to be anyone who isn't a straight white man.

Maybe you should try writing first person as a black woman. Take a chance. BTW: what writers' group has a "diversity panel"?

 

[Blackrook]

My new friend in the other writer's group has made me realize that the writer's group I was in was trash. I'm glad I made this stink, because now I'm out of there and onto another group, who I hope will be be better because its founder supports what I was doing.

I would think a general rule of thumb is, never join any group with an "Education Officer."

Thank you for your support, OldLady, we finally have something we agree on.

What's really weird is that I was defending my right to be inclusive and diverse in my writing, against people who told me I had no right to do that unless I gave them leave to review my stuff to make sure it didn't "offend" anyone.

I never anticipated that I, a hard-core conservative, would be fighting this battle. But I didn't plan how my story turned out, I'm a "seat of my pants" writer and the thing just wrote itself, including all these LGBT characters who insisted on being in the story, and not on the sidelines, but as the main action going.

The thing is, I expected my devout Catholic father to hate my story, but I never would have suspected that the attack would come from the left. I assumed, because I didn't know any better, that my LGBT story would win me all kinds of friends and allies on the left, and they would read my story and thoroughly enjoy it.

But I forgot the main thing that defines the left, they don't enjoy anything. They ruin absolutely everything, including stories written by people who are trying to be inclusive and diverse. There is no winning with these people, don't ever forget that fact.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I would think a general rule of thumb is, never join any group with an "Education Officer."

Good call OldLady... IMO the name "Education Officer" is a misnomer... More than likely he is the Head Dink in-charge of Indoctrination...