Friday Frights
Where you, the reader, get to express yourself
Welcome to another edition of “Friday Frights,” where I write just a little to set up a topic for discussion, but the real action takes place in the comments from you.
The state of the world’s feeling pretty grim these days, isn’t it? An epidemic of mass killings and gun violence in the U.S. Women’s reproductive rights being revoked. People struggling to afford food and gas. Parents desperate to find baby formula. Covid on the rise. War in Ukraine.
If there were ever a time when writers might be called upon to address societal concerns, this would be it. But there’s a longstanding debate whether writers and other artists should feel like it’s their duty to take on political and social issues or whether every artist should be free to choose for themselves. Also, you could say that when people are most in despair, that’s when non-political entertainment, comedy, and beauty are especially needed.
If you’re a writer or artist who wants to help change the world and make it a better place, what do you do? Do you try to subtly work the most pressing issues into your books, essays, or poems? Do you tackle them, head-on? Or, do you separate your writing from your personal activism?
Please share your perspective in the comments below. Also, feel free to reply to other readers’ comments. I really appreciate your willingness to be open with the rest of us!
Yes and no. I sometimes hold back because there are A LOT of opinions and I don’t always feel like the most educated one in the room, but also because I write through my own perspective to hopefully share a more universal one.
Meta
I don’t believe one should walk the line on expressing their beliefs in whatever medium they deliver it. Not to say one should push polemics. I must agree with Lorelei here that we should all practice walking in another’s shoes with sensitivity, but more so I’m solidly with Cali here that “ a writer is to have the courage to write.”
It is axiomatic that art influences thought— be that positive or negative. To address the negative, where I’d rather not dwell at present: slasher movies, violent video games, etc. have inured our youth to cold violence. Why are we surprised when a youngster buys a full-on assault weapon—with which they have daily familiarity through violent games— then march into a school of innocents?
More constructively, if we expose our children to the arts, particularly writing we have an opportunity to advance humanity ( I think we have, not a burden, but a certain noblesse oblige as writers to inform and shape thinking as to the human condition, the struggles we all face on different levels).
We should not squander these opportunities to add our voice by being tentative. Not to say we can’t employ creativity( read subtlety) in conveying our sentiments without lecturing— as I seem to have done here…. Apologies.
Great topic, Meta. You really are clever at tapping into our thoughts here.