Irony
11/25/2003 02:11 a.m.
I don't believe this! Groan. This silly thing's happened to me once before on another site, but tonight there are reasons why it's both very funny and ironic, in its timing, to happen in this instance (except for the fact it's also tragic in what it means for discussion of novels, plays, history). I was disallowed (I guess by the automatic technology) from including in a comment on a poem, the name of a chief literary character, (very moving and key) in the old classic novel, also a well-loved play, The Secret Garden on here because of the similarity to a curse word or expletive it could resemble. Although that would have been in two words, (the curse term) and not with the first word in upper case, and it made no sense in the context. My first comment was totally wiped out and I knew I'd seen it appear briefly, so I tried again with, naturally the character's name, since I was making a comparison, and this time the name got bleeped with asterixes etc.

It's not something I run into much, as the poem I was just drafting for class about something I hate, shows how I feel about cussing in a poem, or the inclusion of foul language in writing, and why I'm not prone to this in my pieces. To get bleeped twice this same day, that I wrote my poem, on swearing, is quite funny. Once a lovely plant I referred to in a poem on another site got bleeped, (I found out if I made it two words it'd pass, although it's not be correct that way) and now one of my favorite literary characters doesn't pass here.
What about historical people or politicians whose names might resemble or have in their roots a bad word?
Or a country? Or a Shakespeare quote? Maybe some of his titles of plays? Are we supposed to alter these, because of the limited judgment of today's technology's censorship? I know Quentin Clingerman experienced this once, with a classic too. Whether he and I are just not the type to be using expletives isn't the point. Of course technology doesn't know that, I realize.
But it's a shame when we have to omit or tiptoe around authors' names or references that are part of literary history. Or have our comment look like it was offensive, when in reality it wasn't at all. And it would be nice if we could receive an explanation, so we'd know our comment was gone and why. I just happened to look back and noticed. So poets lose comments, for this reason! And I might have easily not looked again and not noticed.
The tragic joke's on our archival history, from great authors and their works, since there are several then that will fail. And it wasn't even a journal or poem title, but a comment.

How can we keep a literary site stimulating and rich if it we are rendered unable to make references and discussions about the classics? Even if it's just a technical glitch, not human misjudgment, it sure doesn't make any sense. Now I think I will post my poem on swearing. I was going to tonight anyway. But it doesn't solve the problem. And is not posted to prove I'm not the type who needs to be censored. It was written for a class exercise in syllabic verse, on something that we don't like.

Since I hadn't used the crude term, just a name it resembled, in part, and as I said, I used upper case which means it's a proper name, it's rather absurd.

I guess even half the contents of the dictionary mightn't pass in this technology either. The inability to use these references is more than an irritation, it's a major inconvenience and loss, not just mine, but all of ours, and literature's too.

I am currently Awestruck
I am listening to my daughter's giggle