can you deal with incest in fanfic?
Jan. 12th, 2004 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
percivalIf you are a mature adult, yes, possibly. But if you are a child or a teenager? Will you know that it is not a good idea to have sexual relationships with your sibling? Or will repeated exposure to the idea and fantasising about the idea somehow start to make incest acceptable to you after a while?
Just a Buddhist thought:
In Buddhism, we try to be compassionate and loving in our hearts. That means that we neither dwell upon violence nor enjoy it. One of the key insights in Buddhist spirituality is that who you are and how you act is closely related to what you think. As a consequence, we need to work on our mind, our thinking. We need to make sure that our thoughts are compassionate, loving, free of clinging desire.
So, from a Buddhist perspective, actively seeking out incest fics because you get a thrill out of the dark, forbidden relationship is clearly wrong because you are indulging a desire to see people harm each other. You invite these fantasies into your mind and nourish them.
How would a Buddhist regard people who read incest fic? Well, non-judgmentally, with compassion and understanding. If they decide they need to pollute their minds, they will have a reason for doing it.
For the record, I myself continuosly pollute my mind with thoughts of anger, self hate, sarcasm, hate of others, petty jealousy. But seeing that I want to be a good Buddhist, I will need to work on that. Sigh. Revelling in anger can be such fun sometimes, just as revelling in fantasies of incest or rape can be fun for people who read those fics. But ultimately, it's nae good for you, says Uncle Gautama. And Uncle Gautama is usually not far off the mark, if you know what I mean.
Just a Buddhist thought:
In Buddhism, we try to be compassionate and loving in our hearts. That means that we neither dwell upon violence nor enjoy it. One of the key insights in Buddhist spirituality is that who you are and how you act is closely related to what you think. As a consequence, we need to work on our mind, our thinking. We need to make sure that our thoughts are compassionate, loving, free of clinging desire.
So, from a Buddhist perspective, actively seeking out incest fics because you get a thrill out of the dark, forbidden relationship is clearly wrong because you are indulging a desire to see people harm each other. You invite these fantasies into your mind and nourish them.
How would a Buddhist regard people who read incest fic? Well, non-judgmentally, with compassion and understanding. If they decide they need to pollute their minds, they will have a reason for doing it.
For the record, I myself continuosly pollute my mind with thoughts of anger, self hate, sarcasm, hate of others, petty jealousy. But seeing that I want to be a good Buddhist, I will need to work on that. Sigh. Revelling in anger can be such fun sometimes, just as revelling in fantasies of incest or rape can be fun for people who read those fics. But ultimately, it's nae good for you, says Uncle Gautama. And Uncle Gautama is usually not far off the mark, if you know what I mean.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-14 06:00 am (UTC)Of course, this probably doesn't work if one is a hardcore atheist, so I don't know what keeps them from being depraved (really, I don't; it's something else I can't wrap my mind around yet).
Dude, you should try it from the other side. I look round the world and I see it full of theists who are presumably only held back from indulging in transcontinental killing sprees by their fragile belief in some force that, from my point of view, is entirely imaginary. It's like the world is full of kids who are only behaving themselves because if they don't Santa won't come at Christmas. It's a wonder I ever dare leave my house.
(Um. That was exaggeration for effect. Just checking everyone noticed that. Yes? Good.)
I'd comment on the fic thing, but I've got some underage!hooker!Justin RPS to write...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-14 06:09 am (UTC)But that doesn't address your main point. As reading Immanuel Kant and related philosophical ethics has taught me, you don't need to believe in God or follow a spiritual teacher to have morals or ethics. In fact, some of the greatest humanists are either atheists or agnostics, and quite a few Buddhists and Taoists would class themselves as atheists, too.
(on the fic thing: do me a favour and read through the comments I've made in replies to this entry ;) You'll see that I'm not against violence etc. in literature per se, but that I dislike the glorification of violence, rape, or incest.)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-14 09:01 am (UTC)Well, there are also theists who are held back because, inspired by the fact that they are loved by God, they genuinely love their fellow human beings. :)
It's the same principle, though.
(on the fic thing: do me a favour and read through the comments I've made in replies to this entry ;)
I did read them. And I was, for once in my life, actually being fairly serious, albeit rather flippantly phrased. No one's opinions ever get changed in these kinds of threads. I understand your position, I'm sure you'd understand mine. So my getting back to underage!hooker!Justin is a far more productive use of everyone's time.