Does Creativity Now Clash with “Correctness”?

Yo what’s hot? The SASS here, wanting to spit on something different. Make no mistake, I like bragging about my craft. Every once in a while, giving dabs to authors who write well. And, on occasion, ribbing on movies or movie remakes that should have stayed unrealized.

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Lately, it seems as if the right to free speech is constantly bumping heads with “proper terminology”, or as some would say, “political correctness”. Sure, there are unspoken rules on certain terms, because it would make one appear discriminatory, bigoted, racist … you get the idea.

But, what if, particularly if one is doing a historical write, for example, especially during a time where that type of behavior was taking place. Does one not use that type of dialog in the book in fear of offending those in the present? I know, that question being typed out looks ridiculous but that is the trajectory in which we (particularly us creative types) are headed.

Maybe it’s just me, but last time I checked, humans are not perfect. We are chocked full of flaws. We mess up regularly, although most of us wisely choose to not let our screw ups be filmed. Honestly, I do blame social media. I do blame one’s propensity to find comfort in someone’s tragedy. The whole, “I’m glad that didn’t happen to me”. Or not feel the impact of a situation until it’s in your own back yard.

Because when you are focusing on the screw ups on the world, you don’t have to look at your own life. You don’t have to realize that it’s less glamorous than it’s portrayed on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram … wherever you tout about your life.

Look, I’m using You in the general, so if you get all butt hurt, that’s on you.

But see, that’s the very thing I mean. If we were all proponents of true free speech, I wouldn’t have to put that there. I wouldn’t have to put some sort of disclaimer message, or any “just so you know”. Like free speech is only okay until it offends. In that case, it isn’t free … it has a price.

For me, if something isn’t for me, I don’t look at it. I don’t subscribe to it. I don’t act like I’m interested in a thing when I’m not. I’m just sick of people hopping on a thing just to be “trending” or caring more about how the people will perceive them than just being who they actually are.

Are we really going to act like there are personalities that have always acted like they haven’t liked a certain demographic? Are we going to keep behaving as if we didn’t know (especially famous people) which people had deviant tendencies?

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Those just don’t sprout overnight. They take a bit of development … all that’s needed are the right ingredients, or lack there of.

The reason why the behavior isn’t stopped at the interim really boils down to …

(1) There’s enough people cosigning on the bullshit.

(2) There are enough people enabling the behavior.

(3) The antics aren’t being taken seriously.

(4) The radicals have gotten away with it for so long that they’ve gotten too big, behaving like untouchables, believing that even if word does come out that they are less than savory individuals, it’ll only get 15 minutes, 2 weeks tops, before people are on to the next scandal.

And/or

(5) Some people just don’t care that much.

I’m all for rebelling against something that is unjust. Hell, the main stuff I write about deals with my wicked sense of justice. Yet, one theme which is prevalent in my writing that isn’t paramount in how humanity conducts business is the end game.

It takes more than making people aware. It takes more than making people accountable. There has to be an action plan, how to fix the screw ups … not just in plain sight, so the world can see we are doing something, but long after the media has gone on to a new topic that’s more trending than something which happened three years ago. It’s almost like the ones who’ve been down since Day One get lost in the blitz of the individuals who expertly get social media to notice.

Injustice has always been the thread of America’s tapestry. That has lasted longer than the fight to write the wrongs. If you don’t realize that, then you truly have blinders on or you’ve been the beneficiary of such, and therefore, don’t want to do anything to upset the apple cart.

I guess the points I’m trying to make are these:

(1) I’d rather know who truly don’t like my ass than for someone to be fake.

(2) The behavior of someone has an authenticity that surpasses the words.

(3) Trying to take certain vocabulary out of circulation just to make some groups feel better, from a creative perspective, causes more harm than good. It drains the concept of literary correctness, for one, and tries to shove some into sounding all the same.

I am unlike anyone out there. I’m not about to start being mainstream now.

If my character likes using a lot of cuss words, I’m not going to censor it because someone else may find it offensive. More than likely, that person isn’t part of my core audience anyway. Nor am I going to start substituting words because a certain subset connects it to something negative.

Plus, last time I checked, it’s mainly the nonconformists that get noticed.

Guess which side I play for?

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