A look at an older political position of Neil Gaiman's
I'm going to take a look here at a morally equivalent statement the now disgraced comics and book writer Neil Gaiman made about Israel, since he apparently believes "palestine" actually exists as an Arab/Islamic country, without any concrete historical evidence for backup (and it clearly makes no difference to him that decades before, even some Arab/Islamic countries denied such a thing exists). From 2015:
Not surprisingly, there were anti-Israel posters on social media who despised his statement for entirely different reasons. I'd noticed several on X who had PLO flags on their profiles, and it should serve as a warning that there's a certain segment among the left-wing detractors of Gaiman who're only damning him because of his Jewish background, not because they believe he's done wrong. Something Gaiman himself may not understand is that no matter how far-left he could advocate, and no matter what religion he may follow, Scientology or otherwise, many antisemites will not overlook his ethnic background. To them, he's the same as any other Israeli/Jewish descendant. So, if you notice a social media poster with something like a PLO flag on their pages, beware: it's a forgone conclusion they're not altruistic, and only going after Gaiman because of his racial ancestry, not because they believe sexual violence is wrong. Regrettably but unshockingly in the wake of October 7, 2023, there's only so many anti-Israelists out there who deny sexual violence when it's committed by Islamofascists, and they hold the same beliefs when even non-Jewish women and children fall victim to the same.
Here's also an answer Gaiman gave to a reader a number of years later,
Now, since we're on the subject, more recently, the Clarion West workshop addressed the Gaiman sexual abuse issue:
Until then, Gaiman's political leanings are certainly awful, and do nothing to improve his image viewed in context of what's been learned about him since.
Well if he thought his attempt to assure he respects Israel's right to existence is going to alleviate realists at this point after October 7, 2023, he is sorely mistaken, as some other clues I'd found can make clear. And does he still think most Israelis will want these "palestinians" to be given citizenship after the graphic barbarism that took place? What occurred makes it impossible to take what would be a severely dangerous risk. Let's also consider these so-called palestinians celebrated September 11, 2001 in the past 23 years, which makes clear the community situated in Gaza is not just anti-Israel, but also anti-American.@tetmetran123 I think Israel has the right to exist. I think Palestine needs to be a country, or Palestinians need full Israeli citizenship.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) August 7, 2015
Not surprisingly, there were anti-Israel posters on social media who despised his statement for entirely different reasons. I'd noticed several on X who had PLO flags on their profiles, and it should serve as a warning that there's a certain segment among the left-wing detractors of Gaiman who're only damning him because of his Jewish background, not because they believe he's done wrong. Something Gaiman himself may not understand is that no matter how far-left he could advocate, and no matter what religion he may follow, Scientology or otherwise, many antisemites will not overlook his ethnic background. To them, he's the same as any other Israeli/Jewish descendant. So, if you notice a social media poster with something like a PLO flag on their pages, beware: it's a forgone conclusion they're not altruistic, and only going after Gaiman because of his racial ancestry, not because they believe sexual violence is wrong. Regrettably but unshockingly in the wake of October 7, 2023, there's only so many anti-Israelists out there who deny sexual violence when it's committed by Islamofascists, and they hold the same beliefs when even non-Jewish women and children fall victim to the same.
Here's also an answer Gaiman gave to a reader a number of years later,
Hello, Mr. Gaiman.And this sounds an awful lot like he does believe the Islamic position that Israel "kills children" out of nothing but hate and aggression, and he ignores the Hamas' obscene strategy of hiding behind human shields. By "refugees" he surely means Islamists. I also notice he recently attacked the Israeli authorities in April for arresting a left-wing activist named Ayelet Waldman as she tried to enter the Gaza strip without proper permission. She's been very hostile to Israel herself, parroting the same accusations many other antisemites make against Israel, like that they allegedly "mistreated" palestinians, and her husband, author Michael Chabon, is little different. Even earlier, Waldman took a blame-the-victim path, pinning a bus bombing on "brutal occupation". Some company Gaiman kept alright, and it speaks volumes as to his own political positions. Also, 3 years back, he even posted this on X:
Recently, an old tweet of yours from 2015 resurfaced, in which you show support for Israel in the ongoing conflict. Is that still where you stand, or have you changed your mind in the past 6 years since that tweet was written?
The one where I say that Israel has the right to exist and that Palestine should be recognized as a state? I haven't changed my mind about either of those statements, or about any of the ones about people not killing other people and standing with the refugees and the children.
Which pretty much indicates he's siding with the Islamofascists' anti-Israel propaganda. No wonder I'd found him to be so insufferable, and if he did have anything good on his resume, I'd have had to really divide the art from the artist. Moral equivalence like what Gaiman practices is one of the worst problems in the modern world.I've RT'd it twice so far, but I'm happy to link to it a third time. It's heartbreaking. https://t.co/UgeQETKR3S
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) May 20, 2021
Now, since we're on the subject, more recently, the Clarion West workshop addressed the Gaiman sexual abuse issue:
News of the allegations against Neil Gaiman began breaking as this year’s six-week workshop hurtled into its third week. As we emerge from the workshop and have time to process this news, our board and staff want to take a moment to recognize that a culture of silence and protecting prominent authors has been widespread in the SFF community, and that it often disproportionately affects the most marginalized and vulnerable in our society. The silence, and its impact, is not acceptable.Good to see they've acknowledged the accusations made against Gaiman by 5 victims so far, and have hopefully distanced themselves from him. I do wonder if the workshop's staff find it disturbing some of the MSM and the comics specialty press refuse to raise the issue so far, if at all, because that's how these issues are prolonged and more difficult to mend. If they want to improve the situation, they might also want to discuss the issue of Orwellian ignorance that's still prevalent in the press.
This is an important conversation for everyone in the SFF community about protecting the most vulnerable in our industry from predation, and how to learn to listen to victims and make it easier for them to come forward without causing them further harm.
[...] To address concerns around instructor behavior, Clarion West has had a written instructor policy against harassment or sexual misconduct with students for at least 25 years. This policy is given to every workshop instructor. Neil Gaiman received a copy of this policy when he taught for us in 2013. Organizers were not aware of accusations or inappropriate behavior by Gaiman prior to inviting him, nor were they made aware of any abusive behavior during his tenure.
Until then, Gaiman's political leanings are certainly awful, and do nothing to improve his image viewed in context of what's been learned about him since.
Labels: islam and jihad, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, politics
