I woke up today with two thoughts on my mind. The first was ChatGPT.
I thought it would be interesting to talk about the impact of the AI platform on entertainment now that Hollywood has decided to embrace the technology as a viable screenwriting tool.
But then I came across several fascinating debates about Shazam: Fury of the Gods and Quantamania and what their abysmal performance at the box office revealed about the future of comic book movies. But I don’t plan on dissecting that issue today because Jason Kehe’s article has unleashed all kinds of hell in the online fantasy fiction circles I frequent.
Who is Jason Kehe? I don’t know. He gained notoriety a few days ago after writing a piece against Brandon Sanderson for wired.com. In the article, Jason doesn’t understand why a writer as “mediocre” as Sanderson made $55m in 2022.
Jason Kehe read 17 of Sanderson’s novels and ultimately found the author lacking. Surely, you can’t hold the journalist’s subjective tastes against him, can you?
So, why are people losing their minds over the wired.com article? Because Jason used terms like ‘Depressingly lame’ to describe Sanderson.
Jason went from critiquing Sanderson’s writing to attacking the person behind the books and, in so doing, crossed a line. The consensus is that Jason’s article is mean-spirited and distasteful. Readers that can’t stand Sanderson’s books continue to speak up in his defense.
They think it was wrong of Jason to mention comments from Sanderson’s wife, who suggested that Sanderson doesn’t feel pain or emotions in general, which is why he can sit on a couch writing for eight hours a day without falling prey to back pain.
This was after Sanderson showed he was uncomfortable discussing the subject. Interestingly, Sanderson wrote a Reddit post encouraging his fans to leave Jason Kehe alone. Although, he admitted that the journalist’s article hurt.
The backlash against the article is fascinating. If you think about it, most people don’t care that Jason hates Sanderson’s writing. They have primarily taken offense with the journalist’s decision to attack Sanderson as a person.
This is why online conversations are so toxic. People can’t criticize art without ridiculing the artist. You see this in debates about popular shows and movies. For many hardcore Marvel fans, it is not enough to denounce Thor: Love and Thunder as a bad film.
They need to tell you why Taika Waititi (the director) is the scum of the earth. In fact, they won’t hesitate to send that vitriol to Taika online.
The same thing happens when people disagree in a YouTube comment section. Do you remember the last time you expressed an opinion that went against the grain? It was not enough for your detractors to tell you why you were wrong.
Every response began with a personal insult that questioned everything from your intelligence to your appearance. And personal insults ignite righteous anger.
Sanderson’s biggest fans know Sanderson’s prose is lacking. They would not have taken offense to Jason’s comments if he had not insulted the author, his faith, and the people that follow him.
We expect this conversation to die down in the next few days, but it is discouraging to think that a major publication like Wired would release such an inflammatory article. It does not bode well for the future of online discourse.
mbjjnr8@gmail.com
Source: The Observer
Share this content: