Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Narrative Warfare: The Unpersoning of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Those who seek to change the past rarely are as malevolent as the Party of Orwell's 1984 would suggest. Instead, they are cowards seeking to make reality change to conform to their desires- desires for a stress-free life of infinite resources. To that end, they will readily descend into madness and take everyone they can along with them as they create Hell on Earth. Observe. (H/t Men of the West)

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name will be removed from a major award because of how the “Little House on the Prairie” author portrayed minorities in her novels, the children’s division of the American Library Association voted Saturday.

“This decision was made in consideration of the fact that Wilder’s legacy, as represented by her body of work, includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC’s core values of inclusiveness, integrity and respect, and responsiveness,” the Association for Library Service to Children said in a statement after the unanimous vote.

According to the organization’s website, “the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”

It will now be called the Children’s Literature Legacy Award.

The SJWs that pushed this change--this unpersoning, this unthinging--did so out of a pressing need to resolve pressure on their amygdalas. So stressful is the reality of the past, and those who wrote about it, that these rabbits would sooner flee into the waiting tentacles of madness than adapt to the fact that reality is not one big happy party full of pretty people doing pretty things (and other pretty people).

This is why they do it: to remove the threat to their illusions. It's not a calculating, cunning, and cold manipulation; it's the freak out reaction of a spoiled child that knows what terrifying him is reality but won't admit it and does all that is possible to deny it. If it weren't for the fact that their decisions have consequences upon others, especially the generations following them, it would be comical.

But it's not. This move is wrong, and it not only needs to be called out with great thunder, but the hammer needs to come down on them. As they are rabbits, they are vulnerable to shaming, so shame them good and hard for being cowards and weaklings too afraid of words written by a dead woman. Fire up the Rhetoric cannons, go forth into the field, and know no fear for the Emperor Protects. They will move against her further, and when they do- wham!

8 comments:

  1. Choices: Heretic's Fate or Man of the West.

    Coming down to it ... soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bradford,

    This is probably related, here's the latest trends in book cover art:
    https://lithub.com/is-this-the-biggest-book-cover-trend-of-the-year/
    I share the commentator's sentiments. I'll simply add that the covers frankly don't inspire me to pull the books from the shelf nor do they interest me enough to care.
    What's really irritating is the bland, insipid uniformity like those Soviet era apartment blocks.
    xavier

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fuck that. Horrible art. Horrible covers. I'm going for something more like this: https://www.anime-planet.com/images/anime/covers/space-battleship-yamato-2199-tsuikou-no-koukai-6369.jpg

      Only less characters, Our Hero wields a lightsaber, and the Hero Mecha is also on the cover (replacing Captain Mentor and Supporting Cast in the bottom left).

      Delete
  3. Bradford,
    Not bad. I see your point of decluttering it. It makes sense for your story. Will you add at least 1 bad guy and Lady Robin to the cover?
    Can I suggest a more old school 30-40s movie poster type cover for your book? It would convey the pulpiness as well as manly and womanly characters of the story very effectively.

    While not movie posters, I came across this Catholic book publisher which makes some really beautiful book covers:

    https://stpaulcenter.com/emmaus-road-publishing/

    And there's Ignatius press. I have some of their books and I'm a fan of their book cover art.
    Finally there's Sophia Institute press which also has some nice covers (but not as consistently beautiful as Ignatius')

    I think entertaining stories deserve beautiful book cover art.
    xavier

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I will put Countess Robin and Red Eyes on the cover. As I will look for a full cover, I'll see about having something on the back for the print edition also.

      Delete
    2. Bradford,
      Excellent. Will you be doing the cover art? If so, the-digital-reader.com has a post about the available software (free and paid) for creating book covers.
      Nate worked on some examples to show how easy it is (in terms of software learning curve) and he's forthright enough to assert that his covers are amateurish.

      For the back of the book 3 suggestions:
      1) A synopsis that hook the readers to read the book
      2) Some blurbs
      3) Maybe some smaller cover art (the heraldry of the knights and the pirates. Something eye catching that are an hommage to the medieval knights and a nod to pirate branding)
      xavier

      Delete
    3. I'm no good at the drawing thing, so I'm getting help. I'll do as much as my final art budget allows, which depends on the upcoming relaunch of the crowdfunding campaign doing well (preferably hitting some Stretch Goals).

      I've been looking at the covers I want to use as models, and reading comments by publishers who live and die by commercial viability of their covers. If Brian Niemeier can get his knockout covers done, I can do what I'm thinking of doing- if I can get the money.

      As for when the relaunch comes, that info's coming soon.

      Delete
    4. Bradford
      understood. I can't draw at all. I'm sure there excellent cover artists but the budget...
      Yeah. Always the doubloons
      xavier

      Delete

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