Rothfuss XVII: a performance art finish?

[Infidel]

11 minutes ago, lysmonger said:

I chuckled when after years of Rothfuss saying horrible things about conservatives, his idol Joss Whedon was called out as a serial philanderer and only bought into feminism to get himself laid.

Well, in complete fairness to Rothfuss, conservatives are in fact horrible...

[lysmonger]

 

 

https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2012/02/concerning-hobbits-love-and-movie-adaptations/

 

btw the adult website he's alluding to in this post has been shut down by the feds and everyone involved is in prison and are on the run

[Mazzack]

3 hours ago, lysmonger said:

 

 

https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2012/02/concerning-hobbits-love-and-movie-adaptations/

Damn, that blog post is even worse than I remember it being.

Like, hitting the implicit "offensiveness" of someone you were infatuated with being a porn star, the implication that porn stars cannot be sweet and subtle and smart or the implication that sweet, smart girls cannot have sexuality, to the possessiveness over the bodies of those we fantasise about, to even those somewhat mysogynistic baseball metaphors for the progression of sexual intimacies (as if a female body is collection of zones that we get increasing points for having contact with, rather than parts of, you know, a person with whom we are an intimate connection that might be fun or romantic for both partners). It's even worse for a lame metaphor about how we as nerds might react to adaptation problems.

It's just ew. And that's me as man speaking. I'm guessing it is way more unpleasant for women.

[Werthead]

Whedon cheated on his wife with an actress on one of his shows, whom has never been identified, which seems not to be in dispute (the claim he repeatedly did it with many difference actresses is, however, and the fact that none of these actresses have been identified is problematic). There seem to be two possibilities, one of whom was only three years younger than Whedon, and according to Whedon they instigated the relationship, he didn't go around creeping on considerably younger actresses using his position of power (the other actress was a lot younger, which would have been a lot more ew). Certainly zero other allegations have come out in the several years since then and pretty much all the actresses on all his shows aren't exactly people who wouldn't have voiced any complaints if given the opportunity. It is possible that Whedon was lying and was in fact abusing his position and is in need of a major MeTooing, but that seems less plausible the more time that passes with no further allegations being made. He clearly made a huge dick move, but it's not on the order of what, for example, Weinstein did or what Cas Anvar has been accused of.

People are human and are allowed to make mistakes. There's a difference between making an emotional mistake once (Whedon), saying things that are a bit tone deaf and sketchy in an attempt to come across as cool but instead come across as just sad (Rothfuss) and someone actually repeatedly engaging in horrible behaviour multiple times over decades. It's not helped that both Whedon and Rothfuss have vast fanbases and everyone loved their work for so long that they both naturally created a group of people eager and anxious to tear them to shreds the nanosecond they were presented with the opportunity and excuse, and went to town with it.

[thistlepong]

I mean, Whedon confessed to more than a decade of infidelities and to using his spouse and his expressed feminism as a sheild; in writing. Various cast members and collaborators from throughout his career have offered comment on his treatment of women and bipoc. And his work demonstrates some, um, what would most charitably be referred to as blind spots. Recently he's been liking JKRs transphobia.

I'm not tearing him to shreds. Nor am I doing do eagerly. My spouse was an original Browncoat. It's not one mistake. It's a life emerging from an image.

It's the same with Rothfuss. His major claim to feminism is as advisor to the student feminist group at UW-Stevens Point decades ago. (I can never think about that and not pity those kids.) It's not like he's said or done anything particularly feminist.

Women, and men, have raised concerns for years and been kind of drowned out by other fans, probably me included, insisting on different readings or relating different personal experiences.

But, like, The J. Geils Blog isn't even the only time he's used that particular metaphor. He seems to really like it. Is he, possibly even in every discrete instance, trying to sound cool and coming off cringe? Maybe. Has the cringe been pointed out to him? Absolutely. No change, though. No comment.

I'm not tearing him to shreds, either. Certainly not eagerly. But it would be silly to pretend they learned anything from their mistakes when they have not. And it would be irresponsible to read them through the lenses they provide than the ones they, like, demonstrate.

