• NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    He stopped using it for that very reason, and took accountability. People are allowed to self correct, if he understands the problem with what he did and course corrected without being called out for it what would throwing more stones accomplish?

    Edit: Also, not a big enough deal to say you shouldn’t read his books. Especially considering the narrative reason as to why he was using it.

    • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      I’m not throwing any stones, yo. I’m just pointing out you can’t exactly say he’s not problematic. I have a tolerance for problematicity so it’s of no bother to me.

      • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        The word problematic is kind of weasely used this way. The pen name had an in-universe rationale that made sense and was funny because of the incongruity. Merely alluding to the existence of ethnicity isn’t “problematic” in itself.

        • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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          3 days ago

          I’m not the on who brought the word problematic into this conversation. But I bet you if I put a poll on, say, tumblr, asking about different potentially problematic things, “pretending to be asian” would score highly on the problematic scale.

          • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            He wasn’t pretending to be asian, though, the book John Dies at The End makes that very clear and gives a silly in universe reason for the now dead pseudonym. It really was not problematic, even at the time of it being used.

            • WhatsTheHoldup@lemmy.ml
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              2 days ago

              Just a few comments up you said

              He stopped using it for that very reason, and took accountability. People are allowed to self correct, if he understands the problem with what he did and course corrected

              Now that you were pushed on it a bit you’re saying

              It really was not problematic, even at the time of it being used.

              Something about this interaction feels really dishonest.

              Was there a problem he needed to take accountability for or not?

            • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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              2 days ago

              Then I will rephrase – asking tumblr “is it problematic for a white person to go by an obviously Asian name as a pseudonym,” I feel that even phrased that way they would still say “yes.”

              I don’t really use the word ‘problematic’ in the social justice sense myself because it’s incredibly vague, but if you’re going to specifically use the word problematic and claim that Jason Pargin isn’t, then I feel that it’s a pretty cut-and-dry “yes that was ‘problematic’” scenario.

      • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        If he was still using the pseudonym and making excuses to keep using it, sure, but I’m of the opinion that once someone understands what they have done wrong and took the opportunity to learn from it and do better there is no more wrong doing. There are, of course, exceptions to this, but a pseudonym that someone came up with in their 20’s and had the wherewithal later to say, “That’s not ok, I need to stop doing that” and stopped doing that for the right reasons is pretty far from a reason to call them problematic, especially when it wasn’t a decision made under any form of duress and he has made no attempt at defending his choice to have used that pseudonym and stated it was not ok for him to have used that pseudonym.

        Edit: Also, it was used in a narrative context of the main character trying to throw off his identity, if They’re looking for David Wong then they wouldn’t assume it’s the burnt out white dude.

        • Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I’ve heard him on a bunch of podcasts and keep meaning to try his books. I’ve got a copy of this book is full of spiders, I’ll have to give it a go.

          Where’s a good place to start with his stuff?

          • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            John Dies At The End was his first book and where I started. It’s also neat to watch his writing style evolve. I’d say John Dies or Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, those are the first books for his two ongoing series, if you’re feeling more into horror or sci-fi.

            What podcasts? Are you a Dog Zone 9000 fan by chance?

            • Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world
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              22 hours ago

              Great, cheers I’ll try John dies at the end.

              I’ve heard him as a frequent guest on gamefully unemployed and small beans podcasts. They’re focused on movies, he’s full of interesting takes.

              • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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                22 hours ago

                Also a big fan of all of those guys, and pretty much all of the old Cracked crew and their podcasts, he pops in on all of them. He also regularly does a podcast with the Dog Zone guys called Bigfeets where they talk about every episode of Mountain Monsters and it is one of my favorite things that has ever happened.