Commitment to read Raziel Reid's "When Everything Feels Like the Movies" in defiance of calls to strip its Governor General's Award
190 Comments
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Val Mason
11 years ago
Discrimination creates inequality. Just think only 100 years ago women were finally allowed to vote, just 50 years or so ago blacks were allowed to vote, in Germany during WW2 books not in line with Nazi thinking were burned. Rigid beliefs, inflexible ideas, judgement of others is what has caused all the the wars in this world. It is time it stopped.
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Val Mason
11 years ago
Discrimination in any form brings about hate not love
V
Val Mason
11 years ago
Discrimination in any form brings about hate not love
C
Christine Abrams
11 years ago
People who are scared of books are weak-minded.
C
Chelsie Barnes-Rivera
11 years ago
Young people need real books based in actual reality, not contrived tripe.
C
Chelsie Barnes-Rivera
11 years ago
Young people need real books based in actual reality, not contrived tripe.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
Profoundly disappointing that such a petition is needed.
A
Al
11 years ago
Profoundly disappointing that such a petition is needed.
K
Kevin Hardcastle
11 years ago
A call to strip this book of any and all awards and accolades, that it has won or may win based on the objective literary assessment of the author's peers, is as ridiculous and out-of-time as any previous attempt by would-be journalists and moralists to ban “obscene” content while holding no reasonable claim to any tangible moral authority necessary to even suggest such a measure. As a journalist or columnist, you do not have to agree with, nor fully understand the weight of the text in question, but you must at least engage with it in some comprehensible way before condemning it as unworthy of its standing as valid literature. In Raziel Reid’s case, the reason that this rule isn’t followed is likely due to the fact that the offended parties do not hold themselves to any recognizable standard with regards to reportage or educated criticism, and, as a result, are in no position to make moral or value-based judgments on the valid work of a professional artist who has dedicated their efforts to craft rather than knee-jerk reactions and pseudo-political rhetoric. It is no shock that writers are still suffering the opinions of columnists who do not hold themselves to any professional standard, but suppose to exert their will on artists that go about trying to express their stories in a professional manner. These opinions and prescriptions are as useless and insubstantial as the qualities of the columnists that spout them, and the papers we are left with that print them. As is the right of the columnist and the printer, you can and will be heard. As is the usual outcome between an actual professional and a hackneyed opinion columnist, your words will simply be used as another marker of what is wrong in journalism and criticism, and will not dictate what good writing is, or what provocative writing should mean to the reader.
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Anonymous
11 years ago
Well said, and well done by the CCA for not backing down.
R
Robin Harding
11 years ago
Well said, and well done by the CCA for not backing down.
L
Lee Trentadue
11 years ago
Why would we listen to Barbara Kay?
L
Lee Trentadue
11 years ago
Why would we listen to Barbara Kay?
B
Barbara
11 years ago
This book needs to be widely read.
B
Barbara
11 years ago
This book needs to be widely read.
S
Sasha Gronsdahl
11 years ago
Just finished this book--what a necessary and important piece of work.
S
Sasha Gronsdahl
11 years ago
Just finished this book--what a necessary and important piece of work.
C
Chris Coughlan
11 years ago
children respect honesty and emotional intelligence. Some other people dont
C
Chris Coughlan
11 years ago
children respect honesty and emotional intelligence. Some other people dont
L
Lynn McClory
11 years ago
It's very important to respect Raziel Reid's Governor General award for his novel. Don't let people with unrealistic, sometimes bigoted, opinion reverse good decisions.
Discrimination creates inequality. Just think only 100 years ago women were finally allowed to vote, just 50 years or so ago blacks were allowed to vote, in Germany during WW2 books not in line with Nazi thinking were burned. Rigid beliefs, inflexible ideas, judgement of others is what has caused all the the wars in this world. It is time it stopped.
Discrimination in any form brings about hate not love
Discrimination in any form brings about hate not love
People who are scared of books are weak-minded.
Young people need real books based in actual reality, not contrived tripe.
Young people need real books based in actual reality, not contrived tripe.
Profoundly disappointing that such a petition is needed.
Profoundly disappointing that such a petition is needed.
A call to strip this book of any and all awards and accolades, that it has won or may win based on the objective literary assessment of the author's peers, is as ridiculous and out-of-time as any previous attempt by would-be journalists and moralists to ban “obscene” content while holding no reasonable claim to any tangible moral authority necessary to even suggest such a measure. As a journalist or columnist, you do not have to agree with, nor fully understand the weight of the text in question, but you must at least engage with it in some comprehensible way before condemning it as unworthy of its standing as valid literature. In Raziel Reid’s case, the reason that this rule isn’t followed is likely due to the fact that the offended parties do not hold themselves to any recognizable standard with regards to reportage or educated criticism, and, as a result, are in no position to make moral or value-based judgments on the valid work of a professional artist who has dedicated their efforts to craft rather than knee-jerk reactions and pseudo-political rhetoric. It is no shock that writers are still suffering the opinions of columnists who do not hold themselves to any professional standard, but suppose to exert their will on artists that go about trying to express their stories in a professional manner. These opinions and prescriptions are as useless and insubstantial as the qualities of the columnists that spout them, and the papers we are left with that print them. As is the right of the columnist and the printer, you can and will be heard. As is the usual outcome between an actual professional and a hackneyed opinion columnist, your words will simply be used as another marker of what is wrong in journalism and criticism, and will not dictate what good writing is, or what provocative writing should mean to the reader.
Well said, and well done by the CCA for not backing down.
Well said, and well done by the CCA for not backing down.
Why would we listen to Barbara Kay?
Why would we listen to Barbara Kay?
This book needs to be widely read.
This book needs to be widely read.
Just finished this book--what a necessary and important piece of work.
Just finished this book--what a necessary and important piece of work.
children respect honesty and emotional intelligence. Some other people dont
children respect honesty and emotional intelligence. Some other people dont
It's very important to respect Raziel Reid's Governor General award for his novel. Don't let people with unrealistic, sometimes bigoted, opinion reverse good decisions.