it's like meeting the real Santa. no, wait. I think I'm spelling that wrong.

[hth]

I used to think you had to volunteer to be belittled in Joe Mallozzi's blog, but apparently they're drafting people now.

You know, I really thought about engaging with him (if only to correct the clear misreading of the last quote he puts up there -- I hope it's obvious to all of you that I didn't mean you could ONLY care about people you'd met, only that you were BOUND to do so, while it's often a lot more hit-or-miss with strangers) -- and then I remembered that we're talking about Joe Mallozzi, and that the reason I don't communicate with him *to start with* is that I think he's an asshole who treats the fans foolish enough to play that game like dirt. That hasn't changed, so I can't see where commenting would do me much good.

But I thought I'd let y'all know I was being talked about over there. It's practically like being famous!

Comments

[threnodyjones.livejournal.com]

You know, it's kind of funny because Mallozzi's last response pretty much takes the point you were making in the first quote and seals the deal for your argument.

Talk about just not getting it.

(Though, yes, I could try and give him the benefit of the doubt regarding he was only reading the point 2nd hand, etc. But no, the 4 years of writing just doesn't support that.)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Yeah, part of what dissuaded me from responding is that there's really no *there* there in Mallozzi's rebuttal. It's all either "do not!" or "so what?" So...whatever. It's not like I ever thought his blog was a forum for creative debate. Never was, never will be, isn't even trying to be.

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

*reads*

Personal Translation:

"Hi, I'm an asshole who doesn't realize how interconnected the internet is and I like responding to things out of context!"

Really, they had me until they ran with the "let's threaten the pregnant woman!" plot. Please shoot me.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

I feel the tiniest bit sorry for him, because I can fully imagine that it can't be fun to have people running up to you essentially saying, "What do you have to say to total strangers on the internet who call you an incompetent asshole?" Clearly he's got no idea where my post is coming from; it's totally out-of-the-blue excoriation as far as he's concerned, and it would probably tick anyone off a little.

Of course, that doesn't explain why he's an ass to everyone *else* who wins a cameo in his blog. Also, it doesn't explain why he actually is an incompetent fuckweasel who doesn't know what "colonialism" means. But anyway, I'm just saying, I'd be pissed, too.

[geekturnedvamp.livejournal.com]

Wow. Not that I haven't known this for years, but after reading your post and then his I am struck *yet again* by how much a) smarter and b) better a writer you are than Joe M.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thanks? That's a low fucking bar, but I'm pleased to be clearing it anyhow. *g*

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

Heeee. I was floored when I saw that, in a point-and-squeak, "I know her!" kind of way. And then I wondered who the tool was who used your words to get her own complaints across, rather than ponying up her own. And then I had to laugh at his "Ohmigosh the sun shines out of my ass" typical hissy he threw in response. What a diva. (Who was that who quoted you, anyway?)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, I had that same reaction. I was all like, "ZOMG, THAT IS ME!" The shiny, shiny lure of fake celebrity, man. I dunno who it is, but Rumor Has It he's some dude whose sister reads my lj. I have the vague impression he's kind of young? Anyway, I found it kind of charming that he thought what Big Sister and I were saying was troubling enough that he needed backup to cope with it; most people just dismiss me as a raving lunatic and move on. *g*

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

Don't engage!!! It's fruitless.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

You're so, so right. I have a massive knee-jerk hatred of being misquoted, so it was tempting on that level (there's actually a really fabulous Formative Childhood Story about that that I'll maybe share with fandom someday: Wee Small Hth Vs. The International Press -- *you think I'm joking, but I'm not*) -- but honestly, no. I know that arguing philosophy with Joe freaking Mallozzi is a total sucker's game.

[spike21.livejournal.com]

ack! I don't read him anymore because he is such a total tool, but I'm not surprised to hear that fans have offered your post up to him (either as a sacrificial tribute to his alter or as defense of their own opinions). Even so, you have my sympathies? congratulations? Although I'm keeping a certain amount of emotional distance (and can't go down the Carson road with you) I can't find fault with your thoughts about teyla and the lack of respect/understanding/interest of "native" (oh how I dispise the misuse of that term) Pegasus culture either by the SGA writers or fans or SGA viewers. (I hope this comment makes sense -- what I mean to say is: I think you're right, I wish it were not the case. Joe Malozzi is a tool.)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Even so, you have my sympathies? congratulations?

