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I got the impression that was the point, to exaggerate. But I can't help but wonder, would you had felt the same way had the author chosen other shockingly vio
by mixedCase 5y ago
I got the impression that was the point, to exaggerate.
But I can't help but wonder, would you had felt the same way had the author chosen other shockingly violent acts such as "disembowelment", "lobotomy", "castration", or "amputation"?
- tokai 5y agoToo me all those words are over exaggerated. Nothing close to that has been done to Bukowski. His work is being misconstrued, and that's bad enough. Turns out rights holders are usually scum. I guess it depends on how much you like Bukowski if it feels overdone or not.
- _jal 5y agoThose are also over the top, but comparing text editing to violent sexual domination is well past the American taste for absurd overstatement, and just comes across like a silly, blinkered person overly absorbed in their little drama. It works against the author's apparent interest. They throw the dials to 11 as a bit of norm-setting editorializing about supposed severity of the unjust edits, but it just ends up being more bullshit clickbait, blending in to the background of every! other! desperate! headline!
- twox2 5y agoI disagree. It's very fitting within the context of Bukowski's work.
- adhesive_wombat 5y agoIf anyone doubts this, find the phrase "like a sickle" in Bukowski's work and you'll see it's in the right general area.
- user-the-name 5y agoThose do not happen to a sizeable fraction of the population. Rape does.
- dpark 5y agoIs that really the deciding factor? What percentage of the population it happens to? Why?
- user-the-name 5y agoBecause if you are under no threat of being disemboweled, then you can joke about it. If you are, however, under a constant, low-level threat of being raped, then you kind of want people to take that seriously. You don't want people to make light of it. You don't want people to devalue that. And we, who are not under that threat, can and should respect that.
- dpark 5y agoI am an amputee. The idea that I as an amputee should have the right to stop others from discussing or even joking about amputation seems absurd to me. I understand the argument about being sensitive to the topic of rape. I do not think that extends so far that no one can use the word except in its literal meaning.
- user-the-name 5y agoAre a large fraction of the population getting amputated against their will?
- dpark 5y agoDo you suppose that people who live in war zones are forbidden from making jokes about bombs? I get what you’re going for and have already stated elsewhere that I think rape jokes are tasteless. But your criteria doesn’t make much sense. Good for you for wanting to be sensitive to others. But if you’re going to be sensitive to others, maybe ask why your care doesn’t extend to victims in general and somehow only applies to this one word.
- 5y ago