The Real K.L.T.

When people talk about all art being political (hard agree) they always talk about the content, themes, etc present within the art itself. Which obviously I get and obviously is a huge part of it. Of course. But I’m personally always struck by the politics surrounding the more metatextual elements of the art; that is, stuff like access to the tools needed for the creation of the art. I mean the literal materials of which an artpiece is made. This is a low-hanging-fruit example but I’m reminded of that Disney adult who tried to claim art isn’t inherently political by being like “I just drew a stick figure on a napkin, is that political? 🤣🤣” & while I think there are multiple different angles from which one could criticize this blatantly pathetic argument, I remember being really struck by like… the flagrant “waste” of implicitly throwaway resources that many parts of the world just literally don’t have and/or that carry with them deeply fraught histories of capitalist labor exploitation and destruction of natural resources. Like. Napkins?? The apolitical canvas that is paper napkins?

can i say i dont give a fuck if anyone is 'performative reading' bc like at least they are reading at all. people are reading less and less so idrc if someone is reading to cultivate a certain image or whatever the fuck performative reading means

roald dahl was also racist. seuss was ALSO also racist. and these people are dead and we aren’t supporting them by consuming their work but their CHILDRENS BOOKS reflect this. so consume consciously and don’t give racist books to kids and not read it critically with them (and if you don’t it better be bc you know they’ll be able to do it on their own)

This is true. My roommate's ex-girlfriend's cousin was allowed to read Dr. Seuss without talking to his parents about it critically and now he's in the Aryan Brotherhood. He's in a maximum security prison giving other inmates pencil-lead tattoos of Horton and Fox in Socks.

I actually don't think you should only read stories you relate to or only write about identity groups you're part of and I think acting like this is the "correct" way to go about fiction diminishes our compassion and understanding and curiosity and I do think this needs to become a less controversial opinion. 🧘‍♀️