Where I disagree with this is that accusations of tone policing are ALSO a derailing tactic, quite often.
It's also a good sign that the person in question has bought into the notion that in any disagreement or difference, there's a clear "oppressor" and "oppressed". That falls apart in a whole bunch of real-life situations and generally indicates someone with a way too binaristic way of thinking.
I believe that rare, outlier crimes like mass shootings are not all that useful for determining what's wrong with society. Instead, they become a bit of a Rorschach's Blot, in which each of us sees our preconceived ideas of what's wrong.
I believe that rare, outlier crimes like mass shootings are not all that useful for determining what's wrong with society. Instead, they become a bit of a Rorschach's Blot, in which each of us sees our preconceived ideas of what's wrong.
part of me wants to say "the isla vista shooting pales in comparison to the vast amount of domestic abuse that MRAs already support and produce" but the degree to which that's a dick thing to say outweighs the degree to which I care
I'd agree with you, though with the proviso that the killer doesn't actually appear to have been a MRA. Wrong species of asshole. Instead, he appears to have dabbled in the PUA (pick-up artist) scene, a group in mutual hate with MRAs (PUAs think MRAs are losers who can't get laid, MRAs think that PUAs are jerks who don't care about the lot of men so long as they get their dicks wet).
Both groups draw from many of the same underlying issues, though, and could be said to be subsets of a larger group that some have dubbed the "New Misogyny".
I failed my final because a GIRL sitting next to me was wearing a TANK TOP ad i saw her sholders and got distracted all the blood in my brain went to my huge Dong
I'd agree with you, though with the proviso that the killer doesn't actually appear to have been a MRA. Wrong species of asshole. Instead, he appears to have dabbled in the PUA (pick-up artist) scene, a group in mutual hate with MRAs (PUAs think MRAs are losers who can't get laid, MRAs think that PUAs are jerks who don't care about the lot of men so long as they get their dicks wet).
Both groups draw from many of the same underlying issues, though, and could be said to be subsets of a larger group that some have dubbed the "New Misogyny".
Did some research, it's actually the opposite. He was an MRA, and one with a state hatred of PUAs.
He's over-quoted, and a little too, uh... faux-inspirational, I think is the term? Or maybe not "faux," just a wee bit trite. Not necessarily a bad person, but he could be less obvious.
He's over-quoted, and a little too, uh... faux-inspirational, I think is the term? Or maybe not "faux," just a wee bit trite. Not necessarily a bad person, but he could be less obvious.
I know what you mean by "faux-inspirational".
The knocks I've heard against him are perhaps unsurprisingly, mostly feminist issues. Stuff like overuse of women as character development devices, rather than as characters, and such.
He's over-quoted, and a little too, uh... faux-inspirational, I think is the term? Or maybe not "faux," just a wee bit trite. Not necessarily a bad person, but he could be less obvious.
In fairness, we're not in his demographic.
Out of the stuff that gets published for his demographic, he seems like one of the best writers out there. Granted, this probably says more about the YA genre than Green himself, but the point still stands.
He's over-quoted, and a little too, uh... faux-inspirational, I think is the term? Or maybe not "faux," just a wee bit trite. Not necessarily a bad person, but he could be less obvious.
In fairness, we're not in his demographic.
Out of the stuff that gets published for his demographic, he seems like one of the best writers out there. Granted, this probably says more about the YA genre than Green himself, but the point still stands.
It's says a little about both. I've read little of his work, so I can't speak to it personally, but apparently he's at least technically skilled, but that doesn't mean that teenagers don't deserve better,
My little sister tried reading a John Green book and her exact words were "it read like a series of 'inspirational' tumblr posts" and she is in his target demographic.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
Is it bad that I know Sachar mostly from the Wayside School series?
Louis Sachar is pretty exceptional as teen fiction goes... comparing other teen fiction authors to him is setting the bar pretty high
Unless we're talking unrepentant beach reading, the bar should be that high. And with Christopher Moore and Carl Hiaasen in the equation, even beech reading should be held to a higher standard.
He's over-quoted, and a little too, uh... faux-inspirational, I think is the term? Or maybe not "faux," just a wee bit trite. Not necessarily a bad person, but he could be less obvious.
I mean, that's all what's true based on texture, and we all know that Tumblr's all about texture.
To my knowledge it's more a matter of it being very self assured. Unashamed to say the stuff it says. This kind of thing is very, very often mistaken for pretentiousness, and that makes me sad. Disaffection is getting old. I'm happy to see a return to sincerity.
