Some commentary on Neil Gaiman by a convention director in the Phillippines
A writer at the Manila Times, who's met with the disgraced Neil Gaiman in the past when he came to the island country at least 3 times for local conventions she worked at as a director, addressed the issue of the sexual abuse accusations made against him by at least 5 women so far:
And since the issue of Munro comes up, a writer at the Atlantic recently said:
In the end, the biggest problem here has to be how these "auteurs" are overrated writers who had to have been elevated to high status by equally overrated entertainment columnists. That might explain how they got as far as they did all these years, while others who could be more palatable were shunted into obscurity. If anything, these scandals should serve as a lesson why it's ill-advised to keep going for the writings of scribes who're almost entirely obsessed with darkness. No wonder the entertainment scene was brought down to such a low level over past decades.
Update: if the following information is correct, there may be a 6th victim of Gaiman's who worked on the set of the Doctor Who television show. Very sad news indeed.
It was an absolutely difficult listen. Neil defined my 90's life. An office mate lent me his issues of "The Sandman" and there was no turning back. I started reading Neil's novels and fell in love with the stories, scenarios, magical beings and the sometimes troubled, lost humans populating his work. He came to the Philippines in 2005, 2007 and 2010. He made so many fans happy. He took the time to speak to those getting their books signed. And he gave hugs when fans asked for them.I wonder how any of them must feel now, after they've learned he demonstrated aggression against doubtlessly more than 5 women. Personally, the revelations would make my skin crawl if I'd asked for a hug from a lech like him. But while this may be just my viewpoint, I can't comprehend what was so special about a horror-themed comic which, from what I can recall, contained some ingredients so grisly it made even the most questionable moments in Swamp Thing look tame by comparison. As I've noted before, the scene in the diner from issues 6-7 where Dr. Destiny mind controlled several patrons into finally killing themselves was atrocious and reeked of cheap sensationalism, further compounded by the recent revelations of Gaiman's own dark activities behind the scenes.
I've co-hosted (with Gabe Mercado) the Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards, which was sponsored by Neil Gaiman, I've collected his autograph on precious books, I've interviewed him for "The Sandman" show on Netflix, he re-tweeted my interview with Lourdes Faberes who was in the cast, I've attended his readings when I happened to be in the same city.Wow, has it dawned on anybody to date that some of the worst people who committed sexual misconduct are men who've ostensibly championed subjects like feminism, LGBT ideology and even the Islamic religion, even though none of them are really compatible with the other? Gaiman's one such person, and now, it's all come back to haunt him. Oh, and just what "refugees" do they mean? Would it be the kind of violent offenders now clogging up the UK, which includes plenty of Islamofascists? Yet to date, I haven't noticed Gaiman comment on recent issues like Armenians being driven out of Arsakh by Azerbaijan's own Islamists prior to his exit from social media, so one can only wonder what the columnist is talking about.
Here was someone who spoke up about refugees, advocated for libraries and books and called himself a feminist.
It was really heartbreaking to listen to the podcast. I know many fans would refuse to listen or they'd question the producer Rachel Johnson (sister of former British PM Boris Johnson). However, the editing and reporting by Paul Caruana Galizia is thorough and he does try to get input from the different parties involved, except not all want to be reached for comment — like Neil Gaiman's ex-wife, Amanda Palmer. [...]Well that's a valid concern right there. Just because a certain segment of society doesn't like conservatives, they have to automatically dismiss the news and not listen or read it and evaluate what to think? That's definitely appalling, and just one of the reasons why Gaiman's all but gotten away with his repellent antics. It's also one of the reasons society is deteriorating today, because everybody on the left seems to base their approach on whether the news companies share their political view.
I have tried to talk it out with other fans but only a handful have decided to give "Master" a listen.
