A Creator's Responsibility

Hola. After my last post, I've been wanting to clarify something: I believe strongly that all creators (writers, painters, video-game designers, etc...)—even if their work is aimed at adults—have a responsibility to produce the cleanest material they possibly can; well, to the degree that such an ideal fits with their characters, the setting(s), and with the type of story they're creating. It really does create within me a strong sense of personal shame that I must add this caveat, but I've come to learn through therapy and experience that not everything geared towards adults can be squeaky clean, nor should I expect it to be. In the messed-up world we live in, a world that has corrupted so many hearts, it may not be possible to be perfectly clean in everything we create. As we all know, one aspect of any artistic product is that it either directly or indirectly reflects the current state of society. The stories we're writing might actually call for at least some darkness to be included; however, we should try to limit that darkness and not get carried away by following that snake down into the depths of depravity.

(Quick side note: Whenever I use terms like "filth," "trash," "dirt," or "unclean" in association with content, I'm talking about "adult" material—titillating or salacious material—not pornography. Pornography is a level of depravation beyond what I'm discussing here. That is a line I will never cross.)

While writing San Jose's Darlings, I really didn't set out to include dirty content—and I would have preferred not to have done so—but it was the culmination of every element of the story that dictated the necessity of including such trash. And it was through the natural flow of the story that that filth came out of me, perfectly fitting into and adding to the puzzle I was creating. I considered taking all that stuff out, but I was uneasy about even doing that because I would have been removing an important piece from the characters and from the story that rightfully belonged. In other words, removing that junk would have completely neutered the book, thereby ruining it. So, I went ahead and kept all that stuff in there, fully expecting to feel condemned or guilty for what I'd done. Actually, I felt very peaceful about this decision, which still seems strange. Well, I think I felt good about this partly because I didn't avoid that content; I exposed myself to it, which is the medicine my not-so-delicious brain needs in order to be stable. I often experience a deep sense of peace after I've exposed myself to my worst fears and after I've directly challenged my most troubling obsessions. I think the accompanying peace is a signal that I'm either breaking free or that I'm on my way towards breaking free of those chains.

Okeydokey. With that said and with that explanation out of the way, let me finish today's post with this: Our responsibility as creators is to uplift society, not bring it down by furthering the corruption of mankind's souls with content that is pornographic and/or ultra-violent (i.e. torture porn). Pornography alone destroys lives, wipes out families, in turn upsetting entire neighborhoods and communities before upending nations through the natural consequences and byproducts created by the willing adoption of this poison. We have a responsibility to not injure our patrons (customers), and we should be doing everything we can to not add to the vileness that's pervading every inch of Western culture. We must be conscientious of what we send out into the world.