[polishgenius]

5 minutes ago, thistlepong said:

I mean, Whedon confessed to more than a decade of infidelities and to using his spouse and his expressed feminism as a sheild; in writing.

Did he? I remember his wife's letter, I don't remember that he responded? Like Whedon clearly isn't the feminist icon he was touted when in his hey, and if he's liking JKR that's baaad, but like Wert says nothing of substance has come out about the most serious allegations, which isn't to say they aren't true, but there's not been any kind of comfirmation afaik.


I don't really see the comparison to Rothfuss though tbh. In part because, although I like his books, I have in fact read them and therefore not really ever had a reason to believe he's a feminist- does he set himself up as one? He seems a guy who wants to treat women well but has some broken concepts in his head, which is something that happens to most men and some fix that and some don't, I don't know where he is, but Whedon even if the accusations aren't true does to me smell of someone doing what he thinks he should be doing to get a certain audience, which I don't think Rothfuss is thinking about things that deeply.


Also; for all the frustration about it taking time away from his writing, Worldbuilders is an incredible effort. Has Whedon done anything like that? I mean, I suppose we can't know what he does charitably behind the scenes.

[Ninefingers]

Rothfuss' blog on feminism, offered without comment. 

[Jace, Extat]

I haven't read Rothfuss' blogs, but his books make me think he falls on the handsome side of chauvinist. Which is not a crime I would like to see people derided for. He likes looking at pretty things, he sees women as pretty things. I know a bunch of ladies who see their pool boy exactly the same. It's not a gendered view of the opposite sex, it's a self-centered one.

[Zorral]

It's hard to comprehend why anybody would ask a man to explain feminism, whether the inquirer is male or female.  We have all heard multiple men, on multiple, nay even frequent, occasions mansplaining women's issues, #MeToo, unequal pay and opportunity, sexism -- particularly toward women of ambition, particularly if of color -- to women, of course.  But why a woman would voluntarily go to a MAN expecting useful insight about these matters, boggles

[Larry of the Lawn]

50 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Whedon never directly responded to his wife’s letter, no. And he never said anything about using his feminism as a shield.

I follow Whedon on social media and have for quite a while and he has certainly never supported any of JKRs recent nastiness. 
 

Both of these, frankly, sound like something from, well, let’s say websites that lean a bit to the right.

 

Edit: I have also seen zero come out from crew/cast about his treatment of women or BIPOC. Citations needed here.

"Whedon, officially a "wife guy" by nonresponse."

just shitposting, btw

[lysmonger]

23 hours ago, Mazzack said:

Damn, that blog post is even worse than I remember it being.

Like, hitting the implicit "offensiveness" of someone you were infatuated with being a porn star, the implication that porn stars cannot be sweet and subtle and smart or the implication that sweet, smart girls cannot have sexuality, to the possessiveness over the bodies of those we fantasise about, to even those somewhat mysogynistic baseball metaphors for the progression of sexual intimacies (as if a female body is collection of zones that we get increasing points for having contact with, rather than parts of, you know, a person with whom we are an intimate connection that might be fun or romantic for both partners). It's even worse for a lame metaphor about how we as nerds might react to adaptation problems.

It's just ew. And that's me as man speaking. I'm guessing it is way more unpleasant for women.

The adult website from where he is getting his metaphor for his dislike of the Hobbit movies, is now defunct and most of the people involved in said website are being prosecuted for sex trafficking. 

[lysmonger]

6 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Heh, fair. I just always see really crazy stuff thrown around about him as facts and when I ask for any kind of link or citation I get nothing, and it’s been a pattern for a long time now. The JKR mentioned above for instance, as I’ve seen nothing from his social media and he hasn’t done any interviews in a long while I have no idea where that would even come from, unless people are peeking in his windows. And I’m not saying the guy is  some super ultra feminist and how dare you attack him, at best as pointed out above, he has some serious blind spots but as I think wert said, since the letter was published there have been as far as I know zero instances of any cast/crew and shit, ok I just remembered the justice league crap, so I guess there has been one. You can read into that what you will I guess but one actor saying he was an ass on set doesn’t suddenly make him Weinstein. Sorry, kind of stream of consciousness there.

so I guess my point is there are some extreme leaps of logic here. Cheated on wife -> grooming people/using feminism to get laid. There’s some steps missing there. 

