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

[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!"

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. One good thing came out of reading the comment string--I was reminded the Stargate movie (no, the other Stargate movie) is coming out.

The basic problem I see with all of this is the idea that if someone dislikes one part of something, they are disloyal and must hate it entirely. All of the people attacking hth in the comments are saying "why do vicious people who hate the show even watch it?" (Which--does this remind you of a certain president? Hm? If you disapprove of one small part of my policy you are anti-American!) Um, no. People are allowed to have more nuanced reactions to shows than loving every little piece of it or hating it entirely.

At least a few people are tentatively stepping up for the defense.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. That's a recurrent stupidity trope among fans -- always has been and always will be. If you hate it so much, blah blah blah. As if we weren't driven most round the bend by things and people we actually care about and are invested in. Hell, if I didn't love the holy fuck out of this show, what on Earth would compel me to put myself through this bullshit fifteen weeks out of the year? *g* It's like telling someone, "If your mom makes you this nuts, why don't you just stop calling her?" Because, dude, you're not *gonna.* That's craziness.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I see I have succesfully insulated myself with my selective little f-list on lj. I do not run into this argument...at all, really. I guess I just wonder why he can't except that what he produces is campy fun, not literature. This is why I love people like Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi so much. There's a certain pleasure in loving creators that have no illusions about what they produce.

I also realized that Joe Mallozzi fell victim to the first rule of wank. That is, addressing your response, not to the original poster or to the others discussing it, but to your own blog where your friends (or fans) will all support you. At least he didn't fall victim to the second, which IS USING ALL CAPS AND LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Hee. Poor kid. I mean, honestly, if you were really trying to rebut a five-page essay on why Kindred sucks, why would you think Mallozzi was your go-to guy? He punts every question he gets with a couple of sentences and a snide remark. He is *not* going to be the person who sits down and helps you figure out what the cogent opposing position is.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Oh, I always assumed they don't know it. People are very rarely aware how many of their unsavory issues they're flashing all over the place in public.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

It's such a standard thing in sci fi, I figured they knew but were embracing the cliche. Cause--having your characters go to other planets and tell the locals their culture sucks and their religion is wrong and we know how to do things right! we're Americans! is, well, colonial. Maybe a small part of me was hoping that having all their efforts to impose their culture on Pegasus backfire was a tacit acknowledgment of the problematic subtext...