tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426830455075676436.post8257017482916883645..comments2023-08-10T14:16:15.338-04:00Comments on The Archives of The Diogenes Club: Does Bad Writing Exist?Steve Polinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06095291939072131815noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426830455075676436.post-40249651365097055452012-12-31T19:44:03.194-05:002012-12-31T19:44:03.194-05:00Make that Zen Baptist Puritan Whig just to make su...Make that Zen Baptist Puritan Whig just to make sure nobody gets the idea I approve of EITHER political party.Steve Polinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06095291939072131815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426830455075676436.post-40084190212874981102012-12-30T20:28:18.287-05:002012-12-30T20:28:18.287-05:00I love the Zen Baptist Puritan. I might be that pe...I love the Zen Baptist Puritan. I might be that person. Or . . . aspire to it. <br /><br />This is a really good post. Thanks for the thoughts. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426830455075676436.post-254111709736032502011-12-20T03:39:01.509-05:002011-12-20T03:39:01.509-05:00It's funny. I wasn't intending to talk abo...It's funny. I wasn't intending to talk about morals, but about practicalities--like not cheesing off people who might buy your writing. There's a limit to that. You have to disturb stuff to escape being insipid. Salman Rushdie has notoriety he wouldn't have without writing the Satanic Verses, but would he have a wider audience or a better writing career if he'd played it safe? I think so.<br /><br />If I'm going to be moralistic, as opposed to pragmatic, there are times when you can't go along to get along--times where to be silent is evil, or times when saying the acceptable thing is to tell a lie. However, I think those times are not that common.<br /><br />Consider Ann Coulter. She serves up red-meat conservatism, and if you're into that, you'll send her flowers. But the way she packages some of her ideas causes everyone else to dismiss her ideas without serious consideration. Ferinstance, she advanced the thesis that policy spokesmen should not be "crying hysterical women," because one's natural sympathy for a hurting, anguished loved-one killed in war would interfere with serious consideration of the issue that person is advocating. She pointed out that it is cynical and ghoulish to do so. BUT NOBODY HEARD THIS because of the way she said it. Did she have a valid point? Maybe. Did she sabotage herself? Most Definitely.<br /><br />I think that's wrong. When I write, I intend to tell the truth. True truth applies to everyone. I don't want you to dismiss that truth just because you're not a Whig or a Zen Baptist Puritan.Steve Polinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06095291939072131815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426830455075676436.post-35210921788456341992011-12-17T13:50:19.263-05:002011-12-17T13:50:19.263-05:00I love that you're writing about morals. It...I love that you're writing about morals. It's in everything we do but we don't talk about it much. I think most writers like to believe that they can do ANYTHING. But in truth we are deeply constrained by social mores. <br /><br />Morals evolve like everything else. It’s sort of sad that you turned away from Burroughs because of this. I guess you have to see it on two levels: what Burroughs was trying to accomplish with his olden-day audience, and what he fails to accomplish now. But reading those books for pleasure? I don’t think I’d do it either. <br /><br />If writing is like a dinner party, then most people stick to talking about acceptable things, but there’s the occasional shit-disturber who’s going to stir everyone up in the name of art, or religion, or freedom of expression, or even publicity – I’m thinking of Salman Rushdie, (whose motives I don’t know). I think the best books in the world don’t answer moral questions for you. They spend most of their time just showing you what the questions are. <br /><br />Thanks for the post! It’s gotten me thinking.Zoe Ferrarishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07075189439577517904noreply@blogger.com