John Green bashing - valid or not?

[stickygirl]

You don't have to be familiar with the author John Green beyond knowing he is a hugely popular author of books aimed at teenagers - and girls in particular. He has always encouraged a fandom and uses the internet to keep in touch with them via Tumblr etc.
Accusations are now flying that, because he is a 37 yr old man, he should not be associating with teen girls, therefore he is a creep, therefore he is a paedophile, therefore... you get the drift.
By way of contrast, JK Rowling has written one or two books aimed at teens. She doesn't perhaps engage in the same way with her fandom - her reported tweets are usually in reply to Scots, angry that she doesn't support the SNP.
Until I read reports of defamatory posts it never occurred to me that he was being creepy, but now the question is there. If some girls do feel creeped by his writing and online interaction ( and I can understand how they could ) then has he crossed the line?

 

[MagicaPractica]

You don't have to be familiar with the author John Green beyond knowing he is a hugely popular author of books aimed at teenagers - and girls in particular. He has always encouraged a fandom and uses the internet to keep in touch with them via Tumblr etc.
Accusations are now flying that, because he is a 37 yr old man, he should not be associating with teen girls, therefore he is a creep, therefore he is a paedophile, therefore... you get the drift.
By way of contrast, JK Rowling has written one or two books aimed at teens. She doesn't perhaps engage in the same way with her fandom - her reported tweets are usually in reply to Scots, angry that she doesn't support the SNP.
Until I read reports of defamatory posts it never occurred to me that he was being creepy, but now the question is there. If some girls do feel creeped by his writing and online interaction ( and I can understand how they could ) then has he crossed the line?

l

I'm not a fan of his writing but it's been years since I've read any and reports indicate he has gotten better. I think ha has responded well to the accusations which don't seem to have much of a basis beyond trolling.

 

[lovecraft68]

Unless someone can prove there is 'interacting' with his fans that goes beyond social media or any type of event that supports his boos or find any inappropriate comments by him then I don't see an issue with him dealing with his fan base.

He is aiming stories at teenage girls so in one sense he is smart for engaging with them, they are his target audience, he is getting a first hand look at their likes/dislikes and behavior.

Also these are his fans, I think being aloof and alienating his fans would be in poor taste in a way.

Hilarious people worry about this guy, but no one ever says anything about rappers and rock stars who routinely fuck barely legals(and I am sure some not even legal) after their concerts, that's okay.

And Woody Allen of course, I mean he's a legend even though he's a diddler, right?

And it's too bad people weren't this worried about this sack of shit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case

If Green wrote something that the publishing world thought had "substance" if he was not seen as poor man's Meyers writing teen schlock, there would be no issue with what he is doing, none at all

Lemmings become enamored with hype and talent, Allen, POlanski...Hmmm wasn't a woman actually raped during the filming of the Andy Warhol movie? But, hey Andy had talent! He was cool and trendy

Another prime example of sheeple at their finest, witch hunting where there is nothing and ignoring what's in front of them.

One note about Warhol...hated the prick, but kudos, the guy was talent less and made a fortune convincing rich assholes that painting a soup can was art.

 

[glynndah]

Is he using Tumblr and other social media any differently, albeit in a very public manner, than an author {or more likely, a publicist and/or secretary} would have responded to fan mail from an earlier era? Is it just that "concerned" others can see each and every response and are looking to "cry wolf" at the merest suspicion of wrongdoing or is it simply the equivalent of scrawling "You go, girl!" on the bottom of an 8x10 glossy?

 

[stickygirl]

From what I've been seeing on Tumblr and few media news columns, the issue seems to hang on the validity of the emotional reactions of some teen girls, who feel Green is creepy ( because he writes teen-orientated novels ). I haven't seen any commentary that points out that 'Yes - your feelings are valid to you.. but making the leap to other conclusions is mistaken and mischief-making'.

Green himself then wrote a rather flouncy "If that's how it is I'm Leaving"

He's in dangerous territory and needs to tread very carefully or else he'll have Plod the Policeman carrying away everything digital from his house. As it is, no one has levelled anything other than nasty accusations so far, but in the UK we are in the midst of huge enquiries looking at pedo cases amongst politicians, the judiciary as well as show biz. Leaving stones unturned and patting kids on the head when they made accusations has been a long been accepted practice.

One ranty comment I read about his creepiness was doing OK, until she said that 'Green shouldn't be in accepted teen-girl spaces': Tumblr; the Internet - at which point I lost patience.

 

[FantasyXY]

If he changed his name to Jane Green, would the posts and tweets still be creepy? From what I have seen, I don't think so.

Social media is just another marketing tool and I can't blame John Green for using it to the best of his ability.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

He's in dangerous territory and needs to tread very carefully or else he'll have Plod the Policeman carrying away everything digital from his house. As it is, no one has levelled anything other than nasty accusations so far, but in the UK we are in the midst of huge enquiries looking at pedo cases amongst politicians, the judiciary as well as show biz.

If Plod visits his inbox he's probably screwed. I'm basing this on what shows up in my inbox occasionally - it's a fair bet he's seen a large amount of the surface area of some of his fans, unsolicited; and if those fans are under 18 he's a de facto criminal as a result, whether he wanted the pictures there or not (at least under American law, which is slightly too eager to define "possession" as "anything anyone ever sent you". There's a reason I state NO contact from anyone under 18, in my bio.) Add that to intensified concerns over "pedophilia" (mislabelled, unless his fans are under 12) and it can't end well for him no matter how innocent he might be.

People who find his contact creepy should immediately stop corresponding with him. If it's provable he's had actual sexual contact with someone under 18, he needs a court date and the legally mandated jail time. Anything else sounds like hounding, defamation and hysteria to me.

We all know that Lit has a significant following in the under-18 crowd. Given the prospect that one of them could conceal his or her age and contact an author here, and then go crying on the internet that the response creeped them out, I find this kind of witch-hunting chilling. Accuse only what you can prove; whatever happened to that rule?

(Nota bene: at one point someone emailed me and wanted me to write a true life story about their raped cousin, with the strong implication that the cousin was underage and the rape was unreported. To make it creepier, he offered pictures of her. I blocked his address and forwarded his email to the FBI. I couldn't tell if it was a sick pervert with no sense of social justice, or a sick pervert trying to get me entangled in an underage pornography accusation; either way I hope the FBI had a chat with him. I mention this in case anyone wants to make light of the pitfalls of interaction from fans, or the psychos pretending to be fans. There are some very sick people on the internet.)

 

[stickygirl]

We all know that Lit has a significant following in the under-18 crowd. Given the prospect that one of them could conceal his or her age and contact an author here, and then go crying on the internet that the response creeped them out

Ooo, the creep list is long and illustrious At least I was over 18

Never thought about the Inbox being possession - thanks for the heads up on that

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

'hugely popular.' 'Accusations went flying.'

I'm going to err on the side of believing the girl readers can make their own judgements and will wait to see if they themselves are making the accusations.

 

[someoneyouknow]

n/m . . . .