What You Say?!

Can we write everything, or are there boundaries?

”Note” ▶︎

Grill a Christian, September
How & What We Share: Taboo Genres, Subjects & Styles?
Cultures are replete with taboos and prejudices about how and what we share with one another - subjects we avoid, opinions we suppress, experiences we hide, genres we dismiss and styles we consider unacceptable.
Imagine you are at our 26th Birthday Party, surrounded by fellow writers. Twenty-six years ago, some things were difficult to say that are ordinary today. Other things that once seemed unremarkable may now be taboo.
Sex, religion and politics used to cover much of the territory. But the world has changed.
What are the taboo subjects, genres, styles or ideas of our age, and what does that tell us about the age we live in?
Does your faith, philosophy or worldview give you the freedom to write about anything - or does it set boundaries on what you say and how you say it?
Sex/religion/politics
Taboo subjects
Genres/styles
Ideas
What does it tell us?
Freedom or boundaries because of faith and worldview?

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What do we say in this day and age, and what don’t we say? That’s the September question. It’s a relevant question since we are all international writers on a public online platform.

Six months ago I took a photograph of my own poopoo as part of a practical joke we know in the Netherlands.

In the 70s and onwards, there was a satirical television program called Van Kooten and De Bie, featuring two national comedians who had made several television segments on “to poop out a shape”, in which they examined their feces and interpreted what they saw - a sort of Rorschach test. It was supposed to be funny. I used the photo to create an image and put it in my blog here at Writing.com.

I forgot the reason why I did that.

Via the newsfeed, the Story Master got hold of it, and he was furious, thought it was gross and grotesque, and made me remove the image from the website. Which I did, of course; it was never my intention to offend anybody in any way. I even think it was almost a reason for him to remove me from the website altogether. I apologized, explained my intentions, and that was that.

I think the cultural differences between the US and Europe/The Netherlands were at stake here. Of course, one could argue about good taste and all, but what is funny in one culture is not done in another.

In my culture, there are not as many taboos as in the States, I think. I noticed in an early stage that writing about or talking about sex, religion, or politics is less favorable here at the site. It can cause friction, so people avoid it. That is the reason other writers sometimes complain that everything on this site is fluffy unicorns and pink elephants. A matter of opinion, probably.

I draw the line with porn, pedophilia, glorification of violence or abuse, and right-wing extremism, to name a few subjects. I think you could say I am woke in my opinions. For a long time, I didn’t understand what Woke meant, because its meaning had shifted and now it is an abusive word. If you want to call names, you say somebody is woke and neglect the opinion of that person.

In the dictionary, Woke is: The Original Slang Meaning: Originating in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) as far back as the 1930s, "stay woke" meant being alert to racial prejudice, social injustice, and systemic discrimination.

It is sometimes used as an insult by right-wingers to dismiss lefties.

My recent catholic turn has put me in a spot, I think. There are subjects in the faith and the interpretation of the Word that make me aware of differences between my former opinions and the way things are taught in the bible - for example, abortion and the pro-life movement, gay sexuality and lifestyle, etc. I have to think things through and define my opinions again in the light of the catholic faith.

But writing and thinking about those subjects I will keep doing.

There are boundaries, of course there are. I started with an example. Most of them are cultural, but now there are religious boundaries as well.

Taboo must be ‘sin’. Everything that is not okay in the eyes of the Lord.

I cannot overturn all my beliefs in my belief system now that I have joined God’s faith, but I can try to relate myself to those subjects as I go along and stumble upon those subjects. Subject by subject.

That’s why I love the prompts of Grill a Christian so much. They are thought-provoking, and I have to really think to understand my position on the matter.

What was normal 26 years ago can be taboo now, and vice versa. The light of the Lord shines through for me now. That means sometimes a new perspective on things. And sometimes I have to admit that I have a worldview that is not always compatible, so I have to think things through and choose my position accordingly.

Because everything is possible in this day and age doesn’t mean everything is expedient or desirable. There have to be boundaries; there have to be guidelines. One of these guidelines is the word of God for me now.

It tells me there have been and always will be taboo subjects in society. They differ through time. The bible can be an anchor. That’s what I believe now.

WC: 750
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