The Journey of the Curly-Haired Author Over Retard Land
The First Amendment Project is hoping to raise some scratch for free speech via an Ebay auction. Winners get to have their names included in upcoming literary works by Stephen King, Rick Moody, Dorothy Allison, and many more. This sounded like a great idea until we read what the staggeringly pretentious Dave Eggers was offering.
[Via Gawker] The winner will be featured in a strange illustrated story I’m working on called The Journey of the Fishes Overland. The winner, or someone of her/his choosing, will be encountered by the traveling fish in question, as they travel over land. It could also be a family, a house, an address, whatever. I get to decide why the fishes see this person/place, and what’s said by/to or done by/to the person/place. This story will be finished and published in the fall. That name/s have to be tasteful and undisruptive to the narrative. I reserve the right to refuse using a name I find offensive.
Would it be an affront to free speech to bar The Journey of the Fishes Overland from being written? Check out the auction here. Sounds like a cool and creative way to raise money for a great cause.
You a Playa Hata.
Cool and Creative way? Spare me. Everything has to be a contest these days, doesn’t it? Everything has to be “American Idol”. This sort of thing reminds me of those contests set up by middle aged housewives who write poems about their cats.
You want to raise awareness for Free Speech? You want something creative? Something to truly support the cause of free speech? Then write something that is guaranteed to offend EVERYONE. Make them think about what the idea of Free Speech really means.
This is just a soft, “playful” idea which will amount to nothing other than softly petting the ego of whoever it is who wins this stupid thing and will ultimately amount to nothing because it will be safe and soft. Note the last line in the quote you posted. A project that wants to support the cause of free speech that “reserves the right to refuse using a name I find offensive”. Huh?