Best selling author Sarah Dessen sends twitter followers after a college student for not liking her books

whytemyke · Nov 17, 2019

Bricktop said:
You forgot the 6th fuck up. Here's a hint...the first 80% of this thread.

Imagine they're both white. Imagine not going off half cocked and jumping to conclusions and trying to turn this into a racial issue.

Now, compare that to what you and most of this thread have done. Imagine.

Bricktop said:
You know it's funny. I first read about this on Reddit, and then Googled it, and not a single, solitary article mentions race or minority. The entire reason I first clicked this thread was because minority is listed in the OP and I was wondering wtf I'd missed in earlier articles. Then I read the thread and see nothing but white people this, white woman that, fragility, racism, etc. etc., and it's all bullshit. Not one of these people took the time, when they were clearly looking this story on social media or other means, to check the facts. That includes a mod, btw. And here we are, the OP still hasn't been update, nor the title, and NOT ONE SINGLE person has admitted that they fucked up. This thread is embarrassing, and most likely, like every other time ERA jumps on something without the facts, they'll all slink away hoping the thread drops off the face of the earth.

Way to keep ERA so much better than the rest of the internet, guys!

Bricktop said:
Try reading the last few posts. What does being white have anything to do with this and why would she go on Tucker Carlson over an issue with ANOTHER WHITE WOMAN?

And why does this thread still have this bullshit fake ass title? There is no minority in this story.

Bricktop said:
About what I expected. Did you bother reading this shitty thread and all the clowns who tried to turn this woman into some racist nazi asshole? It's a joke of a thread and your deflection from all of these people jumping on this woman about flat out lies is just as laughable.

Again, why is the thread title and the majority of people in this thread trying to portray this woman as a fragile, white racist?

Never mind, it turns out you're one of these clowns with multiple posts that don't fit reality. Good to see your doubling down instead of admitting that you knee jerked your way into multiple idiotic hot takes. Like I said expected, so deflect and slink away like the rest of them.

Stop being a douchebag to people.

Also I replied to your bullshit about me not reading the thread. Either apologize to me for that trash post or back up your point and prove how I'm wrong for saying this isn't some Fox News-tier garbage.

(Or is this where you slink away from a thread after you've been shown to look like a twat? After yourself accusing others of doing the same thing?)

Advance.Wars.Sgt. · Nov 17, 2019

The incorrect racial lens this thread was framed under was indeed wrong and makes a lot of the posts ITT....childish, to say the least.

Likewise, this gross mistake by the OP does not absolve Dessen for her actions, which led to the subsequent harassment of the student. Feel however you want about the student's criticism, but you do not get to blame her for receiving the level of backlash on social media when she neither asked nor instigated the conflict.

Bricktop and The Teachinator (for example) should be mindful of that.

Deepwater · Nov 17, 2019

If the title is misleading, report the thread, that's been the process to get it changed since forever.

NoName999 · Nov 17, 2019

Also, it's still white privilege in action.

Do the people crying and wetting themselves over an error honestly think a black author harassing a white girl would get as much sympathy as Dessen is now?

Hell, they probably don't even actually care about the error or else they would have PRIVATELY told a mod about it. They just wanted to get off acting morally superior to the Era collective.

Bricktop · Nov 17, 2019

Nerokis said:
the irony here is that you're trying really, really hard to make this about race, latching onto the fact that some incorrectly believed the college student to be non-white, when the vast majority of the criticism holds up either way

like, look at the post that has been unfairly cited as "painting Dessen as a racist" or whatever:

#1 remains applicable, #3 remains applicable, #2 is inapplicable in terms of racial dynamics but remains applicable in terms of power dynamics

oh, and seeing as a lot of emphasis has been put on the comments about white fragility, those also hold up just fine - a PoC doesn't have to be involved for white fragility to manifest itself

Circle the wagons. Never admit your mistakes. Gotcha.

