… I can totally jive with that.
In the past, I’ve read authors, both dead and alive, with whom I’ve had very small, or very large, or very personal, disagreements with. I continue to do so, because sometimes what they write is just too awesome to miss out on just because they’re a jerk.
However, I also support people who don’t want to read authors whom they can only now think of as jerkwads.
We like to think we know for sure what should and what shouldn’t “cross the line” for other people—but this is frankly stupid. Not everybody’s priorities, values, or limits are the same, even those who were raised in the same social strata. Thinking this is pretty much one of the bases for ignoring the fact that you have privilege in a certain area.
There is nothing wrong or cowardly about not wanting to read an author due to such priorities.
But hey, I’m self-centered, so here’s what drove this point home to me: there’s an author I can’t read anymore because this person decided that, because I wrote something that peeved them, they should use the opportunity to stomp on one of my PTSD triggers. Hard. If you want to get an idea of what happened, you should probably go visit the archives of last year’s August, and keep going until spring. ((No names named. I’m trying to be a reformed evil person.))
I would punch out the person who would even dare to suggest that I should be “strong” enough to read that author’s work.
So who am I to say that someone should or shouldn’t read authors that they dislike due to seeing said authors show their asses online? Who is anyone?
If someone paid me to read that author, I’d turn it down.
And I have indeed done that.
So my personal limit was obviously passed. Why judge others on theirs? I’m not them, and I don’t share their personal history. Very few people share mine, after all.
Of course, I am evil, so I shall revel in my continued evility of not reading said author’s works, even for money. And encouraging others who, if they feel that way about Moon’s works, to not feel ashamed about doing the same.
Though at the same time, if you do want to continue reading Moon’s works, that’s fine with me, too. There’s a lot I’m missing out, I know, due to not reading That One Author—but that’s one line I only cross by spending more sanity points than my character currently has.
