It's exactly what it sounds like.
Once upon a time, there was a couple whose daughter came home upset from school. After they asked what was wrong, she informed them that she was reading a book that she really enjoyed but was bothered by the profanity in it. The parents then began scouring the world to find something that would help their daughter. Something that would allow her to read the book without reading all those filthy words. To their shock, no such apparatus for automated censorship could be found. So they created Clean Reader.
Clean Reader is an app that scans through eBooks searching for naughty words and replaces them with a large highlight and an alternative, much less "offensive" word.
Ahem.
ACHOO.
I know many people on both sides of the whole "bad words" debacle. I know some people who refuse to use any form of profanity except under the most extreme conditions and I know some people who drop the f-bomb every other word. As in most things, I do my best to fall somewhere in the middle.
My view on profanity is pretty simple: it's language. The reason that it is considered "bad" is because someone arbitrarily made that decision, so there really is nothing wrong with using such language. The only real reason not to use it is interpersonal relationships. I personally am enough of a peacemaker that I try to censor my language around certain people so as not to make them uncomfortable. It's the same reason I don't tell people what color my poop was this morning. You will notice, however, that my self-imposed censorship on this blog presents the same idea and is in tone with my style of writing. (See ACHOO.)
There is certainly something to be said about censoring one's own language in order to make your own life easier by not alienating yourself from others. There is certainly nothing at all wrong with that. There is, however, something wrong about trying to pretend that profanity is not a part of our language.
Let's bring an author into this debate, shall we?
Fuck You, Clean Reader: Authorial Consent MattersMr. Wendig, who wrote the above article, is very inclined to using the language in question, so if simply reading the title of that article makes you uncomfortable, consider yourself warned about the language inside. There's nothing vulgar, just naughty words.
Here's the gist and the reason authors are upset about Clean Reader: It's putting words in other people's mouths. When an author writes a book, they are not simply trying to describe settings or characters or even relate a series of events. They are trying their hardest to perform magic. They are trying to drag you out of your body and place you in the mind-set of their protagonist. They are trying to make you feel and experience something. This is not an easy task. Profanity is a part of language and so is often used to aid in the impossible task of transporting you out of your body and into a fictional words.
Certain people in your life would never ever say "fiddle-sticks" or "gosh-darned" just like certain people in your life would never say "fuck" or "god-damned". Characters have to be treated in the same way. Certain characters have to cuss in order for the character to work.
Unfortunately, characters are merely a small part of the issue. If it simply came down to having characters saying something different, that would be nothing. The bigger problem lies in creating an atmosphere. Authors agonize over every single word they put down on paper. They debate whether they should use "the" or "a". They can't sleep at night because they're not sure if someone skipped through a field or frolicked across a meadow. Words have the power to build worlds and when you start pulling away pieces of that world, things start to unravel. Specifically, the reader's experience unravels.
In the book Wicked (not the musical. the book.), there is a scene that takes place in what I can only describe as a kinky sex club. It was weird. It was uncomfortable. It made me reevaluate everything I believe about the reproductive habits of lions and dwarfs. But that was the point. It wasn't supposed to be a part of the story that you breezed through and felt great about afterward. It came to define the lives of some of the characters because it was so disturbing. At the time, I would have just as soon preferred that the author not include the scene. Now when I look back, I realize that what Gregory Maguire (the author) did in that scene was nothing short of magic. I was in that club with those characters. I experienced something that could never happen in the real world.
He did that. Using his words.
When you start taking those words away, you strip the author of their power and hinder them. Imagine that you were offended by a particular shade of blue. Would it be right to create something that filtered out that color whenever you looked at a painting and replaced it with neon green? No. You would think that the painter was insane for using such strange colors to paint a sky. It's the same thing.
The deepest issue with this app is that it takes away the author's only power to defend themselves. It edits their work, then presents it to the masses for judgement. After you have changed the author's words, you are no longer presenting their work. You are presenting something different with their name stamped on the front.
You want to read books that don't have "bad words" in them? Fine. Go find them.
You want your kids reading books that are appropriate for their maturity? Great. Go find them.
You want to start changing books without the author's permission so that your kids don't have to deal with uncomfortable feelings? ACHOO. There is a difference between giving your kids books that are appropriate for them and altering inappropriate ones so that everyone's comfortable with them.
Beyond that, however, remember that it is OK to feel uncomfortable. That's how you grow. Shielding your children from profanity forever will not help them in the long run. It will simply leave them feeling offended and anxious when they go to their first R-rated comedy with their friends. Or set foot in New York. Rather than hiding those words, have a conversation with your children. Talk to them about when they might be appropriate. Talk to them about why those words make them uncomfortable. Give them tools to deal with it. Instead of teaching them not to go anywhere near matches, show them where the fire extinguisher is. Because one day, they just might run into an arsonist like me.
And on that day, you'll be glad they know what the fuck to do.
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