Authors Daring to have Opinions: The Scourge of Complacency

This just in: A successful author made comments about a controversial topic that didn't line up with many of their fans' expectations! It's never happened before. Human beings always performs exactly the way we expect and never disappoint us. This is especially true of famous people, whose only function and role is to please us and validate whatever we believe. At least, that's how the Fates intended it.

In grown-up reality, however, there are occasional aberrations that result in some uppity creative type going against the grain. Obviously it's a terrible thing. After all, where would we be if so-called thinkers such as Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood and Harlan Ellison had had opinions and thoughts of their own? They were wise enough to know better and conducted themselves like proper extensions of their readers' wills and desires. I shudder to think of a mouthy Harlan Ellison or a scathing Vidal. What about a Baldwin or Atwood who actually decided to shine a light on the inequities of society? Yikes!

If writing is exclusively for comfort zones and turn-off-your-brains entertainment, and it is, then obviously the writer's thoughts are, too.

Sadly, this particular author forgot their station in life as "the entertainment" and shared opinions that upset tons of readers to the point where they began  feeling traumatized. Their childhoods had been ruined, you see. This author's books were a way of life for them, as evidenced by their shared desire to reenact them, dress like the characters, and make obnoxious references to them as if everyone knew what the hell they were talking about. This presumptuous author ruined all that with comments that forced these readers to re-examine the very foundation of their fandom. And then, the inevitable calls for censorship started.

I too was brainwashed at one time into thinking the free expression of ideas was a positive. I readily embraced those insipid words sung by Andy Partridge of XTC:

I believe the printed word is more than sacred
Beyond the gauge of good or bad
The human right to let your soul fly free and naked
Above the violence of the fearful and sad

What ridiculous tripe. Everybody knows words are supposed to comfort us, make us feel good about ourselves and never, ever, laugh at us when they see us naked. And because I now understand an opinion-free life is a life lived well, the very notion of someone discussing issues I am passionate about in any way that isn't how I like to hear them discussed makes me projectile vomit like a malfunctioning lawn sprinkler.

In addition to my more enlightened understanding regarding opinions, I have also come around to understanding that anything I object to on philosophical grounds deserves swift and merciless action. For famous authors, that can only mean one thing. Boycotting. Censure is the key to silencing those who drain the precious fluids from our sacred cows and nothing hurts them more than encouraging a total halt to all purchasing of books, movies and anything else the author has created. That'll learn 'em to mess with us morally superior types.

But, wait. There's more.

You might think it's only philosophically and ethically consistent if the aforementioned censorship occurs by completely cutting off all connection to the author's material, no matter how meaningful or impactful it was for you. Maybe you've even let Big Fiction convince you that it's unethical to still embroil yourself in the fandom of an author you now find repulsive. Don't listen to that nonsense. Listen instead to the group that says it's okay to enjoy the work as long as you never pay for it. And it's even more better-er if you take that person's work for your own and rewrite it to better match your sensibilities. It doesn't matter if the author is the only reason for you being able to do that. They shouldn't have opined. It's not hypocritical! Shut up! It is not!

No, you're acting like a child! You! 

Is there a spot, or a room of some kind where I can go inside and feel safe from all these contrary ideas? While there, I will work on my magnum opus, a novel that doesn't offend anyone, never makes the reader think or question anything, and agrees with whoever is reading it at the time. And if I fail, have no fear. You can feel justified in taking my hard work, changing it to something else, and never paying me a dime.

Just like Buddha...

And probably Jesus.

How I Made an Ass of Myself and Other Fun Foibles.

Recently I wrote a post about the great science fiction writer Harlan Ellison. In it, I described him in glowing terms as essentially mercurial and a strong advocate for writers as artists and people that deserve to get paid for their work. The thing that prompted this was an ad for Ellison's short story collection "Under Glass," which he wrote in bookstore windows where the public could see him working. The whole idea was to serve as a living example of the fact that writing is work.

I knew about this before the ad came out; Ellison did this many years ago, after all. But the re-release prompted in me a need to point out the obvious: If you call yourself a writer and you don't appreciate the man's vast talent and willingness to defend not just the written word by the originators of those words, you probably aren't much of a writer. In fact, I'll go even further and say you probably just want to sell books to movie production companies.

