One Man's notebook this week.
I’ve been listening on and off to the BBC Sounds investigation of Kate Clanchy’s cancellation a few years ago. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s much more nuanced piece of reporting than it’s being portrayed on social media. Two episodes in, it’s clear (to me, at least) that there are some very valid and quite serious criticisms of her work being made, and that she didn’t help the situation by not really engaging with them. (And, frankly, the publishing business comes out pretty badly.)
But it’s equally clear that many of her critics are unwilling to engage with the deeper consequences of the social media storm they helped stoke. There’s a line where criticism of the work turns into criticism of the author, and where criticism of a complaint turns into criticism of the complainer.
And, it’s at that point that any chance of a meaningful conversation about the work is done. Then it’s about good guys and bad guys and tribalism.
It’s very depressing. But riveting listening.
Managed to clear 100 GB or so of cruft off my aging, but still perfectly serviceable, M1 MacBook Pro, and it’s amazing how much better it performs with some free storage space again.
Cuckmere Haven this afternoon.
Oooh. Nice to see @onionbagblog on here!