Safe Blogging
I’m making this a top-level page because it’s important. I don’t want it to get buried.
One of the reasons I wanted to start a blog is because I have opinions. Some of them are on subjects of general cultural concern. Such as, oh, religion and politics, for instance.
Some of the people who would likely take exception to my opinions are not nice. A few of them are known to be violent wackos. And I’m not that hard to find. My phone number and various personal details are visible on my website.
So is it safe to air my views in public, or have I been terrorized into silence by these wingnuts?
Beyond that, I have to be concerned about giving offense. One of my part-time careers involves giving music lessons to children. I know for a fact that the parents of some of my students have views on religion that are very different from my own. I never discuss such matters with students. If the subject comes up at all, I dodge. Not because I’m afraid of them — they’re all very nice people — but first because I stand to lose money if they stop taking lessons, and second because I feel it’s important for children who are being raised in a rather restrictive cultural environment to have a chance to interact with adults who have different points of view, even if those points of view never come up. Even aside from the value of giving the kid some music education, I don’t want them to end up even more isolated than they are already.
I would hope that some day one of my students might be talking about the positive value of religion, perhaps with someone who agrees with them, and would nevertheless feel the need to say, “Well, it turned out my music teacher was an atheist, and he was a really nice person.”
Call me a naive idealist if you like, but I think that’s a worthwhile goal. And if I start going off about what I really think of religion, it becomes somewhat less likely that the goal will ever be achieved. Parents who happen to stumble onto my blog would very likely yank the kids out of lessons.
If you have to be nice, rather than truthful, about important topics, there’s both an absolute loss of personal integrity and an enhanced danger of societal insanity. I’m sure there were a lot of people in Germany in the 1930s who didn’t like the Nazis, but who felt they should be nice rather than risking trouble.
This is the climate of fear in which we live.
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About the Author
Jim Aikin is earnestly attempting to enjoy living on this planet, in spite of the obvious difficulties that buzz like gnats around the process.
He fiddles around with synthesizers and music software and then writes about them for a variety of magazines, including Keyboard, Electronic Musician, Mix, and Drum.
He is the author of two nonfiction books — Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming and Chords & Harmony, both of which are nominally in print from Hal Leonard, although you wouldn’t know it from the pathetic sales figures on the royalty statements.
His fantasy stories have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and other magazines. Though he hasn’t been active as a fiction writer for more than 15 years, he has recently started sending out stories again, and has made new sales to both of the above fine publications in 2008. “Run! Run!” appeared in the Sept. ‘08 issue of F&SF and “An Elvish Sword of Great Antiquity” in the Jan. ‘09 issue. Another story, “Leaving the Station,” is in the December ‘09 issue of Asimov’s.
His two published novels (Walk the Moons Road and The Wall at the Edge of the World) are both out of print.
He teaches cello privately in Livermore and Pleasanton, California, and has performed with a number of local groups, including the Livermore Valley Opera, the Pleasanton Chamber Players, the Silicon Valley Symphony, the Pleasanton Playhouse, the Redwood Symphony, the Diablo Symphony, and the Livermore-Amador Symphony.
He has released five works of interactive fiction (text-based computer games, in other words) — “Not Just an Ordinary Ballerina,” “Lydia’s Heart,” “Mrs. Pepper’s Nasty Secret” (co-authored with Eric Eve), “April in Paris,” and most recently “A Flustered Duck.” The duck won first place in the annual Spring Thing competition for 2009.
His personal website is www.musicwords.net.
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“If you have to be nice, rather than truthful, about important topics, there’s both an absolute loss of personal integrity and an enhanced danger of societal insanity.”
This comment resonates with me. On a more personal scale the same tragedy occurs often in marriages where the authenticity of the individuals and the relationship are sacrificed on the alter of “nice” instead of truthful. While it is always a good thing if one can be nice and truthful, this is sometimes not possible. It is not nice to stand up to bullies, like the Nazis, nor is it nice to disagree with or say no to someone you love, especially if it might destroy the relationship, but in both cases if “nice” is chosen over truth, something or someone dies.
Cat Brasseur (http://cabsplace.wordpress.com)
Comment by cabsplace | June 22, 2008 |
Jim, it seems at this point you’ve had this experiement going for a year. Any further thoughts on these concerns?
Conrad.
Comment by Conrad | June 17, 2009 |
No additional thoughts, no. Other than, “Gee, I could delete this page.” I’ve had a couple of amusing exchanges with non-atheists, but it seems I’m not important enough in the grand scheme of things for them to keep after me.
Comment by midiguru | June 17, 2009 |