Booth sets out to place the author of more
“impersonal” works at blame for their bad influence on weak minds. If they are to blame, what is the name of
that blame? Negligence?
Before I attempt to answer that question for myself, let me ask another that is
a similar debate only in that “authorship”, for one side of the argument, bears
the stain of blame.
Is it a woman’s fault if she is sexually assaulted when she wears revealing
and/or suggestive clothing?
For some, it is a hard question to answer.
However, when I ask myself this question, I’m tempted to flinch at the
coldheartedness of an answer alternative to my own. I say no.
I say it is the perpetrator who is entirely to blame, because although
the aforementioned woman may dress sexily, she has not invited her attacker to
perform sexual acts upon her. Just as
it is not an author’s fault when a member of his/her audience takes the
presentation of an idea as an invitation to act.
The morality of writing well is an entirely different matter altogether,
addressed as this idea (discussed above) of writing morally is dropped.
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