Tuesday 23 August 2016

On Writing for the Church 2

Simcha Fisher has been let go from NCR. I am stunned. Indeed, I need to sit down.

Oh dear. I am sorry. I'm not a regular reader, but Simcha is funny and full of faith. She has a houseful of children, and she isn't too proud to write about the poverty this can plunge you into; she wrote about it on Facebook, too. I read B.A. her remarks about losing-her-mind-bought-steak-on-green-stamps, and he laughed out loud at her "gravy from the blood of the American worker" quip. I can't decide which is more humiliating, green stamps or the food bank. (We don't have green stamps in Canada or the UK. Update: Actually, I don't know what they are. What do Americans mean when they talk about "green stamps"? Are they literally coupons?) Good for Simcha for laughing through her tears.

In the wake of the Mark Shea firing, I read about Simcha's use of naughty words on Facebook. This is the second time the Catholic blogosphere has been sent to Simcha's Facebook page. I remember some scandal involving her husband chiming in with the naughty words. Neither of them is a patch on my online pal Artur Rosman, who was fired from Patheos. I don't think that was for naughty words, though, but for fighting on social media and in comboxes.

Artur has an earthy sense of humour, which is putting it mildly. He thinks that there was a funny side to the Incarnation and that our Lord sees it too and agrees with Artur that it is hilarious. The fact that God the Son willingly took on our bodily functions... I'll just stop there.

Somebody disturbed by Artur's take on the Incarnation started to follow him on social media and to collect a dossier of outrageous comments he and his friends made to each other. (One pal delighted in leaving stuff when he knew Artur wasn't around to immediately erase it.) The stalker then sent the collection to the editor of OnePeterFive, who began a social media brawl, which spilled out onto the pavement of his blog, and it was really terrible. Artur said something fatally dumb, of which Steve made the worst possible (if not surprising) interpretation, and it went nuclear. Patheos stood by Artur (as did I, weakly wailing in the OnePeterFive combox), but at the next difficulty...

Anyway, here is a tip I learned from my dealings with American Catholic Media: conservative American Catholics hate other Catholics to use dirty words. This is true even of reported speech. I have written dialogue in which characters use the kind of words those kind of characters would use, and they have been struck out by uncomfortable American editors. We aren't talking just about the F-word which, incidentally, I don't use in public. We are talking about the S-word (which I also don't use in public).* The S-word cannot appear in American Catholic media without American Catholics going bananas, and I have come to respect that. It's part of the culture. It's not MY culture, but it's the culture of my biggest audience.

Rule Number One for Writers: Respect your audience. 

Meanwhile, my Facebook page isn't public, and here is where I explain to all readers that, with very few exceptions, I don't become Facebook friends with someone I haven't met in person. I think it is mad to assume that, having given the world access to your family-and-friends bulletin board, the world won't look and your self-appointed enemies won't take screen shots to shame you.

Rule Number Two for Writers: Know your audience. 

I think we have come to a particularly acrimonious time in both the Church and in American politics--and I have a pretty good memory. When I was a child, a media take on Ronald Reagan was that he was an irresponsible, warmongering cowboy-idiot who might very well lead us all to nuclear armageddon. People groaned in holy horror that an actor had been elected president. And, of course, someone tried to assassinate him. However, the Clinton-Trump stuff is beyond the scale of nastiness and worry, and I feel terrible for my American readers who think they have to choose between them.

Some years ago, a friend was dithering between the Republicans and the Junior Senator from Illinois. She really didn't like the Republicans, but the Junior Senator's voting record on life issues was abysmal.  Speaking as a Canadian, I am fascinated by the Americans' "write-in candidate" option, so I asked her who she honestly thought would make a good president.

"My dad," she replied.

"Besides your dad," I said.

"Oprah," she admitted.

Okay, Oprah struck me as a viable candidate. I imagined that any number of people were probably already writing in Oprah's name. If enough people refused to do as they were told and just voted like FREE AMERICANS for Oprah, then....how beautiful it would be. The people would really have told the political class where they get off.

But I digress.

Rule Number Three for Writers: Write from the heart, but keep a cool head. 

I honestly don't know how much NCReg pays its columnists. I don't imagine that it's much, but whatever it is, it must be better than zero. This strikes me primarily as a financial blow for the Fisher family, and for that I am truly sorry.  Of course Simcha's fans will still be able to read her writing online, but how one earth to make online writing pay without begging is a conundrum I, for one, have not been able to solve.

