Writing While Woke

Do Writers Have A Responsibility To Society?

Do writers have any social responsibilities? Do they have any obligation to speak out against injustice or comment upon the failings of society? Do writers of Extreme Horror need to justify the horrors they depict with a moral lesson or some enlightening revelation?

Well, the quick and easy answer is no. Writers, musicians, and artists of all types have no responsibility to anyone or anything but their art. Their only obligation is to constantly improve their craft and honestly express what's inside them. Some may even disagree with me on that last point. They might say all a writer or artist is obligated to do is entertain their audience. I have a different view on that, but that's a whole other discussion. What I will say is writers have no obligation to comment upon society, but nothing is holding them back from it either.

Writers are human beings with beliefs and opinions and readers should not expect them to be apolitical. I cringe whenever I see readers complain about Stephen King making political statements on social media, or complaining when other writers express their opinions on politics, religion, and culture. The “shut up and entertain us” crowd that rears its ugly head every election season, or whenever an author speaks out after yet another school shooting or murder of an unarmed Black person, or women losing their reproductive rights, or anything remotely politically controversial.

It's odd to think artists lose their right to express themselves when they become popular when self-expression, in my view, is the very purpose of art. I write because I have shit to say, opinions I want to express, ideas I want to get off my chest, questions I want to ask. I often say my best books are the products of arguments. They are everything I wish I had been witty enough to say in the moment, written as an extreme hypothetical situation.

“If there is an intelligent creator who is in control of everything, why does he allow some of the most vile, evil people to weild so much power?”

This became The Resurrectionist.

“In all the discussions about environmental protection and climate change, why is no one talking about overpopulation?”

This became Population Zero.

“Historically oppressed minorities always say that only someone who went through the same struggles they went through could understand them. What if someone volunteered to do just that?”

This became 400 Days of Oppression.

“Is reverse racism really a thing? People say Black people can't be racists, but what if they commit hate crimes?”

This became Rabbit Hunt.

“What if a police officer shot an unarmed Black man by accident, and was genuinely remorseful? What if he discovered he did have some unconscious biases that may have contributed to him pulling the trigger, but he wasn’t an out and out racist? Should he be forgiven?”

This became … well, you’ll have to wait and see on that one.

And on and on. Sure, I could write horror stories that ask no profound questions of the readers and made no important sociopolitical statements, and had nothing to say about society or human nature. I could just write gory disgusting shit that was just pure escapism. I could. I have. But I think literature, even the most vile, most depraved, violent, disgusting, most extreme horror literature, can elevate itself above mere sophomoric scatological references, tits and ass, and dick jokes to become true art when it challenges the reader’s beliefs a bit, and makes them think. And what about social, cultural, and political sensitivity? Does the writer have any obligation to be sensitive to marginalized groups?

No, I don't think the writer has any obligation to show any sensitivity to any groups. Not as a writer or an artist, but as a human being. No, writing a 500 page novel that has not a single racial or sexual minority in it won't hurt your story or your sales. Writing a novel that's full of harmful stereotypes is bad writing and probably would hurt your writing, but only in the minds of readers who notice that type of thing. Lucky for you most of America is blind to racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, misogyny, sizeism, ageism, and nationalism. Most of this country is not “Woke”. Some might even applaud you for writing those stereotypes. They are so endemic to our society they would probably feel comfortable and familiar to most readers. After all, it's popular with certain folks to be anti-woke (aka ignorant).

Somehow we have gotten to a place as a society where it is seen as brave and heroic to be callous and insensitive. To not bow to the forces of political correctness is a badge of courage as if those forces were the majority and controlled armies. But I can't remember the last time I feared oppression by a Black transwoman or a gay, disabled, septuagenarian, Latino man. Yes, if you're an out and out vocal bigot spouting racist, misogynistic, homophobic shit all over social media you *might* get canceled. If you’re harrassing women and sending them dick pics and videos of you masturbating, or if you have a history of sexually assaulting women, it apparently takes a few years, but eventually you will get canceled.

In the horror fiction community we have had that happen less than a handful of times over the past decade, yet the narrative is that people are just getting canceled left and right. Let me assure you, that's not happening. In fact, there's a good chance you won't get any backlash at all if you just keep your bigotry in your books and off Twitter and Facebook.

Yes, before anyone else says it, my books are not politically correct for the most part. But neither are they deliberately anti-pollitically correct. Neither are they callously dismissive of issues of diversity and representation. Neither do I deliberately exclude my own sociopolitical ideas and opinions. I write what's on my mind, and when the county is in social or political turmoil I would have to deliberately force myself not to comment on it, and why would I want to do that? I do try to write with a social conscience, but I will commit heinous acts for the sake of a good story. I just think calling attention to social injustices and filling my stories with diverse characters makes for a good story.