What's The Point Of...Writing If It Comes With Limitations

 

Writing is considered to be a powerful form of communication. It is supposed to be informative, descriptive, invoke emotions, and enrich the lives of those who read. 

Yet, this powerful tool is often suppressed. 

Now writers have to take permission in order to write anything that many people could possibly find offensive. It is no longer about hiring a good editor to check for grammatical mistakes or developmental issues. It is about getting the PR involved to make certain that the writing will be approved by the masses. 

The writing, be it in a novel, or essay, or a social media post, all of it needs to be approved before it is made available to readers. There is a lot to get offended about after all. 

For example, why does the novel only have a particular race of characters? Why are they not more inclusive when it comes to race, age, and orientation? Why did the writer insert their political views into fiction? It doesn’t matter that the political views are a part of a fictional character. No! It’s the author who is trying to brainwash their readers into accepting their dogma. 

And that social media post that consists of a paragraph of words that are not acceptable to netizens who want to not only analyze every word but also form imaginative narratives on why this word was specifically chosen. 

The point is, writers have it tough out there now. Voices are suppressed, and there is overuse of AI for everything because only they are trained to filter out all the things that may be flagged as inappropriate. 

Human writers can no longer write as freely as they once were able to. There are too many restrictions, too much fear about being stigmatized by a group of people who accuse the writer of being duplicitous. 

So, writers have to conform, choose the safest words approved by a team of editors and PR folks who also have to do research on the latest topic that people find offensive. 

The works produced are no longer literary masterpieces. They are generic and without a unique voice. They no longer offer an enriching experience. 

But the works are politically correct at least. And isn’t that all we care about?

So…what is the point of writing if you must suffocate your words? If you must follow dozens of invisible rules? If you cannot convey the things that can actually make a difference? 

Reading good work is not about absorbing the words. It is about changing the way we think. It’s about looking at things from another perspective, which doesn’t have a label of being right or wrong. 

The point of writing has always been about freedom.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft