JK Rowling Backlash

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Oh didn't know that about her. Shapes things.

[ProfessorDetective]

I don't see what is issue with this. I guess some people think that public figure like JK Rowling shouldn't be vocal about they opinions that conflict with they opinions.

Rowling can express an opinion.
I am allowed to agree or tell her she is an idiot and everything in between.

It is difficult for some people who liked her books and need to project themselves on to her.
So they tell her to shush so they can keep their bizarre asymmetrical relationship with the author that wrote their favorite wizard books.

As a guy who has been disappointed with Orson Scott Card since I decided to learn any biographical information about him, and Scott Adams since he started dunking his head into a vat of egomania goo... I little sympathy beyond telling the readers, "If you read more books this wouldn't be so world shattering, grow up."

All I'll say is... H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard.

[Deledrius]

All I'll say is... H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard.

The interesting thing about Lovecraft's work is that his youthful xenophobia plays a strong role in the Fear of the Other that permeates so much of his writings that people enjoy. It's different than a lot of other examples where an author has problematic ideas, but which aren't present in the text. Yet his stories are so far removed from any direct bigotry or real-life racism in most cases that it is easy to take them at face value if one is unaware or chooses to ignore the underlying motivations.

OTOH, this was something that changed for Lovecraft as he aged, too.

How much or how little we separate the author from the work is a fascinating question.

[G-Man]

Any fan of the sci-fi genre is either ignorant of or made peace with the notion that great creators often have....odd personal viewpoints. Heinlein ended up looking awfully authoritarian towards the end of his life. Orson Scott Card still can't get on board with gay marriage. As Chuck has noted, John W. Campbell was a giant in the world of sci fi, but also kind of a racist nutjob. The list goes on and on.

Don't project yourself onto creators you enjoy. And don't let the reality of who they are affect how much you enjoy what they write. Keep that author firmly in the grave.

I don't think that not supporting innovations that have only been made in the last 20 years is an "odd" viewpoint. Nor is denying that trans "women" are fully "women." Let's be honest, this is not something that most people thought of 10 years ago.

Apparently not immediately jumping on the SJW zeitgeist is odd. Maybe we really do live in clown world.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I'm not really sure where the alarmism comes in by TERF. Overall I feel like the battle to include transgender women into feminism is symbolic considering nobody is disputing that they have prominent social issues facing them and it's more of a matter of how precisely those add up with women suffrage movements throughout history.

[LittleRaven]

Nor is denying that trans "women" are fully "women."

"Odd" is deeply contextual. Orson Scott Card's view on homosexuality would have been considered absolutely normal 40 years ago. Joseph W Campbell probably wasn't all that much out of step for his time, he just looks sketchy today. Heinlein....well, yeah, he was kinda strange by any metric.

Apparently not immediately jumping on the SJW zeitgeist is odd. Maybe we really do live in clown world.

It's odd on Twitter. But on Twitter, Hillary is President, Corbyn is Prime Minister, and America is the single greatest evil in the world. So....yeah.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Not my president..

[LittleRaven]

All I'll say is... H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard.

Ok, I'll bite. What the hell did Robert Howard do?

[TGLS]

All I'll say is... H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard.

Ok, I'll bite. What the hell did Robert Howard do?

Being about as racist as anyone born in the early 1900s South was?

[LittleRaven]

Being about as racist as anyone born in the early 1900s South was?

Yeah, I mean, Lovecraft kinda stood out as a xenophobe even among his fellows, but Howard?