Blacklisting

Folks, there’s a serious problem out there that we need to talk about – blacklisting.

“What?!” you exclaim.  “This isn’t the 1950s any longer.  Besides, isn’t Joe McCarthy dead?”

Yes, the man from the 1950s is dead, and has been for quite a while, but that doesn’t mean others haven’t taken up his legacy, and in this case, it has been grabbed with zeal by the woke-scolds.

I’ve railed against the woke-scolds for a while now.  I think they are perpetually offended and looking for a reason to be mad.  Nothing will ever satiate them.  And while you may think you are part of the in-crowd with this particular mob, the moment you cross them in any way, they will come after you with a fury.

Colleen Oefelein was a literary agent at the Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency…right up until her use of Parler and Gab was discovered.  Now keep in mind that Oefelein is not alleged to have used these platforms for anything racist or derogatory.  No, it was enough for her to simply use the platforms, as well as identify as a Christian conservative.  This apparently was just beyond the pale.

It seems as if social media has become some farcical simulacrum of the real world, where people think their presence has any impact beyond their followers.  And it also seems as if the various platforms now have gradations of what’s acceptable and what’s not.  Parler was seen as unacceptable because they aren’t as draconian in censoring people as Twitter or Facebook.  Just being associated with the Right looks to be akin to sacrificing virgins to a volcano while drinking the blood of newborns.

This is wrong.  This is dangerous.  And it shouldn’t be solely a Left/Right issue.  Free speech is a mindset, not simply a restriction on the government.  Mealy mouthed folks who would strip free speech from all those they dislike lean on tired tropes about how “well, it’s not the government doing it, so it’s just a private business decision.”  These were the same folks who were rightfully up in arms in the 1980s when stick-up-their-ass preachers were trying to get TV shows axed because they said a bad word.  Now that it’s they who find something objectionable, they have no problem using the same tactics fundamentalists used to use.

Every writer in the world should be appalled by this.  It should also validate leaving thetraditional world, and especially literary agents, whom most know I think are elitist snobs that would rather be writers themselves, in the dust of history.  Anyone or any such group that can exercise such arbitrary control should never be given the kind of power they have over people’s lives.  And gong indie should remind authors that these petty tyrants can’t cancel you if you don’t let them.

I realize that many will look at this and shriek, “OMG, looks like Meyer has gone full Trumpian conservative!”  Those people are what I call “idiots.”  Free speech and not living in fear isn’t a left or right issue.  We should all want to be free to express ourselves, and let the audience decide if they want to buy our work or not.  Some folks won’t, but some folks know that good stories are not constrained by the political views of the author(in most cases).  The mob you support today will be the one coming for you tomorrow.  Remember, even Robespierre fell under the blade of his own guillotine.