The original post, which can be read by clicking here, was quite popular and viewed many times, helped in no small part by me sharing the link on a Harlan Ellison fan page via Facebook. And that, unfortunately, is where the title of this post comes in.

If you clicked on the hyperlink above that takes you to the ad for Ellison's short story collection, you also saw an image of the man himself writing in the window of a bookstore. On that image is the name of the photographer. When I first attempted to transfer the image of the ad onto this blog and failed, I decided that, since the photo had a clear copyright credit written across it in huge letters, I could upload the picture by itself and provide a link to the order site. Apparently, I was incorrect in my assessment, as the following message from the group's moderator made painfully clear:

"I've removed your post from the [page] because it has come to my attention that you do not have permission to use that copyrighted photograph of Harlan taken by Rod Searcey, who is also a member... As of this writing, the only other person or entity that has Rod's verified permission to use the photograph is Joe Stefko, specifically for Charnel House's upcoming publication of "Ellison Under Glass". Ironically, while you honor Harlan in your blog and point out his admonition to "pay the writer", you still helped yourself to the work of another artist, in this case a photographer, without paying for or acquiring permission, despite the very obvious copyright Rod marks on his images. Your blog is excellent, and I appreciate your sincere homage to Harlan, but there is any number of public domain photographs of Harlan out there that you could use instead of Rod's. Please change the image as soon as possible, and then you can post the link to your blog again on the... page. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter."

 

Somehow my earnest attempt at honoring one of my writing idols had turned into a misguided copyright infringement situation. I confess my ignorance. I in no way understood that images used in advertising that are reprinted for the sole purpose of creating an extra platform for that advertising were an issue. I know I've done this before but it apparently never caught up to me until the one time it actually had the ability to hurt me professionally and personally.

 

Naturally I removed the image, which is why the current incarnation of the post no longer has one. Lesson learned. It's a lesson one would think I already learned when I was writing articles for different websites that required the use of public domain images only. So there it is, the tale of how I made an ass of myself.

 

But at least the group moderator called me a mensch and said he thought my blog was great. That was pretty cool.

 

IF HARLAN ELLISON ISN'T AN AUTHOR YOU ADMIRE, YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT MUCH OF A WRITER.

Despite the clickbaity tone of this post's title, I mean it. Although I guess I'll add the caveat that you don't actually have to see Ellison as a hero but you should at least admire him and his talent. I don't care if you thought he was an abrasive asshole and your delicate Middle American/Southern/Whereever-the-hell-else sensibilities were wounded. The man's brilliance shines through his behavior and his absence from this mortal coil is felt daily, especially by those of us who find the current crop of event TV series mostly banal and lifeless.

Ellison not only defended the written word with his every breath but he also stood up for the writer as a professional who deserved recognition and, damn right, to get paid. One of my favorite Ellison interactions involved him receiving a telephone call from a represenative of a film company that was working on a "Babylon 5" documentary. Ellison served as a consultant and wrote for the show. When the woman expressed shock that the world-famous author wanted to get paid for his time and advised him it would be good publicity, he exploded.

"Do you get a paycheck?" Ellison then asked. "Does your boss get a paycheck? Do you pay the telecine guy? Do you pay the cameraman? Do you pay the cutters? Do you pay the Teamsters when they schlep your stuff on the trucks? Would you go to the gas station and ask them to give you free gas? Would you go to the doctor and have them take out our spleen for nothing?" Quote source. 

Publicity. Sounds a lot like "exposure," which is the preferred word for not paying authors these days. Imagine having the utter cluelessness or arrogance to tell an award-winning science fiction author that. The pervasive devaluing of writers and our craft, especially in the U.S., is beyond dishgeartening. I think the only field that gets it worse is the teaching profession, which is indeed a profession and not a service industry job.

So, no. You don't have to like him. You don't have to like anybody. But if you're a writer, particualrly of any form of genre fiction and you don't admire him (the man stood up to that control freak Gene Roddenberry) then you're probably someone who should rethink their choice of vocation.

Because it is indeed a vocation, which is exactly what Ellison was reminding people of when he sat in that window (pictured above) and went to work every day until he was sarisfied with his output. Ellison could have taken the easier way out like so many so-called "writers" these days who basically operate sweatshops with starving writers doing all the work while they slap their names on the cover. He, unlike they, deserves your respect.




*Purchase the Grandmaster's book "Under Glass" here.