Ági Szabados Does Not Need to Apologize to Me
whatever.scalzi.com
whatever.scalzi.com
Instead he tries to stop the inernet mob from demonizing someone in his name who did nothing to deserve it. We should all aspire to act that way when thrown in such a situation.
(And also for someone who is not native in English, I found his book easier to read compare to some other other authors.)
1. the person tasked with introducing an author talked more about her own initiative (getting people to read more) than the author;
2. the person was criticised for this; and
3. the author wants people to know that he doesn't mind not being talked about because he likes reading too, and he doesn't feel he needs help promoting himself.
So far, so boring. There's also some mysterious implication that the criticism was due to some kind of undercurrents in Hungarian politics. Is this another tedious culture war thing?
I doubt it. I think he was just saying "I can't know whether I have all the facts or context when I say this" in the same way that I, a random person on the internet, can only assume that John Scalzi is giving me all the relevant facts in that blog post, and if there is something I'm missing that makes it more complicated, my comment here on HN does not take that into account.
The more you get out of the mainstream and you’re dealing with status in some tiny subculture, the more you’re going to see people delve into minutiae to undercut someone achieving that status. The lower the stakes, the nastier it often gets.
Chances are that this person has people who are envious of whatever limited celebrity she has and are waiting for opportunities to criticize her. When she gave them one, they jumped on it and used the defense of this author’s feelings as their pretense. But anyone thinking it was real outrage is missing the underlying dynamic.
You're allowed to regard anything as a tedious culture war thing, and be annoyed or offended by it on that basis. That's what's great about a culture war. Feel the annoyance course through your veins. You know you want to.
I am not familiar with Hungarian politics other than there being a right-wing populist leader in charge. They often come with shill hordes who see independent outlets prepared to criticise the gov as "the enemy". I can imagine she could become a target at the slightest provocation.
The only real problem I can see with her speach is that she was asked to give a laudation, but gave a more generic speach instead. Laudation seems to be a custom at this book festival. Also it's kind of funny that she stole the first part of her speach from "rory's graduation speach" in Gilmore Girls TV series[3].
[1] https://hvg.hu/kultura/20230929_Kinosra_sikerult_Szabados_Ag...
[2] https://konyvesmagazin.hu/nagy/john_scalzi_boldizsar_ildiko_...
Nothing patronizing about that
Edit: meant as a response to sibling comment
I find 35 young. Young != not adult.
Having a successful nationwide bookclub does not stop her from (apparently) being a content creator. And vice versa, being a content creator does not diminish the success of her bookclub.
You seem to suggest that being a content creator is somehow "less worthy" than having a bookclub. Many people are super successful being content creators on YouTube. Are they less because they don't run a bookclub?
Sounds pretty elitist to me
Edit: bawolff said it better than I could
In this case "Young content creator" can have the implication that she is not a real success but is only impressive because of her age. Since if she was on the level of a real media personality there would be no need to add the "young" adjective. She would just be a "content creator"
Similarly, content creator can have the implication you run a blog or get your fame solely from social media instead of being good enough for more traditional venues (which could be true, i dont know this person).
Is all that massively over thinking this? Probably. But i understand how the phrase could be seen as patronizing even if literally accurate.
It should be clarified that she is also a newsreader and runs a book club. There's nothing wrong with being an influencer, but to not mention the rest is incomplete.
Nice to see Scalzi use what influence he has to actually help someone else like this.
You can pick up something like Starter Villain and read it in an afternoon and thoroughly enjoy it. Other novels to check out include Androids Dream, Agent to the Stars, Redshirts, and Kaiju Preservation Society.
I dunno. Sure it’s for plenty of people, just not for me.
His later works either lean way into tropes intentionally (Red Shirts, which I feel is more an exploration of form than a proper novel) or develop entirely new concepts, like the one way travel in the Interdependency series.
Basically, I can see how his style wouldn't be for everyone, but I enjoy his books.
You can still reasonably feel a moral obligation to intervene on stuff done in your name or on your behalf even if it isn't really about you.
I was being sarcastic.
I apologise for the lack of indicators.
I read about this incident living in a different continent proverbially 8400 miles away from Budapest.
A global village you tell me - meh - it is a curse.
More selectively engaging could also work, in theory. In practice though, I suspect people succumb to industry engagement stimulation techniques and get pulled back in completely.
https://www.tor.com/2015/05/21/that-was-awesome-the-penfield...
Also, I red couple of books from John Scalzi and found them enjoyable.