Yeah, I dunno either. *g*

[zoniduck.livejournal.com]

As I said in my comment on your original post, I'm kinda horrified that someone quoted you without your permission, and shoved it under JM's nose no less. My fingers are itching to leave a comment over there to explain this, but then I figure as you do that it's just not worth it. I still think it's totally unfair that he only saw the excerpts that asshole chose to c&p though.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in a perfect world, it would've been nice to get a URL link instead of the c&p, but. Having quoted other people to get my own point across in the past, I'm just going to say so be it and move on. *g*

You know, the weird thing is, I think it would be cool to be able to sit down and talk about stuff like this with a producer. I wouldn't even be a bitch about it! I'd just like to hear about what led them to some of the decisions they made in this season, and where I think some of those decisions totally undermined the story they claim they want to write. This? Is not that, and will never be that.

[utterfrivolity.livejournal.com]

I hope it's obvious to all of you that I didn't mean you could ONLY care about people you'd met, only that you were BOUND to do so, while it's often a lot more hit-or-miss with strangers

This is not the first time that I've thought that Joe Mallozzi's blog would be good logical flaw spotting practice for LSAT students. I mean, it's the exact setup of a number of the Logical Reasoning questions: Person A makes an argument, Person B responds with "Clearly you're wrong because...", and the test taker has to identify the way in which Person B is making a total ass of himself. It's deeply amusing to me as a test prep provider to see people demonstrating classic LSAT flaws in real life.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the other segments were kind of par for the course -- I mean, if I say "your characters have colonialist attitudes," obviously you're going to say "I swear they really don't!" and if I say the Evian pisses me off, obviously you're going to say, "You are TOTALLY blowing Evian out of all proportion!" I mean, no surprises there. But that last bit was like -- fuck being a professional writer, *read much?* God almighty, learn to parse a sentence, please. I'm begging you.

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

Um, who is he? A director? One of those gung ho guys I hear doing the commentaries?

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

He's a producer. He has a hateful little blog where he answers "viewer mail" questions, 9 times out of 10 by mocking the person who sent him mail and their stupid little concerns. He also often posts snippets of script that never aired and pictures of the cast being hella fucking cute, so sometimes otherwise reasonable people wade over there and bring us back reports of what utter bullshit he's said lately. *g*

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

What silly responses that totally miss the point. In a way, i think, that can just stand on its own. If he and his minions don't get it, I'm not sure explaining would help. Just too bad that there isn't an ounce of self criticism to be found.

I mean...a brief, yeah, you're totally right. They wouldn't use their resources for plastic lunches. It was easy and convenient for us and we didn't think...But then it takes guts to own up to shit...

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean...part of me wants to swing into Action!Educator mode and treat this as a teachable moment, but honestly, if you think Mallozzi's "nu-uh!" is a compelling rebuttal to charges of imperialist subtext and rotten world-building, then what's to say, really?

Way to may your point for you.

[copracat]

Oh MY GOD you made me read Mallozzi's blog! I'd blame you but clearly it's his fault writing a blog in the first place.

Mallozzi, do you truly think that your entire audience is fooled into thinking that you don't use craft services to outfit the mess, with the little sandwiches sealed in plastic triangles and the bottled fucking EVIAN, you stupid man?

Yes, it's so damn comfortable Sheppard's bed is too short for him. You can ship thousands of litres of over-packaged teeny bottles of water from galaxy to galaxy, month after month, but a few one-off adult size Ikea flatpacks are completely out of the question. Jesus H Christ. I guess you're where a whole bunch of the stupid in the show comes from.

Do you really think you should use words you don't understand? Words like "reasoning"?

Re: Way to may your point for you.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the funny part is that just that afternoon for some unknown reason, Mary and I were chirping in our gleeful, vengeance-demon way at work about what a fucking dick Mallozzi never fails to be. We were just kicking it back and forth: "He's a dick!" "Utter dick!" "That's what I'm gonna call him now. Dick." "Dick Mallozzi!" "Instead of his real name -- what's his name, James?" "Joe. He's the anti-Joe." "Heh, yeah. And also, you know what else he is?" "A dick?" "A DICK!" (Yes, this his how we amuse ourselves at work. *g*) One of our amused coworkers chimed in to say, "So, uh...I'm getting a sense that whoever this guy is, you kind of think he's a dick."

