When going thru a very dark time, I fell upon a message from Jesus: "I don't allow this to happen to hurt you. It is to strengthen you." But we need constant reminders to not give up. This essay was a beautiful example. Thank you, continued prayers for this journey.
I know Mary personally and respect and regard her beyond measure. While we may not agree on every opinion, why should we, or even strive to? Debate like art is by design meant to expand our thinking, challenge our assumptions and especially those ways of thinking we were merely exposed to in our formative years. It should allow and encourage us to decide for ourselves, then rethink and decide again. When did we lose the ability to respect others opinions and thoughtfully consider them, whether or not we agree with them, before or after the considering? How do we regain that for our communities?
I only read through the first couple of cancellations, ten or so paragraphs, and the entire thing was predictable. The medium is theater in this instance, and has been well told in Arthur Miller's Crucible.
Humans for some reason are prone to some sort of mass craziness where they banish the heretic, and heresy can mean anything at all, the use of the wrong pronoun, wearing the wrong color, literally anything. Waiting for a society or an art form to come to its senses is a waste of time, better to make a change. Similar happened in 2019 at, of all things, a website for knitting called Ravelry.
The fever hasn't yet left America, or Europe, let's just hope the cure is less worse than the disease.
Yes, there's no reason to spend time with this crowd, to be sure, but rather to insist on telling one's stories, or making one's art, in other venues more welcoming, and that hold with the fundaments of our country, freedom of speech and from compelled speech chief among them. Thank God FAIR incubates writers and artists of all kinds, who can find footing here and then take their work out into the wider world. This much is true: we must keep showing up, standing up, and speaking up. The tail end of the essay describes my way forward, and I hope others find their way, too. FAIR is an important aid in this regard.
Thank you for sharing your story. I have been aware of you for a long time on X but only knew bits and pieces of what happened to you. Honestly, I could barely read this. It was so painful.
Thank you for sharing your courage and RESILIENCE. It’s amazing how cruel the #bekind folks can be.
I am sorry that this happened to you. I have never forgotten the high school lessons about the punishment of exile within indigenous communities, and the certain death exile invited.
Cancellation and all that flows from it is, if not physical death, a disabling attack on the spirit.
Some do not recover.
Yet! A writer and artist is a poor target for such punishments. Consider Dante Alighieri's political persecution.
A scientist and philosopher is an even more ferocious adversary of the thought persecutors than an artist.
"E pur si muove." Let Galileo's commitment to truth become your own.
I have a practice of always translating the Latin so as to be as helpful as possible, and to not elevate myself at the cost of others. "And yet it moves," which is a beautiful rebuke, was Galileo's vow to maintain the truth in the face of all persecution. Though, I don't know that a competition for who is the most hounded -- practitioners of science, philosophy, the arts -- is useful to us as a culture. Looked at realistically, each individual harried by the brutal left experiences it at the 100% mark, so the torment, man-to-man, is equal. Research for my next essay, specifically on "Soul Murder," included this focus on an indigenous community, which you might find interesting. https://arena.org.au/smashing-grabbing-falling/
You are not alone. In one or another way, many are experiencing the same thing. After Bush 2 and later COVID and now with the destruction of Gaza, I have come to the realization that what I am in desperate need of is art. I'm not religious but art and Jungian/depth psychology help me now. Are essential. The struggle of our times is to refuse to give up our humanity. Without art we are lost.
The majority conform; the artist does not because she CANNOT. By definition. You may need to create a new art form to use or change the way you are doing it. Why do you need a physical performance space? Can you do these readings online? If it's not too expensive, I'm interested. And please get off FB. It's extremely unhealthy. The push against the billionaire bros REQUIRES artists. This is your time. Do not give up. Ignore the little gnats. I'm a TERF and proud of it.
When going thru a very dark time, I fell upon a message from Jesus: "I don't allow this to happen to hurt you. It is to strengthen you." But we need constant reminders to not give up. This essay was a beautiful example. Thank you, continued prayers for this journey.
I know Mary personally and respect and regard her beyond measure. While we may not agree on every opinion, why should we, or even strive to? Debate like art is by design meant to expand our thinking, challenge our assumptions and especially those ways of thinking we were merely exposed to in our formative years. It should allow and encourage us to decide for ourselves, then rethink and decide again. When did we lose the ability to respect others opinions and thoughtfully consider them, whether or not we agree with them, before or after the considering? How do we regain that for our communities?
I only read through the first couple of cancellations, ten or so paragraphs, and the entire thing was predictable. The medium is theater in this instance, and has been well told in Arthur Miller's Crucible.
Humans for some reason are prone to some sort of mass craziness where they banish the heretic, and heresy can mean anything at all, the use of the wrong pronoun, wearing the wrong color, literally anything. Waiting for a society or an art form to come to its senses is a waste of time, better to make a change. Similar happened in 2019 at, of all things, a website for knitting called Ravelry.
The fever hasn't yet left America, or Europe, let's just hope the cure is less worse than the disease.
Yes, there's no reason to spend time with this crowd, to be sure, but rather to insist on telling one's stories, or making one's art, in other venues more welcoming, and that hold with the fundaments of our country, freedom of speech and from compelled speech chief among them. Thank God FAIR incubates writers and artists of all kinds, who can find footing here and then take their work out into the wider world. This much is true: we must keep showing up, standing up, and speaking up. The tail end of the essay describes my way forward, and I hope others find their way, too. FAIR is an important aid in this regard.
Thanks for writing this!
Thank you for sharing your story. I have been aware of you for a long time on X but only knew bits and pieces of what happened to you. Honestly, I could barely read this. It was so painful.
Thank you for sharing your courage and RESILIENCE. It’s amazing how cruel the #bekind folks can be.
Thank goodness for FAIR.
I am sorry that this happened to you. I have never forgotten the high school lessons about the punishment of exile within indigenous communities, and the certain death exile invited.
Cancellation and all that flows from it is, if not physical death, a disabling attack on the spirit.
Some do not recover.
Yet! A writer and artist is a poor target for such punishments. Consider Dante Alighieri's political persecution.
A scientist and philosopher is an even more ferocious adversary of the thought persecutors than an artist.
"E pur si muove." Let Galileo's commitment to truth become your own.
I have a practice of always translating the Latin so as to be as helpful as possible, and to not elevate myself at the cost of others. "And yet it moves," which is a beautiful rebuke, was Galileo's vow to maintain the truth in the face of all persecution. Though, I don't know that a competition for who is the most hounded -- practitioners of science, philosophy, the arts -- is useful to us as a culture. Looked at realistically, each individual harried by the brutal left experiences it at the 100% mark, so the torment, man-to-man, is equal. Research for my next essay, specifically on "Soul Murder," included this focus on an indigenous community, which you might find interesting. https://arena.org.au/smashing-grabbing-falling/
You are not alone. In one or another way, many are experiencing the same thing. After Bush 2 and later COVID and now with the destruction of Gaza, I have come to the realization that what I am in desperate need of is art. I'm not religious but art and Jungian/depth psychology help me now. Are essential. The struggle of our times is to refuse to give up our humanity. Without art we are lost.
The majority conform; the artist does not because she CANNOT. By definition. You may need to create a new art form to use or change the way you are doing it. Why do you need a physical performance space? Can you do these readings online? If it's not too expensive, I'm interested. And please get off FB. It's extremely unhealthy. The push against the billionaire bros REQUIRES artists. This is your time. Do not give up. Ignore the little gnats. I'm a TERF and proud of it.