Imagine you really, really hate murder mystery novels.
(this is difficult for me to imagine personally⊠but for the sake of a metaphor, letâs go with the concept. Iâd prefer to use a category of fiction I actually enjoy for this particular point)
But for the sake of this argument, imagine you believe theyâre terrible, to the point you think they shouldnât even be allowed to exist. Theyâre bad all around, no redeeming value, not even for the sake of intellectual curiosity or pure entertainment. You think murder is just SO BAD in real life, that nobody ANYWHERE, EVER, should be allowed to engage with fictional depictions of this crime.
I donât think youâre likely to find a ton of murder mystery authors who receive accusations that the only reason they enjoy writing murder mystery novels is because theyâre ACTUALLY murderers in real life. Or because they are âglorifyingâ murder or have some agenda to promote murder or in any way make it appear âmorally acceptableâ in the eyes of the general public. But just imagine someone SO ANGRY that these terrible, morally bankrupt books (in their eyes) are allowed to exist, allowed to be sold in bookstores or freely available in libraries, or even *gasp* adapted into films or television programs or other media, that they chose to go on a moral crusade against anyone who dared to write such moral (YET ENTIRELY FICTIONAL) atrocities.
In your goal to stamp out this moral outrage, you send these authors (real actual human beings!) death threats and other vile garbage. YOU HAVE NOW CROSSED THE LINE FROM FICTION INTO REALITY.
Sending real human beings direct threats of violence is NOT protected speech. Itâs not âfiction.â And nobody consented to actually read that garbage.
The thing is, if you donât like murder mysteries (because weâre continuing with this metaphor), when you walk into a library or bookstore you can easily avoid having to engage with that section. Itâs clearly marked and labeled for your convenience, just like every other section is so that you can easily find what you DO want to read.
Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, has to justify their reasons for enjoying murder mysteries to you. Itâs literally none of your goddamn business. You hate those sorts of books? Fine! Someone else enjoys them? FINE! Their interests in the FICTION they consume do not dictate who they are as human beings, and how they relate and interact with the REAL WORLD. With OTHER LIVING PEOPLE.
People who enjoy consuming fictional things you hate do not deserve your condemnation and do not deserve your abuse. If you attack real living people over what fiction they choose to read or write, then YOU are officially an abuser.
Not in a fictional way.
If someone casually browsing in the romance department nearby hears you loudly complaining that these people who âglorifyâ murder in their books should be killed, or beaten, or banned, and steps in to suggest that would be morally unacceptable to harm real, living people over the contents of the fictional stories they create or read, and then you turn around and stalk that innocent person who has never read or written a murder mystery novel in their entire lives, and has no interest in doing so even, for the imaginary âcrimeâ of defending free speech that you happen to find distasteful or offensive, then YOU have become an abuser. You have become (to another real, living human being) the embodiment of the thing you profess to hate.
At that point, you can no longer claim the moral high ground here. You couldâve just as easily walked past the murder mystery shelves. You couldâve carried on your entire life engaging with the types of stories that bring you happiness, but instead spend all your free time obsessing over the things you hate instead. I can only assume attempting to make people who are busy creating and consuming the content they enjoy most feel as miserable and hate-filled as you do.
Jokeâs on you fools who think that way. Itâs just fucking sad, is what it is. Pitiable. Honestly.
I cannot imagine going through life with that much hate and vitriol driving my every waking thought. Turn off the fox news already. Please engage with reality as it actually exists, because nobody gives a shit about your moral fucking outrage over fiction. Please read an actual book about cognitive dissonance, because the complete lack of understanding of your own actions is jarring, and yes, pitiable.
Yes, this has been about purity culture wankers.Â




















