The Tortoise Neil Gaiman series was fascinating, and it's been sad to see that the response has been mostly either "he's a monster" or "she's Boris Johnson's sister you know".
I also find it interesting that his online fandom is completely disgusted with him while Netflix, Prime et al are silent. They can make their new seasons but without his fans, they're not going to get watched.
I think the podcast is great but it is a bit 'have your cake and eat it' - the hosts know that the allegations are on the edge of being provable in court, so they focus on the nature of consent in general, not whether Gaiman is 'guilty' or not. (to be fair, a lot of true crime adjacent podcasts do this, to give the subject matter a veneer of respectability). OTOH it's pretty clear from how they tweak the details of the story that they want the listener to condemn him. As a result fans *have* condemned him (check out r/neilgaimanuncovered) but the press hasn't got an angle really, except to repeat the claims of the podcast. The only logical thing Gaiman and the showrunners can do is remain silent and hope that fans watch the adaptations anyway/most people haven't heard the story. It will be interesting to see if the allegations do affect viewing figures and/or are mentioned in reviews.
Were other people wondering about Amanda Palmer's role in all this? I was fairly shocked by the "hiring your much younger fan girl with no obvious relevant experience as a nanny and then not paying her".
According to Scarlett, Palmer said she was the 14th woman to come to her about Gaiman's behavior. If Palmer did say that, it's damning that she'd hire Scarlett and put her in harm's way -- let alone w/out a warning.
This is the first I'm hearing of it, but just reading the podcast subtitles it comes across as very he-says-she-says. In general, men can be very very thick, which is why being served divorce papers often takes them by surprise. A 20yo woman is not responsible for a man's inability to listen, but neither is it a crime if he doesn't pick up subtext.
I want to defend my wives and daughters and Christianity from replacement by Bigfeet. I'm told you need bullets made of silver. Will crypto do instead?
I’ve long suspected Gaiman might not be all he seems to be - in fact, I can date it quite precisely to the joint interview he gave The Sunday Times with his wife Amanda Palmer, in which they talked about their open marriage. And the podcast brought back memories of being pursued by wealthy married men, much older than me, when I was a young penniless student(fortunately, my experience wasn’t anywhere near as traumatic), so I’ve found Scarlett’s testimony very convincing, though I can see why people, especially men, might consider her unreliable.
It continues to baffle me that anyone thinks that Tommy Robinson was ever actually interested in justice for victims of sexual abuse, and rather an excuse for a punch-up and some publicity, with a side-order of racism.
The fact that he repeatedly behaves in ways that endangers abusers being safely convicted should make that obvious.
The problem is, RFK is kinda onto something, although he's biting the wrong end of the stick. Once you've dealt with an intransigent medical problem that the medical establishment cannot or will not solve, and then you solve it by finding an environmental trigger, you start wondering what else they are missing or denying. I don't know if the problem is microplastics or vaccines or what, but there is definitely something happening and the only people who are trying to figure it out get classified as kooks. This is very frustrating for those who are suffering.
It is not a conspiracy of collusion, but there is a conspiracy of choosing to ignore something because it has become a political hot potato. I do not enjoy reading books by people who talk about "leaky gut syndrome" and "delayed vaccine schedules" but these are the only people who have something helpful to tell me when my doctors just shrug and say "live with it". And the results are not in my head: they are specific and measurable.
But his actions have consequences. Look up Samoa. His intervention led to the government halting MMR jabs in Samoa, which was (predictably) followed by an outbreak of measles. 83 people died, mostly kids
Never forget, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
You are still far better off listening to doctors - as maddening as they can be - than wading in the waters of quackery and hoping that one of them has stumbled upon something real.
I enjoyed the piece about T. Pretty sure I read it back in the day, but rereading it in the light of 2024 was refreshing for all its pre-trans certainty about what constitutes a man and a woman and the effects of T on both.
It’s hilarious to me that some people are acting surprised that Sullivan jumped at the first opportunity he had to ‘more in sorrow than in anger’ vote for Trump
So many of these guys just refuse to accept it’s not 2020 anymore, basically everyone now accepts that things went a bit overboard back then, thankfully people like yourself were around to push back on the more extreme positions people were taking. Then thankfully u won, there is no doubt in my mind it must have been awful for you at the time, having to speak out against your tribe and being attacked in the most vicious ways for doing so must have been depressing and infuriating, but you won and now the positions you took then are basically the new orthodoxy.
So it is ludicrous that people like Sullivan who actually really enjoyed that time, it gave them permission to be back with their tribe attacking the left again after a few years of lukewarm Never-Trumpism, so he couldn’t have been happier, so now him and his type can’t accept the fact that you won and it’s 2024 not 2020
So he pretends that Kamala is completely defined by some quite silly answers she have to keep the groups onside in the Primary and ignores her 2 decades of political life either side of it and thus grants himself permission to support Trump in the election
This was the most predictable outcome in history and I’m really surprised people act surprised that it’s happened
I confess to looking up Trump's age while wondering "surely he will drop dead; how much damage can he really do" because I don't want to vote for either, but not voting at all doesn't seem like a great alternative. Sadly, 78 ain't what it used to be; most of my grandparents put 20 cranky years on that.
The Tortoise Neil Gaiman series was fascinating, and it's been sad to see that the response has been mostly either "he's a monster" or "she's Boris Johnson's sister you know".
I also find it interesting that his online fandom is completely disgusted with him while Netflix, Prime et al are silent. They can make their new seasons but without his fans, they're not going to get watched.
