question for the internets

[jlh]

I mean this in all honesty, no sarcasm:

Who is John Scalzi and why should I care about what he has to say?

I've been linked to his blog a couple of times over the past few years, and he always seems to be (a) screaming and (b) condescending. Apparently he's a published author who hates everyone who isn't a published author? And I'm wondering what he's even published, and why he has a blog if he hates everyone, and why I should care about him if I've never heard of any of his books, let alone read them, and how much of a reputation he rests on if I've never heard of him.

Comments

[longtimegone]

I don't know much about him beyond the fact that 1) he's a published author 2) he's a creative consultant for Stargate: Universe 3) he showed his ass 4) he made an apology post. :))

So you know more than me!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you know more than me! I knew 1 and 3 but neither 2 nor 4. And I only knew that he was often screaming because the three times I've read his blog he was screaming.

[longtimegone]

:D

Yeah, he's working on SGU, which we've been joking that it must mean he's an insensitive ass with a specialty for ignoring and being condescendingly dismissive of criticism regarding race, gender and, you know, plot coherency. :)) Being that I haven't read his books (nor, indeed, heard of him prior to his assignment to SGU), I can only guess at what he is like.

But that may be why you were linked ot him recently... as far as I can tell, someone tried to out a fandomer on his blog, and he went off, rather hotheadedly and ill-advisedly, declaring the "whole thing" to be a waste of his time. Which was, obviously, the WAY wrong response. Especially with zero context. So he showed his ass, and then today (or yesterday?) made a post saying "Yeah, I hadn't looked into this enough/it was overwhelming and a mess/my friends were like 'uh, dude? check this out'."

I'm sure there are currently debates on the merits of his apology, but he SEEMED sincere, so you know.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

And of course there are some in the comments telling him he was right the first time and basically saying they hoped that this apology was like Elizabeth Bear's original "my critic" was right post and just for show because you have to placate the hoards. Oy.

[longtimegone]

Yeah I saw those comments. Ugh. Those people are firmly in the category of Missing The Point, IMO. :))

FWIW, he seemed to be called down by his friends and genuinely TRYING not to be an ass in his apology. Like flourish below, I feel "neutral" about him currently.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

John Scalzi is a sci fi author. He also teaches (I think?) at MIT, and I once met him at an event where Junot Diaz was speaking and had a brief, pleasant conversation with him. Sadly, he has obviously not always been so pleasant on the internet, but then, neither have I. He wrote Old Man's War, among other things, which is a very good book. And, as other people have noted, despite kind of showing his ass in the recent imbroglio, he did post an apology, which is more than most other sci fi authors have done. So all things considered he's still a neutral party in my book. ;)

[flourish.livejournal.com]

By "neutral party" I mean "someone I neither fangirl nor loathe."

[stinaleigh.livejournal.com]

He lives in rural Ohio so I don't think he teaches at MIT on a regular basis that I am aware of. His writing history does include blogging for AOL when blogging was this odd thing way back when.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Oh how weird, it totally wasn't him that I met. Who WAS it? How did I get it into my mind that he was Scalzi? Why am I so crazy?

[flourish.livejournal.com]

OK, I think I somehow got Scalzi mixed up with Joe Haldeman. I think because I read The Forever War and Old Man's War at about the same time.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen the apology when I made this post, I admit, and it wasn't a bad one by any means, especially considering the follow up long post by the guest blogger. But when I was sent the original link—and the critical posts that I've seen anyway—no where was it mentioned even that he's some author or what gives him the right to get up on his high horse of LJ-hating.

He's not a neutral party in my book not because of this, but because I really cannot stand blanket condescension, and unless someone has shown me a good damned reason why they get to be dismissive of everyone else, in my mind the attitude discounts their words a great deal. And all of the two or three times I've been sent to his blog, he's basically been saying "everyone except me and my two friends are too stupid to talk to" which I find a really unhelpful attitude, and one which I severely limit my exposure to.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really haven't read the rest of his blog at all, so I don't know if this is a pattern for him. Sounds like it is, and if I went over and read through his blog, I imagine I'd like him a lot less. (But then, I do avoid authors' idiocy online because I don't want to be disillusioned about them... so perhaps I am not a good person to be weighing in on this topic.)

[misscake]

He can be funny and insightful but when he loses his shit, he becomes very condescending and spews everywhere.

There's another post, after the apology, where he invited an SFF writer of color to talk about some of the issues in RaceFail. I found it pretty interesting and enlightening.

[evil-erato.livejournal.com]

It is funny, but I remember Mary-Ann Mohanraj from waaayyyy back when I first got online. She is an AMAZING writer, and I'm pretty sure I still have some of her early porn printed out in a box somewhere. :)) I've not read the above yet because this week has been a Week, but I'm interested to see what she has to say.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Scalzi has a following in the blogosphere, not so much elsewhere. He's written some scifi and some other stuff, nothing too notable. Probably better known as a blogger than as an author.

He seems to enjoy pontificating and disseminating expertise on many subjects, & he's said a number of things about the publishing industry that I think are dead wrong & fairly ignernt, so I quickly lost interest. OTOH, he mostly does it on his own blog, where one is allowed to bloviate as much as one wants, I guess. I don't think he's on the MIT faculty or anywhere near it, though. I believe our mutual friend C has encountered him on occasion.

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

I had to look him up and find him... hmmm, unimpressive is about as kindly as I can put it. Though he seems rather impressed with himself. To quite a line from wiki:

In September, 2006, Scalzi created a brief internet sensation when he taped bacon to his cat.

Which sums up all I feel I need to know about the man in a nutshell. I am sorry people are giving you links to things related to him.

Scalzi...

[(Anonymous)]

...is a wonderful writer, and entitled to air his views on LJ as much as the next guy. How limiting and disappointing that he's 'no-one' if you've never heard of him. If you find him unpalatable - don't read him. It's your choice, just as I'll choose to skip anything authored by you in future.

Re: Scalzi...

[jlh.livejournal.com]

What a strange reply. I don't remember saying that he didn't have every right to say whatever he wants to say. I was asking why I should care about what he has to say, when he seems to always say it in such an angry and obnoxious manner—at least, every time someone has asked me to read his journal. I don't care for condescension. I said in this entry that I meant my question honestly and not sarcastically—so I'm not sure why you took it to be hostile. It wasn't. I was asking, in all honesty, why people were linking me to him without telling me who he was.

He's not "no one" if I've never heard of him; what I was asking was, who is he, as I have never heard of him. I don't read sci-fi, so the proper answer might have been, "he writes science fiction books."

You are of course perfectly within your rights to read or not read me, though as you haven't signed your name I can't determine what sort of threat this is. I'm just not sure why you chose to tell me this in such a manner. Rather confusing.