Thought for the Day, 1 July 2009
Vishvapani
Fan fiction, in which devotees rewrite their favourite works as fantasy, romance or porn, flourishes on the Internet. There are innumerable Harry Potter sequels and an entire sub-genre premised on a gay relationship between Spock and Kirk from Star Trek. At the less respectable end is Real Person Fiction, in which fans spin stories about celebrities, and at the far edge is 'horrible fanfic'. That's what Darryn Walker produced in a story that describes the torture and murder of members of the pop group, Girls Aloud. His trial was the first such prosecution of writing on the Internet, and its collapse this week shows the limits of legal sanctions.
Walker claims that his writing is harmless fun and the prosecution collapsed because the text wasn't easily accessible to children. But if there isn't a legal case to answer, there is surely a moral one. I hesitate to proceed. Sometimes, when religious people have entered these debates on freedom of speech they have invoked notions of profanity and blasphemy. But as someone who tries to act ethically for Buddhist reasons, I look to a moral framework that depends neither on divine commandments, nor on assertions about rights. Ethics can also flow from seeing how experience develops for good or ill, and we can think about the morality of writing and images, for example, in terms of their psychological effects.
Our minds are sensitive and impressionable, Buddhist psychology suggests: fluid and constantly changing. We respond to external stimuli according to our habits and tendencies, and these responses shape our experience. Dwelling on a fantasy -- even something as mild as winning the lottery -- encourages the fantasy to grow, and sometimes it can become a compulsion. Some say that violent fantasies are cathartic. But, more likely, indulging them will encourage such thoughts to recur and strengthen. Conversely, encouraging impulses like compassion or generosity strengthens them. Our minds shape our lives, Buddhists believe, and cultivating our minds and acting from the best motivations is a skill leading to a creative and beneficial life.
No doubt, regarding a description of violence as an ironic 'celebrity parody' reduces its impact. And, no doubt, adults are less susceptible than children. But images and stories fuel all our imaginations and they're potent elements, for good or ill, of the continual human activity of making and re-making our minds.