Imagination Police

A controversy has erupted over whether a white woman can, or should, write a story about a family from Mexico. This is being labeled as "cultural appropriation".

The general complaint goes that a person from one culture cannot realistically write about another culture.

This is, I believe, another version of "write what you know".

To which I reply, if we could only write about what we know, including our culture, there would be no Carrie, written by Stephen King, a middle aged man, about a teenaged girl with telekinetic powers. No one that we know is telekinetic, but King wrote about it anyway. He had no teen girl experience at all because he is a man. Therefore, should he be shamed for having appropriated a gender and a fantastical power?

What about Jules Verne? He wrote about crazy stuff like submarines, hot air balloons traveling the world, and journeys into the Earth's core -- all before the 1900s. He could not possibly have known about these events, nor could anyone else in his time. Therefore, should he be shamed for writing fantastical, futuristic science stories when clearly he had not lived in those times yet?

Then there is J. R. R. Tolkien. He was never an elf, orc, or hobbit but he wrote about them with confidence. Fortunately for him, there are no living Elf communities to take him to task for writing about them when he never was one.

I understand the discomfort of having someone not like me -- a man, for example -- write a story about someone like me -- a woman. Sometimes men do a terrible job of this, and it shows.

But then we have the novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, a beautiful story about a young woman in WWII Japan. The life of a geisha is depicted accurately -- at least to me, an American woman with an interest in history. Imagine my surprise to discover that it was written by an American, who lived in New York City, far from Japan, and who was a man. Is it less of a story for this? Not at all. If anything it shows what an accomplished author he is.

All my examples have been of male authors. Is this current fad of cultural shaming directed more at female authors?

But of course, my argument applies to almost every female author, as well. If they only wrote what they know, we would not have J. K. Rowling's tales about a boy wizard because Ms.

Rowling has never been a boy, nor a wizard. We would not have Georgette Heyer's delightful Edwardian era romances because Ms. Heyer did not live back then, and therefore cannot know it.

In fact, every single piece of historical fiction could be challenged and their authors shamed for writing about something they themselves never actually experienced: Louis Lamore,

Dorothy Dunnett, Taylor Caldwell, James Clavell, Lindsay Faye.

This is control of the most egregious sort: thou shalt only write what thou knowest, or thou wilt be shamed for having written. How dare thee!

Writing a novel, even a short story, takes a huge amount of effort. A good novel involves hours and hours of research that no one else ever sees. If the research and writing skills are strong enough, an author can write a very good novel.

But that's not all, is it? To write a work of fiction takes imagination.

Imagination is what makes Tolkein and Rowling so stunning. How did they imagine all that and still function in the real world? Our brains are on display for our imaginative powers whenever a novel is written. Every single novel, and there must be billions in the world by now, is a person using their imagination.

To those who decry the novel written by a white woman about a family from Mexico, I say: she used her imagination. Are you going to make her effort illegal because she is not herself from Mexico? Are you going to make novels written by Mexicans illegal if they are about other cultures than their own?

We already know that we can barely control human speech. Imagine trying to control human imagination!

It would be impossible -- and also, humans being thinking, rebellious creatures that we are, more people would use their imaginations. Teens would riot in the streets and movie moguls would testify to Congress, demanding that they be allowed to produce whatever fantastical stories they choose.

To this fad of cultural appropriation shaming, I say: Shame on you, you shamers. Unless you are prepared to develop and implement the Imagination Police, be quiet and enjoy reading a good book.

Better yet, write one of your own. Your imagination -- and the rest of us -- will thank you for it.