 |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
||
 |
 |
|
||
|
||||
 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
Kowtow to the Money GodApril 03, 2006 Why why why is it so hard for USians -- intelligent, politically progressive USians -- to understand how economics, or money, shapes every choice we make? Long time ago, like in college, I began to grasp how in the USSR (remember them?) censorship was political: say the unpopular thing and you'd get busted, or thrown in the loony bin. (Which wasn't as crazy as it seemed at first glance, was it? Saying the unpopular thing was indeed crazy, was it not??) In the US of A it was economic: say the unpopular thing and you'd lose your job. Losing your job was as terrifying, as much a dead end, as getting thrown in prison, or the loony bin, or sent to the gulag. The most brilliant stroke of the U.S. system is that you can say the unpopular thing, you can shout the unpopular thing, to your heart's content and no one will hear you. Brilliant brilliant brilliant: you're free to say whatever you want, but it's no threat whatsoever to the powers that be, the status quo -- those guys. Freedom of the press, as A. J. Liebling noted, belongs to those who own the presses. My friends don't get it, and it drives me crazy. The editors pride themselves on how much they get per hour or per page, never thinking "Who can afford that much, and do I want to work for them?" The writers are even worse. For them the pinnacle is being able to make a living as writers. For me the question is "Who pays and what do they want for their money?" Who pays the piper calls the tune. If you want to make a living writing, write ad copy. (Gag.) Or go into journalism. The higher the pay, the more in danger your soul, but hey, you're secular; the soul doesn't matter, does it? It doesn't even exist. The writers I'm thinking of want to write stories. They call themselves feminists. They don't understand. Cockles, mussels, alive, alive-O! Who will buy? What will they pay for? Perhaps they will pay for stories they disagree with (oh, they are such liberals, so many of them!), but will they pay for stories they don't understand, don't want to understand; are deep-down afraid of? So much of the writing I value was written by women who did not depend on the market. They had day jobs, or high-earning spouses, or trust funds. The day jobs, the high-earning spouses, the trust funds, it is true, shape what you write. In the case of the day jobs, the shaping is mostly to the good. It slows you down, but it keeps you grounded. The high-earning spouses and the trust funds -- and the grants from this-or-that foundation and your state arts council -- are more problematic. You are making concessions; that goes without saying. But what concessions, and how much difference do they make? These feminists want to make money writing. (OK, fine: I would love to cut back on the paid editing myself.) Do they understand that by making this choice they bow to the wishes of those who hold purse-strings? Do they understand that those who hold purse-strings may not hold feminist agendas? Do they understand that by putting themselves at the mercy of those who hold the purse-strings they are giving over the defining of what is feminist? I hope so, but I fear not.
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
 |
|
|||
 |
|
|||
Home - Writing - Editing - About Susanna - Bloggery - Articles - Poems - Contact Copyright ©
Susanna J. Sturgis. All rights reserved. |
||||