Crime and Punishment

In the Policing of Language How Much We Lose

I have started reading Dostoevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment’.  As I wander through the pages, I feel an observer, not a reader, to profound human experiences.  His artful manipulation of words is a feast of language not often experienced.  I am reminded why classics become… classics in their ability to be simple and complex at the same time.  Despite the 158 years between writing and my reading it’s story and themes are familiar, the depth and complexity of wording makes him a true wordsmith.  The shaping and ebb and flow only accomplished by a master.  My brain, my soul, feel sated.  Sometimes I have to put the book down, so drawn am I into the story, the characters ramblings feeling personal- not something distant on a page.

I reflect on this as I see how words have become politicised by our political and educational establishments.  Words are to be feared.  Wrong words, right words, turn the wrong way with your language and you may be accused of racism, homophobia, hate crimes.  I have seen Scottish High School handbooks stating that should a hate crime be committed the offending individual is to be reported immediately to the police.  (let that sink in, a child is to be reported to the police for saying the wrong words)

“To read too many books is harmful” Mao Zedong

And who decides what is deemed a hate crime?  On this Scottish government leaves it to the subjective views of those present.  Just the other day I heard a student was berated for referring to ‘black beans’.  BLACK beans.  Because, now, ‘black’ is an offensive word. I have heard a senior member of staff calling a junior member of staff ‘buddy’ and the junior calling him racist.  Except the senior staff member of staff calls his own son ‘buddy’, is he racist to his boy as well?  And for this they could go to the police.

In the current landscape language is not something to be carved, shaped and understood for higher understanding as in the case of Dostoevsky’s great works, but something to be feared and policed.  And this fear stunts ourselves and our children from being able to grow.  It makes us stupid.  It stops us from communicating as we limit our vocabulary via socially constructed othering.  In the case of education this denies our children the real power to understand the beauty and power of language.  And where will this leave us…..

“The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence.” 

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Some of my earliest memories are of going to the local library in Philadelphia. I would immerse myself in the shelves, bringing home bagfuls of books. Despite having severe dyslexia I was captured by the culture of reading. I would listen rapt at story time and repeat back on the exact right pages what I had heard. Because of this it took a while to figure out I was not actually reading. Luckily my parents were able to get me support early and within no time at all I was flying away into the infinite worlds of books.

I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without having been exposed to those worlds via literature. Recently I came across my booklist from my Junior year of High School (S5, 15/16 years old) in a repurposed file folder.

Books I read in my 3rd year of High School (S5, 11th Grade, Junior Year). The messy writing is my teacher adding the titles. I think I had to write something on them. I don’t remember that part but I remember the books.

Seeing this list again was like viewing a menu of a delicious meal shared years before. I can still remember the thrill of reading all those books. A veritable feast. Sometimes I get concerned the books we are giving to kids lack that ‘nutrition’. I wonder if what we are giving to them will feed them in the way this book list still does 35 years on. And propels me to find more.

Recently I got into conversation with an individual who (as it turns out because she was sure to tell me) identifies as a man, although is female. I was waiting for my son to come out of his extra curricular activities and she was sitting on the bench I was waiting at the venue. And I forget how we came about it, but she was very concerned that there wasn’t proper ‘representation’ in books for kids. She was genuinely concerned about this. Somehow she got into her head that identity was the most important and defining feature in a book, without this ‘representation’ as she called it, kids (like her) would be lost. Now this person was young (late 20s) and childless, she could be forgiven having been fed this lie and not living the consequences. She said this with the best (if with selfish motives) will in the world.

This is a common theme in education. And, if I am to be honest, a very boring one. Reading through books like Crime and Punishment what becomes obvious is their universality of the human condition. I see myself in those books, though I have never been to Russia, committed any crime, and live 150+ years on. That is what makes them masterful. By bowing to the lowest common denominator, we deny ourselves the opportunity to be pulled into a story that is greater then our skin tone, our identity, our religion or geography and discover something infinite.

And to me that is indeed a crime. I hope we can do better.

Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting my work. You can ‘buy me a coffee’ here. Or become a paid subscriber for as little as £3.50 per month, £25 for the year, or £250 for a founding membership. Every penny makes a difference and allows me to keep speaking out about the failure in safeguarding for our children in schools and cultural institutions. We need to recognise, preserve and celebrate childhood. No one else is doing this in the arts in Scotland. And know that I will not be silenced. We must all live in truth. Thank you.