Google Whedon's wife. His wife commented that Whedon wrote a fairly long guilt ridden note that he was a serial philanderer for a large portion of his marriage with her.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, lysmonger said:

The adult website from where he is getting his metaphor for his dislike of the Hobbit movies, is now defunct and most of the people involved in said website are being prosecuted for sex trafficking. 

I genuinely have no idea why you're insisting on bringingin this up because, even if Rothfuss is referring specifically to girlsdoporn, which I see no indication of anyway, are you implying that him being aware of its existence means he had something to do with its creators?

It's a dreadful, skeevy, entitled analogy but it doesn't mean he was trafficing people for fuck's sake. It means he's heard My Angel is a Centefold too many times.

 

9 hours ago, Ninefingers said:

Rothfuss' blog on feminism, offered without comment. 

 

That's an awful lot of words of self-justification which just sounsd skeevier and skeevier when all he really needed to say was something like 'wanting to be clung to by pretty women is not unfeminist. Expecting to be clung to by any given pretty woman would be unfeminist'.

[IlyaP]

19 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Also now I got that song stuck in my head.

What, this song?

[polishgenius]

8 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Na, na, na-na-na aaaaaaaaah

 

heeey jude

[lysmonger]

On 8/13/2020 at 10:45 PM, polishgenius said:

I genuinely have no idea why you're insisting on bringingin this up because, even if Rothfuss is referring specifically to girlsdoporn, which I see no indication of anyway, are you implying that him being aware of its existence means he had something to do with its creators?

It's a dreadful, skeevy, entitled analogy but it doesn't mean he was trafficing people for fuck's sake. It means he's heard My Angel is a Centefold too many times.

 

 

That's an awful lot of words of self-justification which just sounsd skeevier and skeevier when all he really needed to say was something like 'wanting to be clung to by pretty women is not unfeminist. Expecting to be clung to by any given pretty woman would be unfeminist'.

I never said he was involved in any said website. But when I was rereading  his blog post just a week ago and realizing the date it was created, made me spot the 'easter egg' that inspired him to write that post. That or he was making very vague reference to is anyoneup, the original revenge nude photo sharing site that got shut down.

The very non weird point I'm trying to make is that his analogy was false, and women or 'geeks' are often manipulated into doing so.

Sidenote: My coronavirus lockdown hobby has been researching 2007-2013 tech true crime. 

And there's a lot of it. Bitcoin, drug trafficking, Myspace, Facebook ownership, Google email hacking, Silkroad 

[Gaston de Foix]

7 minutes ago, lysmonger said:

Sidenote: My coronavirus lockdown hobby has been researching 2007-2013 tech true crime. 

And there's a lot of it. Bitcoin, drug trafficking, Myspace, Facebook ownership, Google email hacking, Silkroad 

Silkroad?

[lysmonger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)

[john]

Another thread for the entertainment forum where Gaston live posts his experiences with Silkroad?  

[Ormond]

13 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Omg, there is a person out there who hasn’t heard of Silkroad or Dread Pirate Roberts????

Of course. I had never heard of Silkroad before this thread. What on earth makes you think that most human beings -- even most human beings who have internet access -- would have heard of a platform for selling illegal drugs on the "dark web"? I have never been in the market for illegal drugs and pay little attention to any method of obtaining them, and I have no connections with either law enforcement or Internet experts that would have meant this platform would have come up in casual conversation. 

Now that I've googled it, I do remember seeing an "American Greed" episode on CNBC about Dread Pirate Roberts. But it wasn't an important enough issue to me that I remembered the name of his platform.