So it was pretty funny to come home that same night and discover this. *g* Really, this is the best live show in the house since the time Mary got called out on Lee Goldberg's blog!

[copracat]

I can't believed he likened the Athosians to "a village in Borneo".

Actually, I can.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

You KNOW you can.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Wow. Mailbag means "stuff I have trawled from random websites and am going to attack out of context"? I never knew that. If the writers don't think their show is full of creepy American colonial overtones...I just don't know how to respond to that obliviousness.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

No, it was actually posted in a comment to his blog, he didn't go out looking for it.

The poster, markus, said that he was arguing with his sister, who pointed him to hth. He was struck wordless by the force of hth's prose, basically, and went running to JM saying, "but! but! tell her she's wrong!" IOW, "Dad! Dad! Sister's picking on me! And she's a *girl*, girls aren't allowed to win arguments! Beat her up!"

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

WTF??

Okay, I lurk here and don't comment much, but this just floored me. First off, I almost never post episode reactions these days, because I just wait to read yours, which usually echo my own feelings, but express them much more eloquently. And though you may occasionally rant about the more ridiculous plotlines/moments/aspects, my impression is you, like me, still enjoy watching this show. Dude, it's an entertaining SF show - how many episodes of Star Trek: Choose Your Incarnation did fandom respond to similarly, yet fandom still loved to watch??

Which makes it all the more baffling to me that someone would go to the bother of snipping excerpts and posting them to Mallozzi's blog. I say again, WTF? And where does this person get off? Dude, come up with your own statements, have some fucking balls. "Marko", whoever you are, have a thought of your own, why don't you?

Which brings me to taking things completely out of context - how can Joe know what you meant when Marko is only quoting specific bits, some of them edited specific bits. Reading your post, I clearly understood what you meant about the Athosians and John and Rodney would have known some of them, and thus ought to have cared a lot more than we were shown about the Athosians' disappearance. Somehow, Joe interpreted that to mean you were saying John and Rodney couldn't care about people they'd never met...um, no, sorry there Joe. I actually feel kind of bad for Joe. He sort of got hit upside the head with these incorrectly presented statements, and has responded to what he (incorrectly) perceives them to have meant in a public forum. Great job again, there Marko!

And finally, we of online journaling, especially in fandom, often use our journals to vent our emotions, whether they be high or low, about our favorite things/shows/whatever. Sure, it's public and anyone on the internets can read and comment if they like. But still, it seems extremely invasive to me for someone to do this. If they wanted to point Joe to your entry (ie linking the entire thing) that would be far different than arbitrarily choosing bits and flinging them at Joe out of context. Especially since this person clearly wanted some sort of validation from Joe that they were 'right' and you (and Marko's poor sister, whoever she may be) were 'wrong'. These are opinions, Marko. We all have them, and no two are exactly alike. Get used to it!

If this had happened to me, I'd be royally pissed at the anonymous "Marko". Hell, I am and it didn't happen to me!

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Heh. Simmer down, now! *g*

I'm not really pissed about any of it, except maybe that last bit where Mallozzi does a half-assed job of making it sound like I don't believe in human compassion -- rotten logic just on the face of it, and honestly kind of hilarious if you actually read the post and were aware that my whole rant was about the lack of basic human compassion the lead characters show toward the Athosians.

Hey, frankly, if Marko wants to drop me a comment and ask *me* why I would say such things about SGA, I'd be glad to tell him. I'd even be on my best behavior -- I'd be like Lewis Black at the Kennedy Center, a thirty "fuck" maxiumum! I *can* engage in constructive debate and criticism...I just wasn't really aiming at it in that particular post. *g* If it had occurred to me I'd really be on the hook for educating the masses, I'd have done a better job of it, I think!

