The author as censor

January 4, 2023

Very little raises my blood pressure the way censorship does. 

More to the point it's people expecting ME to protect THEIR delicate feelings. Or expecting ME to police THEIR children who are on the Internet/Interweb. 

Personally, if you post something I don't care for, I just click away. Problem solved. 

What has me growling is Draft2Digitals recently put in place requirement for uploading a manuscript. They want to know if the manuscript is for "mature" readers. Define mature. I read Gone With the Wind before I was twelve. It was my mother's copy and she gave it to me. I've never been a snowflake. My parents and grandparents made sure of that. 

Yes, I've given ground and put a trigger warning on a couple of my books. Bad things to happen to people. I was kidnapped at gunpoint when I was seventeen. I got past it, and I'm a legal gun owner. It doesn't bother me a bit to read detective fiction in which there is a kidnapping and the use of weaponry. I'm not a snowflake. 

I've said this before, many times, that censorship is inherently wrong. It's about controlling someone else. When I participate in censorship, I've increased someone's control over ME as well as everyone else. 

Do I understand a corporate entity like Draft2Digital suddenly after so many years requiring authors to take an extra step to categorize and censor their work? Sure. It's legal crap. 

I don't want to follow the herd and tell YOU what is proper for you to read. I don't want to make YOU afraid to read a particular book because of fear - yours or mine. 

Our rights are being eroded, nibble by nibble. Wake up. Free speech, freedom of the written word, matters, people. Let our so-called government acquire a toe-hold and watch how fast freedom goes away. We should not be making decisions for another person. If you think making a decision for someone else doesn't matter, think abortion. Yeah. Control. 

The censorship game is not something I'm willing to play.  

KC Kendricks/Rayne Forrest

Between the Keys, KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, censorship, freedom of speech, constitutional rights, legal fears, restricting others, controlling others