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Sorry, but I feel a rant coming on
Mar. 17th, 2006 11:20 amI have been trying to explain a story of mine for a month or so now. It isn't a published one and it may not ever be a published one, but when readers read it there is always one out of a group who says "The background is improbable - if governments knew that something was so bad for so many people, they would legislate to prevent it." Let me give you a link to suggest otherwise. Just one link, though there are numerous other examples possible: http://ancrenewiseass.blogspot.com/2006/03/tinfoil-hat-brigade-is-on-march.html
My short story is science-fictional and about women's health and I used a bunch of historical precedents to ground it. But for 10% of readers it doesn't read as at all likely. One person's comment suggested that this group of readers didn't believe I had done my homework, because the scenario seemed so improbable to them.
These readers applied their common sense, perhaps. Commonsense does not apply to the real world nearly as much as most people think. In a fictional world the writer can make things work out neatly. I didn't do that in this story: it is not a nice tale. And it is a not a nice tale because of that homework I did.
This post is the fairy story that my piece of short fiction never was. And fairy stories have cute little morals. The moral of this fairy story goes something like this : assumptions and bigotry of all sorts will take over unless we are unrelenting in reminding our governments that we want a rational and fair society.
It isn't enough to vote once every three years. If we don't communicate how important subjects are to politicians and they get their guidance from lobby groups who *do* make their voices heard, then the results can be interesting and different. The extreme case of 'interesting and different' is Nazi Germany.
Democracies ought to be about a vast multitude of voices all explaining their own views and working towards a common reality. Not about saying "If the government says I can't take this vaccine because it might turn me into a bad girl, I will accept the likelihood of cervical cancer." Or "I have to watch my neighbour suspiciously because an individual entirely unrelated who may or may not be of the same religion and who lives on the other side of the world bombs people."
There are a ton of ways of speaking out about issues. Some people write letters to politicians. Some sign petitions. Some street march. Some use blogs. Some go on committees. Some join political parties. I work within my comfort zones: I run mail lists and I give workshops and talks. When it fits my story, I put my thoughts into my fiction. That is me. Find your own approaches. But please, find them. Engage and argue and make your voice heard.
If my story ever gets published I will announce it here, in stunned surprise. Watch this space. In the meantime, you can find some of the mail lists I run at http://www.nwjc.org.au/avcwl/
Rant over. Returning to normal activity. I suspect normal activity is dishwashing, given the state of my sink.
My short story is science-fictional and about women's health and I used a bunch of historical precedents to ground it. But for 10% of readers it doesn't read as at all likely. One person's comment suggested that this group of readers didn't believe I had done my homework, because the scenario seemed so improbable to them.
These readers applied their common sense, perhaps. Commonsense does not apply to the real world nearly as much as most people think. In a fictional world the writer can make things work out neatly. I didn't do that in this story: it is not a nice tale. And it is a not a nice tale because of that homework I did.
This post is the fairy story that my piece of short fiction never was. And fairy stories have cute little morals. The moral of this fairy story goes something like this : assumptions and bigotry of all sorts will take over unless we are unrelenting in reminding our governments that we want a rational and fair society.
It isn't enough to vote once every three years. If we don't communicate how important subjects are to politicians and they get their guidance from lobby groups who *do* make their voices heard, then the results can be interesting and different. The extreme case of 'interesting and different' is Nazi Germany.
Democracies ought to be about a vast multitude of voices all explaining their own views and working towards a common reality. Not about saying "If the government says I can't take this vaccine because it might turn me into a bad girl, I will accept the likelihood of cervical cancer." Or "I have to watch my neighbour suspiciously because an individual entirely unrelated who may or may not be of the same religion and who lives on the other side of the world bombs people."
There are a ton of ways of speaking out about issues. Some people write letters to politicians. Some sign petitions. Some street march. Some use blogs. Some go on committees. Some join political parties. I work within my comfort zones: I run mail lists and I give workshops and talks. When it fits my story, I put my thoughts into my fiction. That is me. Find your own approaches. But please, find them. Engage and argue and make your voice heard.
If my story ever gets published I will announce it here, in stunned surprise. Watch this space. In the meantime, you can find some of the mail lists I run at http://www.nwjc.org.au/avcwl/
Rant over. Returning to normal activity. I suspect normal activity is dishwashing, given the state of my sink.