The option you appear to have missed is where I stand. I do keep a personal blacklist of authors who have "offended" me, though I do not phrase it that way because it centers my feelings rather than their actions. But "punishing" them is not the point. The point is that reading is a fairly intimate form of communication, to me, where I spend hours or days fairly deep inside someone else's head, and if the things they've said or done outside their books reveal that their head is not a good place then I just do not want to give myself over to that.
A lot of it boils down to my perception of whether or not the author is even capable of empathy for people not like them. So, for example, Elizabeth Bear has made a couple of very public missteps in terms of hurting people in marginalized groups. But both times she (eventually) figured out where she went wrong, apologized, and amended her behavior, and the sort of person who can do that is the sort of person I want to devote chunks of my time and brain to. On the other hand, the sort of person who responds to "This thing you said/did hurt me" with a constant denial that any hurt is even possible is the sort of person I simply do not want anywhere near my own brain.
And while it is the liberal/progressive voices online that seem the loudest (in the corners of the internet that are more bookish/SFF oriented at least) out in the rest of the U.S. it is by far the conservative voices who hold sway -- or else why would I be able to find a news story pretty much every single day about a conservative/family values group calling on public/school libraries to remove books they deem "bad influences" for extremely mild sexual content or in any way being "anti-white"?
Well, I try to cover the range of opinions I foresee in four or five witty statements, but I cannot anticipate every possible nuance without running polls with 94 available answers. That's why we have comment threads!
The option you appear to have missed is where I stand. I do keep a personal blacklist of authors who have "offended" me, though I do not phrase it that way because it centers my feelings rather than their actions. But "punishing" them is not the point. The point is that reading is a fairly intimate form of communication, to me, where I spend hours or days fairly deep inside someone else's head, and if the things they've said or done outside their books reveal that their head is not a good place then I just do not want to give myself over to that.
This is about where I stand, too. It's similar to the unlikable protagonist thing - why the heck would I want to spend time with an author who is going to make me feel like shit? (to whit: I'm female, queer, mentally ill, chronic pain that hinders my physical ability, and atheist.) There are many books to read, and books are EXPENSIVE, so I am going to try and aim to avoid books that view me as lesser. Because, it's going to come out in the writing and the world-building. It always does.
I'm aware. Unfortunately, I tend to forget to return things on time, because I'm chronically unorganized (and prone to anxiety attacks at the thought of talking to people to pay fines). Libraries don't help so much. :(
My income has power. Why waste it on people who don't tolerate my existence? There are enough people who are much more deserving of my limited attention. If I really want to read their books, then I'll pirate them.
The option you appear to have missed is where I stand. I do keep a personal blacklist of authors who have "offended" me, though I do not phrase it that way because it centers my feelings rather than their actions. But "punishing" them is not the point. The point is that reading is a fairly intimate form of communication, to me, where I spend hours or days fairly deep inside someone else's head, and if the things they've said or done outside their books reveal that their head is not a good place then I just do not want to give myself over to that.
A lot of it boils down to my perception of whether or not the author is even capable of empathy for people not like them. So, for example, Elizabeth Bear has made a couple of very public missteps in terms of hurting people in marginalized groups. But both times she (eventually) figured out where she went wrong, apologized, and amended her behavior, and the sort of person who can do that is the sort of person I want to devote chunks of my time and brain to. On the other hand, the sort of person who responds to "This thing you said/did hurt me" with a constant denial that any hurt is even possible is the sort of person I simply do not want anywhere near my own brain.
And while it is the liberal/progressive voices online that seem the loudest (in the corners of the internet that are more bookish/SFF oriented at least) out in the rest of the U.S. it is by far the conservative voices who hold sway -- or else why would I be able to find a news story pretty much every single day about a conservative/family values group calling on public/school libraries to remove books they deem "bad influences" for extremely mild sexual content or in any way being "anti-white"?
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This is about where I stand, too. It's similar to the unlikable protagonist thing - why the heck would I want to spend time with an author who is going to make me feel like shit? (to whit: I'm female, queer, mentally ill, chronic pain that hinders my physical ability, and atheist.) There are many books to read, and books are EXPENSIVE, so I am going to try and aim to avoid books that view me as lesser. Because, it's going to come out in the writing and the world-building. It always does.
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They also let me renew and make requests from home, which means I'm pretty much only ever there to pick up and drop off things.
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My income has power. Why waste it on people who don't tolerate my existence? There are enough people who are much more deserving of my limited attention. If I really want to read their books, then I'll pirate them.
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