And "incorrectly believed" my ass. This story was all over the place well before the OP posted it. The Op invented the minority angle so they could complain about white fragility. Literally no where else on the internet does the word minority exist in this story except in this thread. It's a fabrication of this single conversation that exists no where else and people around here seem to be just fine with that fact.

Why can't you guys just admit the fact that maybe, just maybe, you all jumped the gun and fucked up instead of doubling down on this stupidity?

whytemyke said:
Stop being a douchebag to people.

Also I replied to your bullshit about me not reading the thread. Either apologize to me for that trash post or back up your point and prove how I'm wrong for saying this isn't some Fox News-tier garbage.

(Or is this where you slink away from a thread after you've been shown to look like a twat? After yourself accusing others of doing the same thing?)

The FOX news angle is just weak sauce. You invent a racist and then invent her going on Tucker Carlson to prove your invented narrative. Why would I apologize to you when your pulling the same nonsense that the first 4 pages of this thread pulled?

Advance.Wars.Sgt. said:
The incorrect racial lens this thread was framed under was indeed wrong and makes a lot of the posts ITT....childish, to say the least.

Likewise, this gross mistake by the OP does not absolve Dessen for her actions, which led to the subsequent harassment of the student. Feel however you want about the student's criticism, but you do not get to blame her for receiving the level of backlash on social media when she neither asked nor instigated the conflict.

Bricktop and The Teachinator (for example) should be mindful of that.

I 100% agree. What she did was shitty and I never said otherwise. 80% of this thread is also shitty and the fact people can't admit that and keep doubling down on that nonsense is equally embarassing.

Deepwater said:
If the title is misleading, report the thread, that's been the process to get it changed since forever.

A mod posted in this thread, I replied to their post, and it's still not changed. They know.

NoName999 said:
Also, it's still white privilege in action.

Do the people crying and wetting themselves over an error honestly think a black author harassing a white girl would get as much sympathy as Dessen is now?

Hell, they probably don't even actually care about the error or else they would have PRIVATELY told a mod about it. They just wanted to get off acting morally superior to the Era collective.

Or maybe they're just calling you on your bullshit? Keep making this about race, though, it's just proving my point.

Nerokis · Nov 17, 2019

Bricktop said:
Circle the wagons. Never admit your mistakes. Gotcha.

And "incorrectly believed" my ass. This story was all over the place well before the OP posted it. The Op invented the minority angle so they could complain about white fragility. Literally no where else on the internet does the word minority exist in this story except in this thread. It's a fabrication of this single conversation that exists no where else and people around here seem to be just fine with that fact.

Why can't you guys just admit the fact that maybe, just maybe, you all jumped the gun and fucked up instead of doubling down on this stupidity?

you're deflecting

also, I posted this all the way back on page 1, where did I jump the gun?

Nerokis said:
To be clear, the article that sparked this was posted November 12th, 2019 in a local paper: Common Read hits 10 years at Northern

Somehow this famous author came across that article, zoomed in on that one single, innocuous comment, and decided to turn it into a whole damn thing.

Seriously, fuck this. When you're a creator, especially a popular one, you're supposed to be able to tolerate the basic fact that some people won't like your work. Dessen had no evidence of some grand injustice here, where a strong strain of misogyny was suppressing the representation of female authors in general; all of this is based on a snippet in which a college student expressed the feeling that Dessen's work wasn't fit for college-level courses, and so focused on bringing attention to something like Just Mercy...how horrible, right? Based on other articles, it seems like this Common Read initiative has done an above average job boosting female authors, including female authors of color, and that seems like important context to me.

Now, it's true that society generally needs to do a better job boosting, as opposed to stigmatizing, the things that teen girls and young women enjoy. That doesn't suddenly mean exploiting a vast power asymmetry to foster backlash at one of those young women for what she doesn't enjoy. The YA community truly needs more chill.

but keep up with that toxic level of confirmation bias, where "some number of people believed the college student was a PoC" becomes an all-encompassing fact for reasons that remain unexplained

oh, and again, this is still partially a story about white fragility

JonesiiiFromtheMoon · Nov 17, 2019

Advance.Wars.Sgt. said:
The incorrect racial lens this thread was framed under was indeed wrong and makes a lot of the posts ITT....childish, to say the least.

