Canada and Europe are much more in line with the beliefs and policy goals of social justice warriors than the United States. The slightest pushback against their strict speech codes could cost someone their reputation, their job, or even their freedom through jail time.
Hal Niedzviecki was the editor of the magazine Writers’ Union of Canada. He’s now out of a job after penning an article stating that he doesn’t believe in cultural appropriation, reported The National Post.
“In my opinion, anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities,” Niedzviecki wrote about how other writers should be allowed to put themselves in other people’s shoes for the sake of their art. “I’d go so far as to say there should even be an award for doing so — the Appropriation Prize for best book by an author who writes about people who aren’t even remotely like her or him.”
He said that the fear of culturally appropriating other cultures is keeping literature “exhaustingly white and middle class.”
By Wednesday, the magazine issued an apology for the article and announced that Niedzviecki had left the publication.
“The intention behind the magazine is to offer space for honest and challenging discussion and to be sincerely encouraging to all voices. The Union recognizes that intention is not enough, and that we failed in execution in this instance,” the editors of the magazine stated with no sense of irony at all.
Apparently encouraging all voices means supporting only some voices, those who believe in exactly what you believe. Had an indigenous Canadian or immigrant written a story about the Elizabethan Age in England, no one would have cared.
Niedzviecki also apologized for the article, insisting his only intention was to fight against the dwarfing of creativity in the literary field.
“I regret that my words failed to acknowledge the profound and lasting adverse impact of cultural appropriation on Indigenous peoples. I began the piece glibly, which resulted in some readers misunderstanding my intentions. I understand and accept their point of view,” Niedzviecki wrote in a Facebook post. “I have the utmost respect for the Indigenous writers who contributed to this issue, and did not in anyway mean to diminish or demean their work, the importance of their authentic experiences and voices, or their struggle against racism and colonialism in Canadian society. To anyone who found the piece an inappropriate introduction to the work in the issue, I sincerely apologize.”
The art world is especially victim to social justice warrior activism, and now no writer is ever allowed to dream of a world and people they don’t know because it might offend someone.
