Requires Only That You Read a Ton of Words

[wshaffer]

I have not yet read this nearly novel-length critical review of Laura J. Mixon's essay on Requires Hate, but I'm leaving a link here to remind myself to come back and read it properly.

I had very mixed feelings about Mixon's essay, which was part of why I did not vote for her for the Best Fan Writer Hugo. One of the reasons I had mixed feelings about it is that it tended to conflate harassment and general crappy behavior with harsh and aggressive rhetoric in reviewing/critiquing. I think there's an interesting conversation to be had about the utility/appropriateness of harsh reviewing and conflating it with harassment muddies the waters. Édouard Brière-Allard seems at least to be trying to be careful in distinguishing between the two. (See above caveat about not having read complete essay - I may change my mind when I've had a chance to properly dig in.)

Comments

[nwhyte]

I agree with you in having mixed feelings about the Mixon piece. I'm afraid I don't have mixed feelings about the Édouard Brière-Allard piece: it makes the same methodological mistakes as Mixon and doubles down on charitable interpretations of RH's behaviour without extending that courtesy to her opponents (despite the protestation up front that he is assuming good faith from all the parties involved).

The section on Tricia Sullivan struck me as particularly selective, and omits several crucial moments of bad behaviour from RH and her supporters.

More heat than light, in other words. A lot more.

[nwhyte]

I agree with you in having mixed feelings about the Mixon piece. I'm afraid I don't have mixed feelings about the Édouard Brière-Allard piece: it makes the same methodological mistakes as Mixon and doubles down on charitable interpretations of RH's behaviour without extending that courtesy to her opponents (despite the protestation up front that he is assuming good faith from all the parties involved).

The section on Tricia Sullivan struck me as particularly selective, and omits several crucial moments of bad behaviour from RH and her supporters.

More heat than light, in other words. A lot more.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

I'll share my take on it with you elsewhere.

Summary: mixiin s essay is problematic as hell. It's what u describe - confounding "mean" and harassment. I'll share with you later today....

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I'll definitely be reading critically...assuming that I do get around to reading it at all. (I have every intention of doing so, but I've got quite a backlog of other stuff to read, much of which is likely to be more enjoyable if not more edifying.)