Likewise, this gross mistake by the OP does not absolve Dessen for her actions, which led to the subsequent harassment of the student. Feel however you want about the student's criticism, but you do not get to blame her for receiving the level of backlash on social media when she neither asked nor instigated the conflict.

Bricktop and The Teachinator (for example) should be mindful of that.

Bricktop said:
Circle the wagons. Never admit your mistakes. Gotcha.

And "incorrectly believed" my ass. This story was all over the place well before the OP posted it. The Op invented the minority angle so they could complain about white fragility. Literally no where else on the internet does the word minority exist in this story except in this thread. It's a fabrication of this single conversation that exists no where else and people around here seem to be just fine with that fact.

Why can't you guys just admit the fact that maybe, just maybe, you all jumped the gun and fucked up instead of doubling down on this stupidity?

The FOX news angle is just weak sauce. You invent a racist and then invent her going on Tucker Carlson to prove your invented narrative. Why would I apologize to you when your pulling the same nonsense that the first 4 pages of this thread pulled?

I 100% agree. What she did was shitty and I never said otherwise. 80% of this thread is also shitty and the fact people can't admit that and keep doubling down on that nonsense is equally embarassing.

A mod posted in this thread, I replied to their post, and it's still not changed. They know.

Or maybe they're just calling you on your bullshit? Keep making this about race, though, it's just proving my point.

Hey, apologies on the minority angle, I did read this story on Jezebel and a lot of the comments were commenting on that fact so it is something i came into it with. That feeling was attached so I put that into my response. I didnt "invent a minority angle". But i did perpetuate it and for that I apologize. This is an interesting topic enough without adding my feelings to it so i apologize. I hope everyone can stop bickering and find a footing.

Added an edit in the op

NoName999 · Nov 17, 2019

So NOW can we talk about how horrible this author is instead of harping on honest-to-god errors to avoid defending her directly

Bricktop · Nov 17, 2019

JonesiiiFromtheMoon said:
Hey, apologies on the minority angle, I did read this story on Jezebel and a lot of the comments were commenting on that fact so it is something i came into it with. That feeling was attached so I put that into my response. I didnt "invent a minority angle". But i did perpetuate it and for that I apologize. This is an interesting topic enough without adding my feelings to it so i apologize. I hope everyone can stop bickering and find a footing.

Added an edit in the op

My apologies. And thank you for editing the Op.

whytemyke · Nov 17, 2019

Bricktop said:
The FOX news angle is just weak sauce. You invent a racist and then invent her going on Tucker Carlson to prove your invented narrative. Why would I apologize to you when your pulling the same nonsense that the first 4 pages of this thread pulled?

lol you are so full of shit it's unreal. Invent a racist? Dude I said that Fox News shit before you even mentioned anything to me. You're the one who has the reading comprehension of a high school sophomore and immediately *assumed* you knew what I was talking about without really connecting the dots. Like, are you unable to see how this whole dialogue can EASILY be turned into a Fox News talking point? Is that beyond your grasp?

Apologize for trying to assume that I didn't read the thread and then not understanding what I was saying.

(Really, if you were a decent person you'd apologize for just being an antagonist in the thread, too, rather than actually trying to have a reasoned, level-headed conversation with your fellow forum-members. But that doesn't allow you to look like the hero in your own little Euripides play that you've got playing out in your head here, so I'm not holding my breath.)

Tochtli79 · Nov 17, 2019

I mean, maybe Dressen could have taken this as motivation to write a YA novel that really pushes her creatively, that tackles important social issues or current events while elevating her writing to the standards of college reading (excerpts of her work that have been posted do not impress), so that the student would be proven wrong through her work itself.

Instead, she chose to bemoan this injustice done to her and encourage supporters who were attacking the student.

Best selling author Sarah Dessen sends twitter followers after a college student for not liking her books

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