Actually, the whole thing has given me some insight into one of the basic disconnects that I think is happening: when I talk about "colonialism" and "imperialism," I'm not saying that you can't have *affection* toward people beneath you in the power structure, that you can't worry about them and feel obliged to protect them. In fact, I'd argue that's part and parcel of a colonialist attitude -- that urge to be their Great White Saviors. And I'm not sure everyone gets that; I think for some people, "But John saves the natives all the time!" really is an argument that he's *not* a paternalistic colonizer -- it's really proof of his decency, which of course protects him from all criticism, ever. When in reality, OBVIOUSLY, "But I only want the very best for them!" is excactly how imperialists justify everything they do in colonized territory.

Food for thought, you know? If I ever have a chat with Marko, I might lead off with something along those lines.

[vain-glorious.livejournal.com]

Hey,

I don't think I've ever dropped you a line, but I lurk in your journal constantly waiting for more Ronon thoughts or fic.

I'm not sure I agree entirely with your text that some weirdo dropped on Mallozzi's blog, but I totally do with your assessment that the whole purpose of his interaction with fans is to repeatedly assert how cool/smart/superior he is.

I'd much rather read your reactions to episodes than his.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And honestly, I don't think Marko chose necessarily the best excerpts to illustrate my points -- intentionally or not. *g* Obviously bottled water and video games aren't *in and of themselves* a huge problem for me...except in that they feel like a lazy way to duck out of world-building. Atlantis-As-A-Fucking-Dorm was one snarky way I framed a larger argument about the problems of having a science fiction show that has, over the years, increasingly backed away from using its own setting by making Atlantis interchangeable with any present-day Earth setting, so that the only *science fiction* elements are Space Monsters and space ships to blow them up with. I'm reminded of a buddy of mine who served in the Marines, and who complained that he would be stationed in these cool places like Japan, and he couldn't get anyone to *leave the military base* with him to just look around at the place, to be able to say they'd seen some of Japan. Most of the guys he knew preferred to stay inside their zone, lit and fig, where everyone spoke English and had the same cultural frame of reference and nothing made them feel challenged in any way. So in that sense, I suppose SGA is an accurate depiction of how people often behave in that kind of setting, but I do resent it as a science fiction fan.

Anyway, my point is, there's no way Mallozzi could have known I was talking about all of that, just from those particular quotes! Let alone responded to any of it, even if he'd wanted to (not that I think he did want to). So, anyway. I'm sorry that those particular pieces of text were asked to stand in for some larger, semi-complicated things that I had to say, because I just don't think they were strong enough sentences to bear as much weight as they were asked to bear.

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Hey, I swung by here looking for your take on Atlantis (or your take on Ronon) and found the pile of poo that is Mallozi's take on some of your ideas about Atlantis and him.

Wow. I guess that seals it, he really wouldn't recognize colonialism if he were creating shows 'extolling' it week after week.

O.O

Wow.

Anyway, I friended you as I dig your thoughts on sga and other stuff.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I always figured they weren't aware of any of the show's political subtext. Does that make it better or worse? No idea.

Thanks for the friending!

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

Just so I don't have to spend any more time on that man's blog than absolutely necessary...what, specifically am I looking for?

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

This is what I did because I didn't want to read anything more than necessary over there: ctl + find "colonialism" - jumped right to the page where hth's quoted by Markos.

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. He is a jackass. I know I'm stating the obvious, but just wanted to let you know that this fan feels your pain and frustration over here.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Eh -- there's a certain amount of frustration, but really no pain. I find Mallozzi in general too pathetic to get very worked up over, and I'd frankly rather have my supporters than his any old day of the week! So in the grand scheme of things, I totally win.

[sherrold.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm a baby, and want things handed directly to me. But still, can someone give me a link to where he's talking about you? I just made the mistake of reading days of his blog, and, well, ick! Life is too short for that much pomposity.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

His blog was set up so that I couldn't figure out how to link to a particular entry -- possibly because I'm a technological idiot, defintitely because I didn't want to hang around long enough to work it out. *g* It happened the same day I posted this, so if you go back to March 5th, that should be the spot; the excerpts from my lj are at the very end of that day's post.

what the hey?

[kirinin.livejournal.com]

I left a (hopefully) polite request that he read the whole post in question. I dislike it when people complain and then say "but I'm not going to bring it up to him, as he's such an a$$hole anyway, and he won't listen to me, so I'll sit here and whine."

So.

-K

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Is it this post?

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/march-5-2008-congratulations-all-around/

I still can't figure out what he said that misquoted/took your words out of context.

*headscratch*