The stuff I've seen hasn't really seemed trite. It seemed like the kind of thing people would CALL trite, but the stuff itself was quite unique, and it really did seem like it came from a genuine place.
Maybe I'm talking out of my ass here but generally speaking I have a good intuition to what my feelings on a particular thing will be.
Positive and negative judgements aren't necessarily equivalent. Also I'm not going to let this intuition go unchallenged; I actually do plan on reading his books.
The stuff I've seen hasn't really seemed trite. It seemed like the kind of thing people would CALL trite, but the stuff itself was quite unique, and it really did seem like it came from a genuine place.
Maybe I'm talking out of my ass here but generally speaking I have a good intuition to what my feelings on a particular thing will be.
Eh, some things will seem better or worse depending on your mood. Apparently John Green is like that, or so my sister says. She reads a lot of YA for kicks, some quite awful and some quite good, and she's actually really astute about it.
He seems like the kind of writer who I could give props to and still not especially like, y'know?
Positive and negative judgements aren't necessarily equivalent.
Yea they are.
In fact, I think in this case negative judgments are more valid. If you're almost certain you're not going to like something, why waste your time?
True.
Arm-flailing negativity about possibly worthwhile things because one thinks that they are not one's thing are unwarranted, but praising something for being something that one might hypothetically like is misleading and hollow.
I have done both, I confess, and I am not too proud of it, although I at least have the good grace to go out of my way to see enough of those things to get a feel, as it were...
Positive and negative judgements aren't necessarily equivalent.
Yea they are.
In fact, I think in this case negative judgments are more valid. If you're almost certain you're not going to like something, why waste your time?
Because it's possible for something you don't enjoy to change the way you think regardless.
I mean I've made no secret of the fact that I detest The Amazing Spider-Man but I'm still really glad I watched it because it gave me an interesting experience and something to talk about.
Positive and negative judgements aren't necessarily equivalent.
Yea they are.
In fact, I think in this case negative judgments are more valid. If you're almost certain you're not going to like something, why waste your time?
Because it's possible for something you don't enjoy to change the way you think regardless.
Possible but exceedingly unlikely.
Your arguments make sense in a world where everyone has an infinite amount of time to do whatever they wish, but we don't live in that world, unfortunately.
^^ I actually sort of liked that movie. The humour was clever and the actors playing Parker and Stacy nailed their roles and had actual chemistry. I just found some of the plot contrivances very... bleh.
It was decent. Fun, even. But riddled with little problems.
Positive and negative judgements aren't necessarily equivalent.
Yea they are.
In fact, I think in this case negative judgments are more valid. If you're almost certain you're not going to like something, why waste your time?
True.
Arm-flailing negativity about possibly worthwhile things because one thinks that they are not one's thing are unwarranted, but praising something for being something that one might hypothetically like is misleading and hollow.
I have done both, I confess, and I am not too proud of it, although I at least have the good grace to go out of my way to see enough of those things to get a feel, as it were...
It's not really that so much as the "criticism" of John Green on Tumblr positively reeks of bullshit. It comes in three varieties:
hurr durr look at this "metaphor" scene gah he's so pretentious
his alleged use of a manic pixie dream girl
something he said on a video made like five years ago as a joke
He seems like the kind of writer who I could give props to and still not especially like, y'know?
Yeah, I feel basically the same way about him.
The best children's authors tend to get into writing for kids because they don't have to bullshit like they do with grown-ups. John Green seems to follow in this tradition, and I can respect that sort of attitude.
He seems like the kind of writer who I could give props to and still not especially like, y'know?
Yeah, I feel basically the same way about him.
The best children's authors tend to get into writing for kids because they don't have to bullshit like they do with grown-ups. John Green seems to follow in this tradition, and I can respect that sort of attitude.
Yeah, I can dig that. But I prefer less sap in my sincerity, even if I can respect that sap and recognise that I, too, am a massive sap at heart.
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That said, I've never read a John Green novel specifically, so I don't know if that really is relevant here.
Also, "Never Gonna Give You Up" is legitimately a pretty good song, so I'm fine with it. I know what you mean by "faux-inspirational".
The knocks I've heard against him are perhaps unsurprisingly, mostly feminist issues. Stuff like overuse of women as character development devices, rather than as characters, and such.
In fact, I think in this case negative judgments are more valid. If you're almost certain you're not going to like something, why waste your time?
Your arguments make sense in a world where everyone has an infinite amount of time to do whatever they wish, but we don't live in that world, unfortunately.