I think the podcast is great but it is a bit 'have your cake and eat it' - the hosts know that the allegations are on the edge of being provable in court, so they focus on the nature of consent in general, not whether Gaiman is 'guilty' or not. (to be fair, a lot of true crime adjacent podcasts do this, to give the subject matter a veneer of respectability). OTOH it's pretty clear from how they tweak the details of the story that they want the listener to condemn him. As a result fans *have* condemned him (check out r/neilgaimanuncovered) but the press hasn't got an angle really, except to repeat the claims of the podcast. The only logical thing Gaiman and the showrunners can do is remain silent and hope that fans watch the adaptations anyway/most people haven't heard the story. It will be interesting to see if the allegations do affect viewing figures and/or are mentioned in reviews.
Were other people wondering about Amanda Palmer's role in all this? I was fairly shocked by the "hiring your much younger fan girl with no obvious relevant experience as a nanny and then not paying her".
Yeah and going out while the kid is on a playdate, leaving the nanny with the husband on her first day at work
According to Scarlett, Palmer said she was the 14th woman to come to her about Gaiman's behavior. If Palmer did say that, it's damning that she'd hire Scarlett and put her in harm's way -- let alone w/out a warning.
This is the first I'm hearing of it, but just reading the podcast subtitles it comes across as very he-says-she-says. In general, men can be very very thick, which is why being served divorce papers often takes them by surprise. A 20yo woman is not responsible for a man's inability to listen, but neither is it a crime if he doesn't pick up subtext.
I want to defend my wives and daughters and Christianity from replacement by Bigfeet. I'm told you need bullets made of silver. Will crypto do instead?
I’ve long suspected Gaiman might not be all he seems to be - in fact, I can date it quite precisely to the joint interview he gave The Sunday Times with his wife Amanda Palmer, in which they talked about their open marriage. And the podcast brought back memories of being pursued by wealthy married men, much older than me, when I was a young penniless student(fortunately, my experience wasn’t anywhere near as traumatic), so I’ve found Scarlett’s testimony very convincing, though I can see why people, especially men, might consider her unreliable.
Loved the article, as always. Helen, you are the reason I recently subscribed to The Atlantic!
It continues to baffle me that anyone thinks that Tommy Robinson was ever actually interested in justice for victims of sexual abuse, and rather an excuse for a punch-up and some publicity, with a side-order of racism.
The fact that he repeatedly behaves in ways that endangers abusers being safely convicted should make that obvious.
The problem is, RFK is kinda onto something, although he's biting the wrong end of the stick. Once you've dealt with an intransigent medical problem that the medical establishment cannot or will not solve, and then you solve it by finding an environmental trigger, you start wondering what else they are missing or denying. I don't know if the problem is microplastics or vaccines or what, but there is definitely something happening and the only people who are trying to figure it out get classified as kooks. This is very frustrating for those who are suffering.
It is not a conspiracy of collusion, but there is a conspiracy of choosing to ignore something because it has become a political hot potato. I do not enjoy reading books by people who talk about "leaky gut syndrome" and "delayed vaccine schedules" but these are the only people who have something helpful to tell me when my doctors just shrug and say "live with it". And the results are not in my head: they are specific and measurable.
But his actions have consequences. Look up Samoa. His intervention led to the government halting MMR jabs in Samoa, which was (predictably) followed by an outbreak of measles. 83 people died, mostly kids
Never forget, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
You are still far better off listening to doctors - as maddening as they can be - than wading in the waters of quackery and hoping that one of them has stumbled upon something real.
I enjoyed the piece about T. Pretty sure I read it back in the day, but rereading it in the light of 2024 was refreshing for all its pre-trans certainty about what constitutes a man and a woman and the effects of T on both.
It’s hilarious to me that some people are acting surprised that Sullivan jumped at the first opportunity he had to ‘more in sorrow than in anger’ vote for Trump
So many of these guys just refuse to accept it’s not 2020 anymore, basically everyone now accepts that things went a bit overboard back then, thankfully people like yourself were around to push back on the more extreme positions people were taking. Then thankfully u won, there is no doubt in my mind it must have been awful for you at the time, having to speak out against your tribe and being attacked in the most vicious ways for doing so must have been depressing and infuriating, but you won and now the positions you took then are basically the new orthodoxy.
So it is ludicrous that people like Sullivan who actually really enjoyed that time, it gave them permission to be back with their tribe attacking the left again after a few years of lukewarm Never-Trumpism, so he couldn’t have been happier, so now him and his type can’t accept the fact that you won and it’s 2024 not 2020
So he pretends that Kamala is completely defined by some quite silly answers she have to keep the groups onside in the Primary and ignores her 2 decades of political life either side of it and thus grants himself permission to support Trump in the election
This was the most predictable outcome in history and I’m really surprised people act surprised that it’s happened
"Hard to imagine that a working class former meth and heroine addict would end up running for the presidency."
Have we all forgotten Joe Exotic so quickly?
Big Foot is a protective forest spirit who appears to child predators so they will announce themselves by proclaiming to have seen Big Foot.
I confess to looking up Trump's age while wondering "surely he will drop dead; how much damage can he really do" because I don't want to vote for either, but not voting at all doesn't seem like a great alternative. Sadly, 78 ain't what it used to be; most of my grandparents put 20 cranky years on that.
Is it just me or does Neil Gaiman look a hell of a lot like Alan Rickman? in particular Alan Rickman how he looked when filming Dogma?