John Green recently responded to 'criticism' he faced for his books, especially Fault in Our Stars. People found his focus on characters finding self-worth creepy, and his writing generally of a low standard, to which he responded with some honestly rather intelligent points.I find this weird, because I thought tumblr was all about John Green and this feel-good, everyone is ok believing what they want thing, but apparently I was wrong. I'm not John Green's biggest fan, ironically (considering he was attacked on tumblr of all places) his criticism on CrashCourse is very feminist-focused, which I don't really care for. And I find it weird, and really quite enraging, how he has nothing good to say about Aristotle but has nothing bad to say about Thomas Aquinas. Which if you understand anything about Thomas Aquinas will make you step back and bit and think '... wait, eh?' - but I can't hate him. He at least tries to introduce people to good literature, and get them thinking about books on a more complex level than just 'Oh, enjoyed that' or 'Oh, didn't enjoy that'. And his CrashCourse videos are usually good for an engaging GCSE class to introduce them to the topic. I can't not like him, but I can take issue with him - sure. Still, I find the things said about him on tumblr to be ... idiotic, frankly. Here's an article discussing to this: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarrylee/john-green-responded-on-tumblr-to-accusations-of-sexual-abus#.fpvAEwjvW What does everyone think about this? P.S. Other thread names I considered include: Tumblr, the hate group strikes again. Why it's good idiots are not trusted with actual literature or to have actual opinions. Why some people's opinions are worthless. Urrrghhhhhhh, the stupid! It burns!
Male writers on the forum beware - don't write about teenage romances or you're sure to become a paedophile!
I've never read John Green, I only know him because his book became so popular. But it's a shame - he's probably going to retreat from the internet so aloha any helpful advice just because someone doesn't know how to curb their tongue. The internet has become so weird. Frighteningly so. It allows these verbal hit-and-runs without much repercussion or responsibility. I'm all for freedom of speech but where's the responsibility that follows it? And I hate when people throw that term ( child abuser/ peodophile ) around don't they realize every time they do that it lessons the credibility of an actual accusation?!
*shrug* We're running on the same software we used when we were roving bands of 25-ish people, hunting and gathering. I'm amazed we function at all.
Me too, to be honest. It's amazing. Humanity's greatest feat of endurance is surviving it's own stupidity.
While I'm not a huge fan of his writing, I have always loved his Youtube presence. He speaks intelligently, and I love hearing his life stories/opinions on his podcast. From everything I can tell, he's a man of integrity. I seriously doubt any accusations that people would have against him, especially something as severe as pedophilia.
Aside from the ridiculous accusations, I love it when adults talk about how novels in the teen genre are so sub-par, poorly written, etc. Perhaps the problem is that society has been so dumbed down that many adults don't have the reading comprehension to read more advanced genres. Teen books, while they can certainly be fantastic, are meant for teenagers. You want something more complex? Get out of the "teen" section of the bookstore.
Not so convinced the one who made the accusation was an adult - I mean... it was pretty immature. Fault in Our Stars was actually pretty insightful in a number of places. Teenagers may be, in general, fairly limited in thinking from multiple perspectives, esp with finding the middle ground in grey areas, but at the same time, they're actually a pretty thoughtful lot. Personally I think these people who just attack authors are probably just jealous of their success. They're the ones with issues. It's just a pity that the abuse does eventually drive away good people
(a) I'm gonna be keeping an eye on a video made by John Green on their Vlogbrothers site about this. (b) Sadly, this is to be expected with sites like Tumbler. I think the guy's smart enough to know stuff like this and won't give them the time of day. (c) @Lemex - Yeah, his brushing of Aristotle aside with vague excuses of, "Because I don't like him" had me miffed. Dude! Just explain why you don't like the guy!! And yes, I myself am astounded day by day how we survived for this long. (d) I actually liked The Fault in our Stars a whole lot, despite some of the flaws. Much better than Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey by a long shot. At least The Fault in our Stars TRIED to teach the readers something.
I remember Fault in our Stars well. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it was really good for what it was. Thankfully fans of it are much more humble than fans of other recent fads too which I appreciate. I'm much better disposed to him, he clearly cares.
I've only read Fault in our Stars, which I didn't think much of, but obviously that doesn't make it okay to attack the author! But how big of a deal is this? I saw three layers of response on the post cited in the article - is that all this is? A few idiots yipping pointlessly? Or is this an actual movement, a significant group of critics?
It's probably not that big of a deal. Writers get insulted over their work all the time, I think John Green knows that by now.