Update: American traditionalists may wonder why I didn't mention NCRegister's firing of Pat Archibald. It is because Archibald had a column at The Remnant  (and therefore a new paycheque) before I registered that NCR had let him go. To be frank, I take a writer's point of view on all this. We write because we love to write--often to the point of being unable to do much else--but we also need to eat. Of course we can't fake what we believe to sucker editors and readers into giving us money--an unforgivable sin in a columnist. However, it is sad (if inevitable) when your point of view and the owners' points of view diverge so much that you are let go. It's sad for your fans, but it's even sadder for you because, hello, food, shelter, clothing, student loan payments, hardworking spouse who can't bear the financial burden alone.

*Since I'm on the subject, there are all kinds of words I don't think ladies and gentlemen should use in public--at least, not in mixed company. Naturally, what words these are is determined by culture. The Polish word for "whore" is so bad (yet nowadays so used) that a friend once bragged that his father had never said it in his life. In French Canada, two of the worst swears are the French for "chalice" and "tabernacle". "Whore sitting on a tabernacle" is so bad, I am imagining my Quebecker brother dissolving into giggles as he reads. However, in both Poland and Germany it is perfectly acceptable to exclaim the Holy Name as an expression of surprise.

What swearing is (and often what blasphemy is) is culturally determined. I am uneasy about writing down anything any English-speaking Catholic would construe as a blasphemy--even when spoken by a blasphemer (say a character in a book)--but I have no problem at all quoting a naughty word--when necessary for a piece of art. Context. Intent.

18 comments:

  1. I read everything Simcha writes. Hope she gets another paying venue soon. Actually, I hope she could get a job writing for a secular publication, one that will let her indulge her sense of humor a little more.

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  2. One that has money. You're American, aren't you? What are green stamps? Are they coupons? Do you have to give them to a cashier?

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  3. I'd rather read her than Ross Douthat or Rod Dreher, both of whom write for paying, secular publications. If I could see a Simcha column become a NYTimes regular contributor, I'd be so happy!!! Because she's maybe the least NYTimes-y of anyone on the Internet.

    I have the vaguest memories of my grandpa cutting up sheets of green stamps and coupons. They were a kind of loyalty rewards program. You would get them from cashiers at stores and then put them in a book and then send the book somewhere to get prizes. Grandpa loved coupons. Part of having survived the Depression, I think.

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    1. This can't be what Simcha was talking about then. It seems to be something you get from the government.

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    2. Simcha was talking about food stamps which are supposed to help poor people buy food. You give them to the cashier as payment.

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  4. Food stamps are issued by the govt. to people making under a certain income, and based on family size. There are lots of rules attached (only used for food, not toiletries, etc). They used to be paper stamps, but now the money comes on an "EBT card" that works like a debit card.

    The green stamps were basically coupons that anyone could get and use, although they were kind of complicated. They were discontinued in the late 80s, which is why I remember seeing them but don't know the details of how they were used.

    Simcha used food stamps for her family for a period of time. I remember that column -- she made a few people very angry. She also said it wasn't that helpful for well-meaning people to dump bagfuls of castoff clothing in her yard, and that anyone who wants to help a poor family or person should ask how to help. Both of those columns contradicted a belief that private charity works better than government assistance -- but in her case, the food stamps really helped, and the extra large men's clothing did not.

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    1. Writing about that was really very brave. This was brave not only because of American individualism (and fear of poverty) but because she is a convert with a whole lot of children, which could have played into one of the oldest surviving anti-Catholic memes.

      Poverty is a cold country is really very, very frightening. The anti-Simcha comments making me angriest right now are the ones mocking her for having been on welfare. Sneering at poverty is not Catholic. And sneering at mothers is simply Not Done in majority-Catholic countries.

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    2. I doubt that it was Simcha Fisher's columns on food stamps, or even her vulgarity, as such, that got her dropped by the NCR. Like Mark Shea, she tended to indulge in some rather strong invective against religio-political opponents. More aggravating than that was their shared tendency to assume that anyone who disagreed with them politically must also be in error religiously, and vice versa. Both liked to point out that this mistake was common among conservative Catholics, but they did not seem aware that they were often guilty of it themselves. They are both decent people, but I do think they need to learn to curb their tongues and tempers.

      If this comment is too disputatious, no need to post it.

      Alias Clio

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    3. As always, your comment is well-informed and sheds light on the discussion!

      I go to trad Mass, and I write about going to trad Mass in heritage Catholic newspapers, so I am very aware of myself as someone likely to attract negative attention. (I was also fired from one heritage Catholic newspaper.) However, I think I know where the line is for the majority of readers. Using coarse language is one of those lines. The wrong tone about Pope Francis is another.

