Call me overly optimistic or naïve, but I don’t think this censorship is a symptom of totalitarianism. Instead I think it’s indicative of a paradigmatic adolescence. Being firmly out of postmodernism (at least for the left…that’s for a different discussion), we exist in some kind of a reconstitutionalist era, mining through archives, rethinking history, etc. And as we build the plane as we are trying to fly it so to speak, we have become hyper-vigilant about inclusivity and mutual understanding and respect. Has this hyper-vigilance gone too far? Hell yes. I just disagree with you in what it means, that it’s indicative of a slip into a 1984 dystopia. I think it’s more of a passing wave than a permanence. But I absolutely agree it’s a problem, not to mention barfy. I also think this is behavior that exists online waaay more than in person. Final thought: the most subversive politics we can engage in is the insistence upon nuance, which is also largely lost online.
Your writing over these last few years regularly brings something to the surface that has been working on my subconscious but I haven't taken the time to think through. On this, I like Betsy Heute's take, especially as I increasingly have to make an effort at optimism. Much of what I'm seeing is, I hope, an overcorrection which will swing back again with all the good stuff stuck to it to find a new level. The other side of it, though, is that we might have generations incapable of recognizing the value of arguing through the tough stuff. I've noticed a growing reluctance in the classroom for students to speak on prickly topics and when I look in their eyes, I don't see self-censorship, I see nothing. Like they don't understand what I'm asking of them, that it's not registering at all, that they don't recognize the game.
"But the mainstream press and the art-related press and what was getting heated in the liberal-lefty world had been eating away at the edges of my imagination nonetheless, had been signaling to me for years that there was something bad about men, bad about beauty for beauty’s sake, bad about art for art’s sake....It had been signaling that there was something bad about liking transgression in art, to see where it leads and what it tells us about ourselves and our outer limits. "
You are describing the fundamentalist totalitarian mind.
I try not to offend others, but also don't self-censor much as I am in the position where retaliation against me is limited. And I am very well aware of that....so feel that I should transgress.
In terms of my mind, I self-censor my inner thoughts very little. In fact, I try to think in ways that would have shocked a younger me, even among delicate, so to speak, social issues.
It feels good to find feisty thoughts in my inbox. I do miss the debates, but what concerns me the most is the power Instagram has on my artistic voice. My art proposes new ways to consider urban landscapes to support a balanced ecosystem. Often when I mention the words chemical or pesticides in a social media post, Instagram or Meta censors the post. Censorship feels like handcuffs.
There’s an episode of Parts Unknown where Bourdain says something about friends arguing about politics around the table and how it felt like a lost time - “remember that?” The goalpost has moved even farther since that time. Great piece! The intro with Dahl and PC language… gawd I really don’t want “politic” to replace my inner voice, morals, or any other way of moving through the world. Bleh.
Yes. Which is one of the reasons why I stepped away from the art world in 1992. Never stopped creating or following what was going on , just went my own way. Slowly coming back into it which is interesting.
Great to hear your voice and thoughts again. It is a lonely time. As if we’re all living on the fictional isle of Inisherin in 1923. As if we are all waiting for our family matriarch in her 90s to die, so that we can sigh and finally acknowledge to each other that everyone in the family drank, tried weed, and had premarital sex. And that we should have read bell hooks’ “Feminism is for Everybody” long before now. But we had to experience this first.
Call me overly optimistic or naïve, but I don’t think this censorship is a symptom of totalitarianism. Instead I think it’s indicative of a paradigmatic adolescence. Being firmly out of postmodernism (at least for the left…that’s for a different discussion), we exist in some kind of a reconstitutionalist era, mining through archives, rethinking history, etc. And as we build the plane as we are trying to fly it so to speak, we have become hyper-vigilant about inclusivity and mutual understanding and respect. Has this hyper-vigilance gone too far? Hell yes. I just disagree with you in what it means, that it’s indicative of a slip into a 1984 dystopia. I think it’s more of a passing wave than a permanence. But I absolutely agree it’s a problem, not to mention barfy. I also think this is behavior that exists online waaay more than in person. Final thought: the most subversive politics we can engage in is the insistence upon nuance, which is also largely lost online.
Yours is among those voices that could save the world. Thanks.
Your writing over these last few years regularly brings something to the surface that has been working on my subconscious but I haven't taken the time to think through. On this, I like Betsy Heute's take, especially as I increasingly have to make an effort at optimism. Much of what I'm seeing is, I hope, an overcorrection which will swing back again with all the good stuff stuck to it to find a new level. The other side of it, though, is that we might have generations incapable of recognizing the value of arguing through the tough stuff. I've noticed a growing reluctance in the classroom for students to speak on prickly topics and when I look in their eyes, I don't see self-censorship, I see nothing. Like they don't understand what I'm asking of them, that it's not registering at all, that they don't recognize the game.
"But the mainstream press and the art-related press and what was getting heated in the liberal-lefty world had been eating away at the edges of my imagination nonetheless, had been signaling to me for years that there was something bad about men, bad about beauty for beauty’s sake, bad about art for art’s sake....It had been signaling that there was something bad about liking transgression in art, to see where it leads and what it tells us about ourselves and our outer limits. "
You are describing the fundamentalist totalitarian mind.
I try not to offend others, but also don't self-censor much as I am in the position where retaliation against me is limited. And I am very well aware of that....so feel that I should transgress.
In terms of my mind, I self-censor my inner thoughts very little. In fact, I try to think in ways that would have shocked a younger me, even among delicate, so to speak, social issues.
It feels good to find feisty thoughts in my inbox. I do miss the debates, but what concerns me the most is the power Instagram has on my artistic voice. My art proposes new ways to consider urban landscapes to support a balanced ecosystem. Often when I mention the words chemical or pesticides in a social media post, Instagram or Meta censors the post. Censorship feels like handcuffs.
There’s an episode of Parts Unknown where Bourdain says something about friends arguing about politics around the table and how it felt like a lost time - “remember that?” The goalpost has moved even farther since that time. Great piece! The intro with Dahl and PC language… gawd I really don’t want “politic” to replace my inner voice, morals, or any other way of moving through the world. Bleh.
Yes. Which is one of the reasons why I stepped away from the art world in 1992. Never stopped creating or following what was going on , just went my own way. Slowly coming back into it which is interesting.
Great to hear your voice and thoughts again. It is a lonely time. As if we’re all living on the fictional isle of Inisherin in 1923. As if we are all waiting for our family matriarch in her 90s to die, so that we can sigh and finally acknowledge to each other that everyone in the family drank, tried weed, and had premarital sex. And that we should have read bell hooks’ “Feminism is for Everybody” long before now. But we had to experience this first.
Devastated to meet you, haha :)
I would answer all your questions in relation to myself, but I would get in big trouble.
Thank you for writing this.