At the end of the day, I wish he would address his fans. If you go to his website, no upcoming appearances are scheduled. He cancelled an appearance in Virginia and certainly was not at Comic Con. It would also be good if he got help.Well this is exactly why it pays to take some time before elevating the "famous" to high status even after they're gone, as the disgraceful Alice Munro is now. Her defense of her late 2nd ex-husband Gerald Fremlin, who sexually abused one of her daughters (Andrea Robin Skinner) when she was 9, was offensive, and that quite a few people in Canada chose to sweep it all under the rug is vaguely similar to the Jimmy Savile scandal in the UK, where Gaiman also comes from.
Following the famous and being sucked in by pop culture can be like religion. Certain artists and entertainers do provide enjoyment. Now, I'm wary of putting them on a pedestal. I keep thinking of the actual humans I interact with who are the real superstars of my life. They don't need their names in lights or millions of likes, they're just somehow around, being supportive and thoughtful. It's time I focus even more on them.
And since the issue of Munro comes up, a writer at the Atlantic recently said:
It’s hardly news that great artists are not always nice people—in fact, quite often, they are very bad people. For me, however, the debate over Alice Munro was not How could a great artist do such a bad thing? It was, This bad thing at last enables me to articulate why I never thought Alice Munro was a great artist in the first place. In my native Canada, Munro was regarded as not only a great talent but also a kind of moral witness. Yet to me, her much-praised short stories always seemed insipid and tedious. Many of them concern unspoken secrets, but the secrets and their aftermath never add up to much: They just sort of hang in the air over some small Canadian town, going nowhere and meaning little. Suddenly, the inconsequentiality of her narratives makes sense; shrugging off big news is how she treated her own most important lifelong secret, after all.Someday, somebody's bound to say the same thing about Gaiman's works, and I've already made clear what I think of his Sandman writing. While the early Swamp Thing tales from the 1970s-80s had what to make me think, Gaiman's Sandman tales that I read did not make me think at all. Or at least not in the sense I thought they could offer a valid observation of serious issues. And on that note, when I took a look at Pajiba's report on the topic, I noticed the following statement in the comments section:
Disappointed but not surprised. His female characters are often … not well-written (Door, who is a damsel in distress who opens magical doors; a monster from another dimension who tries to break up a family by pretending to be a beautiful nanny and seducing the father; Nada, Dream’s ex-lover, who is consigned to eternal torment in Hell for turning him down, etc). Reminds me of Stephen King’s writing. And, it takes a certain type of person to be married to Amanda Palmer. Ah well.And also:
I am always uncomfortable when a male author has a very obvious preferred physical "type" for his female characters (in Gaiman's case, it appears to be young Winona Ryder). His male characters get to be characters, but his female characters are goth-lite video game avatars, if that makes sense. It suggests that he's not all that interested in women as people, so while I'm disappointed in this news... I can't say I'm surprised.In the Sandman material I read, what dismays me in hindsight is how he put Roy Thomas' creation, Lyta Hall/Fury, to use, ditto Hector Hall/Silver Scarab, who'd become another Sandman himself towards the end of Infinity Inc. Morpheus acts like a cold fish towards Lyta, wants the child she's pregnant with to become an heir to The Dreaming, and Lyta's basically reduced from a superheroine to more of a weak portrait of a woman who'd like to be a mother, but is then told she can't keep her child by a guy whose character design looks vaguely like Gaiman himself?!? Honestly, what's the use? I am so not wanting his Sandman take to be canon.
In the end, the biggest problem here has to be how these "auteurs" are overrated writers who had to have been elevated to high status by equally overrated entertainment columnists. That might explain how they got as far as they did all these years, while others who could be more palatable were shunted into obscurity. If anything, these scandals should serve as a lesson why it's ill-advised to keep going for the writings of scribes who're almost entirely obsessed with darkness. No wonder the entertainment scene was brought down to such a low level over past decades.
Update: if the following information is correct, there may be a 6th victim of Gaiman's who worked on the set of the Doctor Who television show. Very sad news indeed.
Labels: conventions, Europe and Asia, golden calf of LGBT, history, islam and jihad, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics, terrorism, violence
