MODERATED
My poem has been deleted
Though why I’m not quite sure
I’d posted it on Write Out Loud
At least two times before!
Comments
Thanks for your thoughts, MC. And thanks for the Like, Aisha.
The use of language to portray the contentious will always be...well,
contentious!
Check the famous play "The Boys in the Band" by Mart Crowley.
This ground-breaking show contained (and still contains) the line -
"No matter how you figure, it's tough to be a (blanked according to
WOL guidelines/censorship))
But it's tougher to be a Jew-oo-oo"..
In short, if something has a point in its CONTEXT then it's relevant to
put that forward for attention.
We must accept that WOL has its limitations but discussion is
always relevant to freedom of expression. .
Here’s a thought, moderator-type people. What say I re-post it again with the offensive word substituted by “N’’s“? Presumably this is acceptable as you yourself have used it in one of your comments below, Greg.
Paul, your joke is perfectly accurate. No one among Write Out Loud's volunteers would want to post a list of offensive words on this site. Therefore we must rely on our poets using their experience and good judgement in deciding which words they use. If they err now and again, we will point it out. No big deal, hopefully.
Please yourselves.
I'm afraid it is no longer acceptable to write a bunch of offensive comments off a bog house wall or anywhere for that matter and then claim 'it's not me saying, I'm just repeating what I've read'. Seriously?
I read it around midnight last night and deleted it, thinking, I know what I'm going to be doing on Sunday now! Luckily with the snow, I went out and had a fun time with my granddaughter instead snowballing!
One comment I would make is I notice how many comments usually follow a moderated poem. shame there's not so many around critiquing acceptable works.
Hopefully that's it for this particular episode.
John, I would never accuse you of promoting racism. But you will remember that in recent times we have had endless and sometimes vitriolic arguments about the 'context' of reproducing offensive words. Our current policy is to ban them - no ifs, no buts. A lot simpler and easier to understand. I would be interested to know if that particular story is still recounted in more recent editions of Lynne Truss's book.
No one likes to ask difficult questions mare than I, but being contentious has nothing to do with being derogatory. Greg, I commend your actions and remarks. Trevor
I thought it might be helpful to set some context for this.
This was a form poem, anacreontic, which was a litany of graffiti from public toilet (cottage) walls, some quite common, some not and some made up. It was not a pleasant poem. But that doesn’t seem to be the issue.
My use of the N word (in full) was a lift from Lynne Truss’s book Eats, Shoots and Leaves”.
The story (told as true) was that the owner of a garage who was black shut up shop for lunch one day. When he returned he found someone had scribbled “N’s Out” (in full). When the owner returned, demonstrating a superior knowledge of the apostrophe and a sense of self deprecation, he scribbled “But he’ll be back soon”.
As I said in a comment attached to the post, it is about grammatical ignorance and intolerance.
It observes and is a comment on mindless racism. It doesn’t promote it.
Perhaps we should lobby to have Lynne Truss’s book withdrawn too.
The 'moderator' was me, folks. I don't remember my original comments, but I will say that this poem contained the N-word, which is a no-no on Write Out Loud these days. In some places this has been so for decades. I know lockdown is getting to us all, and some of us may be retreating to our second childhoods - I recently wrote a poem about Bill and Ben, for instance - but I look forward to a fresh new poem from John, which I am sure he is capable of, rather than twice recycled scribblings found on a public toilet wall. They must be all closed now, anyway.
Will do, Paul.
Ironically, one of the moderators commented on the authenticity its language lent it when it was first posted some years ago!
De-platforming times!
Pious times!
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John Coopey
Sun 24th Jan 2021 21:26
Wow! I just realised there’ve been 15 comments on something only 2 of you have read.