Threat To Freedom Of Speech In The United States
Threat To Freedom Of Speech In The United States
This hot off the press from the Chicago Tribune: student writes an essay, teacher doesn't like it, cops arrest student for disorderly conduct.
The story is by Tribune staff reporters Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks and was published on April 26, 2007.
It starts like this:
"Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.
"Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location."
A photo of Lee accompanies the article and it's obvious that his features are Asian features.
Apparently if your unpublished writings can disturb someone, like your teacher, then you can be hit with a disorderly conduct charge, and you can get slammed into jail for thirty days and fined $1,500.
The kid's dad, Albert Lee, says:
"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech."
But adds:
"I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."
Welcome to the fascist state, that's what I say.
On a more temperate note, to my mind what has happened raises a serious issue concerning the teacher-student relationship. I've been teaching English in Japan for the better part of the last ten years, and I've taught everything from elementary school classes to classes at university level.
What has come through to me, very clearly, from this experience, is that the teacher-student relationship is a power relationship. And if the student won't accept the subordinate role, then the student won't make progress.
My view of the incident outlined above is that the student did accept the subordinate role. The teacher said "Jump!" And indicated how high he should jump. So he jumped.
Now the kid who did what he was told is in the limelight, and is in trouble, and the teacher, who is responsible for this situation, who had the power and who issued the order, is hiding out disguised as Lord Anonymous.
If the kid is going to end up in court on a charge of disorderly conduct, then, logically, the teacher who coerced him into committing this crime then the teacher should be in the dock too, charged with inciting disorderly conduct.
As a teacher, I think the high school instructor failed the student, and should come out of hiding, should apologise for what has happened, and to atone in public for what I see as being a sin.
In addition to being a teacher, I'm also a published writer. One of the several books I've had published is the massive sword and sorcery saga, THE WITCHLORD AND THE WEAPONMASTER, which weighs in at over 250,000 words.
If you're interested in taking a peek, go to zenvirus.com and you'll find the entire text is online to read for free. You can also buy the book as a paperback novel from Amazon.com.
THE WITCHLORD AND THE WEAPONMASTER contains some extremely strong stuff, including extreme torture. When I wrote this extreme stuff, I didn't have the cops come knocking at the door to arrest me. Instead, I got paid good money for writing it.
If I was ever asked to pass on my skills as a creative writing instructor, then obviously I'd have to think through the legal ramifications of encouraging students to write as I do.
But my problems would pale by comparison with those that William Burroughs would have faced, if (a) he was still alive and (b) he wanted to teach people to write as he does.
Burroughs, for those of you who have not yet encountered him, is the extremest writer in the English language, author of books such as THE NAKED LUNCH and THE TICKET WHICH EXPLODED. He was a some-time junkie who wrote books of apocalyptic hallucinatory violence, loaded with sex, drugs and horror which is probably beyond the realms of most people's imaginations.
If that's not what you want, if all you want is Jane Austen, well, fine, Jane's written all her books, and they'll bear rereading. If that's your bag, I don't mean to disrespect you.
But my take on writing is conditioned by my respect for Ezra Pound, the great American poet (mad, unfortunately, and rabid in a number of unpleasant ways) who said that artists are the antennae of the race. (Artists or poets, I don't remember which, since I'm quoting from memory for a book which I haven't so much as glanced at in more than three decades.)
I believe that artists, poets, writers, novelists, are the antennae of the race. Their function is to detect what is out there in the world and to communicate the truth of what they detect.
And the truths of our apocalyptic world are the hard truths of Virginia Tech, of the war in Iraq, of the genocide in Darfur, of ... but you know this catalog of disorders, right?
Looking specifically at Virginia Tech, my view is that its legitimate for creative writers of all ages to engage in writing which reflects what has happened, and they shouldn't be constrained in doing so by the threat that their teacher is going to turn out to be a stool pigeon, a state informer, a spy for the local constabulary, one of the minions of Big Brother, deputized by the Thought Police to work to put those who are perceived as aberrant in jail.
If such a trend is allowed to flourish, if everyone who writes is going to be scrutinized and invigilated, and if everyone who fails the "as gentlewomanly as Jane Austen" test gets kicked out of the creative writing course and sent to some kind of institution, then we can say goodbye to the world of writing as we know it.
When Cho Seung-Hui gunned down 32 people and then shot himself, he was aiming for undying fame. He did succeed in killing all those people. What Cho did should not be used in manner which permits him not only to kill all those people but, in addition, to slay free speech.
This hot off the press from the Chicago Tribune: student writes an essay, teacher doesn't like it, cops arrest student for disorderly conduct.
The story is by Tribune staff reporters Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks and was published on April 26, 2007.
It starts like this:
"Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.
"Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location."
A photo of Lee accompanies the article and it's obvious that his features are Asian features.
Apparently if your unpublished writings can disturb someone, like your teacher, then you can be hit with a disorderly conduct charge, and you can get slammed into jail for thirty days and fined $1,500.
The kid's dad, Albert Lee, says:
"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech."
But adds:
"I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."
Welcome to the fascist state, that's what I say.
On a more temperate note, to my mind what has happened raises a serious issue concerning the teacher-student relationship. I've been teaching English in Japan for the better part of the last ten years, and I've taught everything from elementary school classes to classes at university level.
What has come through to me, very clearly, from this experience, is that the teacher-student relationship is a power relationship. And if the student won't accept the subordinate role, then the student won't make progress.
My view of the incident outlined above is that the student did accept the subordinate role. The teacher said "Jump!" And indicated how high he should jump. So he jumped.
Now the kid who did what he was told is in the limelight, and is in trouble, and the teacher, who is responsible for this situation, who had the power and who issued the order, is hiding out disguised as Lord Anonymous.
If the kid is going to end up in court on a charge of disorderly conduct, then, logically, the teacher who coerced him into committing this crime then the teacher should be in the dock too, charged with inciting disorderly conduct.
As a teacher, I think the high school instructor failed the student, and should come out of hiding, should apologise for what has happened, and to atone in public for what I see as being a sin.
In addition to being a teacher, I'm also a published writer. One of the several books I've had published is the massive sword and sorcery saga, THE WITCHLORD AND THE WEAPONMASTER, which weighs in at over 250,000 words.
If you're interested in taking a peek, go to zenvirus.com and you'll find the entire text is online to read for free. You can also buy the book as a paperback novel from Amazon.com.
THE WITCHLORD AND THE WEAPONMASTER contains some extremely strong stuff, including extreme torture. When I wrote this extreme stuff, I didn't have the cops come knocking at the door to arrest me. Instead, I got paid good money for writing it.
If I was ever asked to pass on my skills as a creative writing instructor, then obviously I'd have to think through the legal ramifications of encouraging students to write as I do.
But my problems would pale by comparison with those that William Burroughs would have faced, if (a) he was still alive and (b) he wanted to teach people to write as he does.
Burroughs, for those of you who have not yet encountered him, is the extremest writer in the English language, author of books such as THE NAKED LUNCH and THE TICKET WHICH EXPLODED. He was a some-time junkie who wrote books of apocalyptic hallucinatory violence, loaded with sex, drugs and horror which is probably beyond the realms of most people's imaginations.
If that's not what you want, if all you want is Jane Austen, well, fine, Jane's written all her books, and they'll bear rereading. If that's your bag, I don't mean to disrespect you.
But my take on writing is conditioned by my respect for Ezra Pound, the great American poet (mad, unfortunately, and rabid in a number of unpleasant ways) who said that artists are the antennae of the race. (Artists or poets, I don't remember which, since I'm quoting from memory for a book which I haven't so much as glanced at in more than three decades.)
I believe that artists, poets, writers, novelists, are the antennae of the race. Their function is to detect what is out there in the world and to communicate the truth of what they detect.
And the truths of our apocalyptic world are the hard truths of Virginia Tech, of the war in Iraq, of the genocide in Darfur, of ... but you know this catalog of disorders, right?
Looking specifically at Virginia Tech, my view is that its legitimate for creative writers of all ages to engage in writing which reflects what has happened, and they shouldn't be constrained in doing so by the threat that their teacher is going to turn out to be a stool pigeon, a state informer, a spy for the local constabulary, one of the minions of Big Brother, deputized by the Thought Police to work to put those who are perceived as aberrant in jail.
If such a trend is allowed to flourish, if everyone who writes is going to be scrutinized and invigilated, and if everyone who fails the "as gentlewomanly as Jane Austen" test gets kicked out of the creative writing course and sent to some kind of institution, then we can say goodbye to the world of writing as we know it.
When Cho Seung-Hui gunned down 32 people and then shot himself, he was aiming for undying fame. He did succeed in killing all those people. What Cho did should not be used in manner which permits him not only to kill all those people but, in addition, to slay free speech.
Hugh Cook さんの投稿 投稿時:
9:33
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿
登録 コメントの投稿 [Atom]
<< ホーム