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notquiteisraeliI never really got into Neil Gaiman as deeply as the people around me in the 2000s. Nearly all of them were huge fans. I didn't dislike his work - I enjoyed Good Omens, and some short stories. His poem "Locks" moved me deeply, as did the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife." But nothing ever really prompted me to go out and read everything he ever wrote. And his short story "Troll Bridge" made me deeply uncomfortable - I realize that characters aren't (always) author avatars, but something in it told me Gaiman was very familiar with being banally amoral. I don't know. His association with Amanda Palmer also put me off. I don't care for her actions. I don't care for a lot of her actions. Still, fine, whatevs. I made one snarky comment about her "social climbing" (it wasn't received at all well) and afterward kept my mouth shut and concentrated on other things.
Fast forward. Yes, I heard the allegations last year. And thanks to my subscription, I read the article in New York.
After reading that article, I really wanted a shower. A long one.
What do you say to all of that? It fits. It fits. It's consistent.
I believe them.
I don't have anything to throw out. I don't have anything to burn. Mostly I'm questioning myself and why I chose the social circles I did, where Neil Gaiman was pretty much a sacred cow. A lot of those people - not all, but a lot - were sketchy and shady, too, in one way or another. Not implying they did anything this heinous, but frankly they weren't nice people - and while I was certainly no saint, most of them dropped me when I was no longer of any kind of use to them. (That may have been the most sketchy thing about them - friendship for them was all about what you could do for them. Either that, or they required certain views that I do not hold.)
My few readers here are longterm friends who obviously don't fit that. My few friends - and I don't have many - don't fit that. I'm down to a slim online circle and a slim meatspace circle, but I like it that way.
I'm not saying you were suspect if you liked Neil Gaiman. Abusers are great at hiding out under a cover of beneficence. Nearly every one of them that I've encountered in real life has - or had - most people convinced of their kindness, their generosity, their sweetness.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Fast forward. Yes, I heard the allegations last year. And thanks to my subscription, I read the article in New York.
After reading that article, I really wanted a shower. A long one.
What do you say to all of that? It fits. It fits. It's consistent.
I believe them.
I don't have anything to throw out. I don't have anything to burn. Mostly I'm questioning myself and why I chose the social circles I did, where Neil Gaiman was pretty much a sacred cow. A lot of those people - not all, but a lot - were sketchy and shady, too, in one way or another. Not implying they did anything this heinous, but frankly they weren't nice people - and while I was certainly no saint, most of them dropped me when I was no longer of any kind of use to them. (That may have been the most sketchy thing about them - friendship for them was all about what you could do for them. Either that, or they required certain views that I do not hold.)
My few readers here are longterm friends who obviously don't fit that. My few friends - and I don't have many - don't fit that. I'm down to a slim online circle and a slim meatspace circle, but I like it that way.
I'm not saying you were suspect if you liked Neil Gaiman. Abusers are great at hiding out under a cover of beneficence. Nearly every one of them that I've encountered in real life has - or had - most people convinced of their kindness, their generosity, their sweetness.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-20 10:25 am (UTC)