Zestful Blog Post #247
Indulge me today. Just indulge me.
I’ve brought up the name of various lords (or Lords, if you
like) several times in this blog. Whenever I mention Jesus, I always get an
unsubscribe notice for exactly one person. Never two, three, more, or zero.
It’s funny, it happens whether I take the name of Jesus or God in vain, such as
two weeks ago, when I wrote “But do you see how goddamned entertaining and
enjoyable it is to read closely?”, or whether I mention Jesus or Christ in any
sort of positive or neutral way, in the in the context of one of my metaphysical-type
posts. No one seems to object to the mention of Buddha, or any ancient gods/goddesses
I’ve mentioned, like Athena. None of the unsubscribers sends me any sort of message
of explanation, but they really don’t have to, because the correlation seems so
distinct. Sometimes I wonder what they’re thinking when they make the decision.
Like, “Eww, she said something about Jesus! I am so allergic
to that Christian thing! Because there are so many hypocritical Christians out
there who are actually fascists and everything!! Any reference to the
historical Jesus is surely—somehow—an attempt to proselytize, or as a signal
that proselytization is about to occur!! Bad blogger! Lemme outta here!”
Or like, “Eww, she cursed!! I am so allergic to cursing! I
condemn cursing! This person is ungodly and perhaps even dangerous! I myself am
devoted to clean language, and I myself will go to heaven if I keep doing
things right!! This blogger and I have nothing in common! Bad blogger! Lemme
outta here!”
Seriously, unsubscriber? You’ve been enjoying this blog, yet
now you’re tapping ‘unsubscribe’ because—your identity is that tenuous? You
have to protect your bubble so reactively that you’re foregoing the whole
experience of Zestful Writing? You can’t just shrug off the bits you don’t like?
Is there something I’m just not getting?
[Pagan piñata about to be busted during a Catholic festival in Mexico. Yes! Piñatas
were used by the Aztecs to celebrate the birthday of Huitzilopochtli. You
remember that popular war god, right?! [photo by ES]]
I swear and use vulgar language fairly liberally in real
life. (If you’ve ever spent so much as half an hour with me over a cup of coffee
or glass of wine, you’re like, yeah, Elizabeth, no shit.) And I put curse words
and vulgar talk in the mouths of some of my fictional characters, especially my
first-person ones. Why? For one thing, it’s a comfort zone, and bad language
can break tension in a scene, or even add humor. And I feel it’s only honest to
permit my characters to swear because I
swear, and I feel it’s only honest for me to swear occasionally in this blog.
Last week, in the context of reviewing the writing app Floor
23, I wrote out a Catholic children’s prayer that came to mind. You might conclude
that I was brought up in a Catholic household, and you would be right. However,
my parents, apart from attending church, for years owned and operated taverns
in working-class neighborhoods. And we lived in a working-class neighborhood. So
guess where I learned the prayers and
the curses? Right! You might wonder what I believe or practice now. My current religion,
if you could call it that, seems to be a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity, and
paganism, sprinkled with some vestigial Catholic devotional practices.
I know writers who swear in real life but who eschew it in
their fiction because they don’t want to alienate readers. Heck, I know Jewish
writers who say things like, “for Christ’s sake!” but who wouldn’t put those
words into the mouths of their characters. I can understand that. I’ve lost
readers because of the language I use. Some have scolded me either via email or
in an online review (or both—so proud of themselves). And maybe someday I’ll
launch a newer, cleaner series where nobody swears, not even the lowlifes. I
shudder, but it could be an interesting challenge.
Well, I have no particular conclusion to offer here. It’s
just funny how the Christian God/Jesus is such a trigger, on both ends of the
offense spectrum. Funny as hell.
What do you think? Did this post make you uncomfortable? If you’re a writer, do you consciously
use or avoid bad language? Reasons? I’m interested. To post, click below where
it says, 'No Comments,' or '2 Comments,' or whatever.
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