      I lost a gazillion online readers when I closed "Seraphic Singles" and again when I started writing about European nationalism. I'm sorry to have lost my broad readership--I was very pleased to have "progressives", Calvinists, and sedevacantists all reading and chiming in the combox. That is very rare and precious in a faith-based blog, I think.

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  5. Maybe it is because I am German, but I really never thought Simcha's tone was too coarse. I like it that she does not mince matters, although I do not always agree with her. Everyone has their right to express their opinion, and if I don't like it, it is up to me to stop reading and move on.

    Sorry all those readers left. It is so nice to have a place that brings together people with such different ways of thinking. I have followed you on your various blogs for many years now, and I always enjoy what you write. You don't mince matters, too, but in your own way, always well-informed and charitable.

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  6. I think her Facebook page will prove to have been the problem. American and Catholic Catholics are very sensitive about swear words and sexual imagery. B.A.will occasionally exchange salty puns with this closest pals, which I attribute in equal measures to his Britishness and his being a chap.

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  7. I love reading Simcha's stuff and I thought her book on NFP was very helpful. I too got the impression that it was her comments about Trump and Trump supporting Catnolics that rubbed certain people the wrong way. I really don't think she was in Mark Shea's class as far as attacking her opponents is concerned though. I really thought she was very reasonable. Her swearing didn't bother me but then, I am Australian...... I don't swear much myself but I'm not overly offended when others do.

    She isn't a convert herself btw, her parents were converts. I only mention this because my parents converted when I was a very little girl and people used to call me a convert all the time. I clearly wasn't and it did bother me as I had witnessed people being very patronising to my parents over their convert status.
    As a pro life Australian I have always struggled with how American pro lifers can support the death penalty and be anti government help for the poor or universal medical care. I found Simcha rather refreshing in this regard. She makes sense to me.

    Aussie Girl in NZ

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    1. The United States is (or began as) a republic, to a degree that is true of few other nations in the world. Its citizens are expected to be independent of government assistance in order to ensure that they are able to make independent choices about what decisions the government should make. In republican terms, people who depend for their survival on government patronage are clients, not true citizens, because not truly independent. They tend to vote for the person or party that supports them.

      There are a number of arguments to be made against this political philosophy, but it is not without merit.

      Alias Clio

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    2. That is all well and good but as the mother of a very sick child who will need medical care for the rest of his life, I am very glad I live in NZ and not the USA. All my son's medical expenses are paid for by the government until he is 6 as is the case for all children here. Even after 6 a fair amount will be covered. We have a therapist who comes to our house, special equipment provided to us and all his medications (there are many) are paid for. i have never had government assistance and neither has my husband. We have both paid taxes for a long time and now that we need medical care for our son we have no shame in accessing it. And I don't believe we are clients of the state.

      Aussie Girl in NZ

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    3. Well, you don't live in a republic! Comparing the USA to New Zealand or Australia or Canada or the UK (there's a pattern) is like comparing apples to oak trees. People in different countries have different ways at looking at government. The unofficial motto of Canada, for example, is "Peace, order and good government".

      Alias Clio and I are both Canadians. We probably feel the same way you do. I know that I never felt the slightest twinge of guilt for visiting my Canadian doctor "for free." Why would I? It wasn't free--my parents and then I paid for it through taxes.

      I must check and see if it is still true that Americans are way ahead of Canadians (per capita) in voluntary, charitable giving. The problem with "the government/council will sort it out" is that people are less likely to take responsibility for such things as--well, picking up their trash from the beach!

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    4. If you were an American, Aussie Girl, the chances are your child's care would be covered in the United States, either through your workplace insurance, or your husband's, or, if you were very poor, through medicaid. If you were for some reason not eligible for medicaid, all hospitals in the United States are legally obligated to provide care to anyone who shows up and requests it. The trouble with the American 'system', or lack of it, is not that many people are absolutely deprived of medical care, but that theirs is a very inefficient and expensive way of providing it. Incidentally, people most likely to be deprived of good care are those who live in communities that are far from good hospitals and doctors - poor rural MIssissippians (for example), the inhabitants of Indian reservations, and so forth.

      But in any case, your answer did not address my point. Hard cases make poor law and are not especially helpful in determining political principles.

      Alias Clio

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  8. Some groups of readers might have left you, Auntie, but there are still readers from all over the globe that meet in this comment box! :D

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    1. Yes, I'm very glad of that! I wonder what else you all have in common?

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