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Comment by cryptof4una | Hacker News Reader

The Call of Cthulhu is a fantastic piece. But what's your thought process around, reconciling Lovecraft's views on race, with naming your product after his work? Why does he get a pass in tech/internet culture?

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Something something separating the artist from the art; one can appreciate the mythos and subculture without the racism.

(Also yes I'm a bit biased)

Considering the genre of the art is "eldritch horror", it's probably simpler to just lump in the artist (fittingly, for having conceived such a demon-haunted world?) as part of that from which the audience recoils in fear? (eg, Major Gowen from Fawlty Towers definitely gets a pass, although he was intentionally written to be the butt of the comedy)

As for the mythos being larger than the originator: anyone read Winter Tide?

Nice bait but ill bite: While HP created Mythos its much bigger than the individual and its views.

Tolkien also had lots of questionable views and we can separate his work from the invidual beliefs.

(btw also true forprobably every artist that ever existed as well)

Out of curiosity: what do you consider JRRT's "questionable views"?

I mean I personally don't consider them questionable (probably should have worded that differently), but if you want to go down that rabbit hole, this pretty much sums it up https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_and_race

Also emphasis on classism, divine rights of kings, few female characters etc.

Wow, this is pretty far-fetched.

Thanks for clarification. So, maybe "non-mainstream" might be a better description, then.

Does there need to be a thought process? If there does why? Names can just be names regardless of where they came from or who they might be associated with; shockingly the choice of the name might not have anything to do with the racism of the author who made the name up...

Cthulhu is an equal opportunity destroyer.

No lives matter.

I'm pretty sure Lovecraft was at most a passing thought. The more immediate context would be the Putin's internet "AMA" in 2006[1], where "how do you feel about the awakening of Cthulhu" became a meme after becoming the second most popular question. Through the years, it and its associated memes like "fhtagn", "will devour brains", lost their connection with the origin and became a part of the background meme noise. (Compare it with how you don't think about /b/ any time your rickroll someone.)

[1] https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/41643/

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