Department of really bad analogies department:
JK Rowling has
hit backat Vladimir Putin, after the Russian president cited her in a wide-ranging speech that saw him criticise “cancel culture”.
Pause for correction: she hasn’t “hit back”; she has rejected the comparison.
At a televised meeting on Friday, Mr Putin compared recent criticism of the Harry Potter author to that faced by pro-war Russian composers and writers.
“Pro-war” is sloppy too, since the issue isn’t war in general but this specific “war” which is an unprovoked attack by a massive nuclear-armed country on a much smaller one with no nukes.
In the lengthy speech, which was given to the winners of various cultural prizes, President Putin claimed Russian composers and writers were being discriminated against.
“They are trying to cancel a thousand-year-old country,” he said.
No we’re not. Tolstoy and Turgenev remain on our shelves, Chekhov plays still fill theaters, Balanchine is still an influence on ballet. We wouldn’t dream of canceling them, it’s Putin we’d like to cancel.
Rowling’s response:
Comments
13 responses to “Murderous monster says what now?”
Depends which “we” you are talking about. There have certainly been incidents (US, Germany, Italy, elsewhere) of targeting the works of classic Russian authors and composers in misguided anti-Russian fervor in the wake of this war. I don’t have the impression it’s widespread, but it exists. Vodka is also being boycotted, even for companies having nothing to do with Russia. Restaurants are renaming Russian Dressing. Stupidity abounds.
Might this be trolling on Mad Vlad’s part?
He’s probably aware enough of Western culture wars to know that saying “J.K. Rowling was cancelled!” will work Owen Jones, David Klion, Laurie Penny and the rest of the Influential Media Conformists into a feeding frenzy.
I think it’s hilarious that Putin thinks this is clever on his part. It’s even funnier that the usual gang of useful idiots are trying to make it out as some kind of slam against Rowling.
Sackbut – Good grief. I didn’t know that.
PZ commented on this, and did not cover himself in glory. “Man, if Putin said he admired me, I’d be scrambling to disavow it (and rushing to take a shower) and would be seriously reconsidering my life. I wonder what kind of rambling screed Rowling is going to write about this? I halfway expect that she will graciously thank him and express her appreciation. I hope she’s not that far gone.”
Dumb. I wonder if he will acknowledge her disavowal at all. A commenter quoted her response in the comments but he has not replied.
Another one to add to Sackbut above:
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/beauty-salon-killer-russians-receiving-death-threats-for-name-amid-conflict-in-ukraine/news-story/018341784d28f9f0600fca988ee08b5d
Good grief. He doesn’t suspect any such thing. He knows perfectly well that she’s not “that far gone” – and I think he probably knows she’s not “gone” at all.
Hell, some people are even going after poutine.
I saw it more at Putin laughing at the UK and the USA — like, “yeah, you woke-infested weaklings act like toughs against uppity women but here I am invading another country and you are all sitting there crying and putting up your little sanctions instead of fighting. Hey, Biden, why don’t you just sign an Executive Order to make transgenderism your new state religion”
Putin has seen the Biden is useless and that the people around him are even more useless. I have no idea what Putin really thinks this invasion will do for Russia or if he is doing it for his own ego but he obviously does not fear the West right now.
Ophelia – I think you’re right on this. Pz knows better but he’s pandering. It’s been a great disappointment.
Mike,
I no longer have any doubt that you’re right. I still haven’t quite got over that cartoon he posted the other day.
What strikes me most about all this is the laziness of the gleeful reception of Putin’s words from the usual suspects. Putin isn’t even praising or defending JKR, he’s criticising a culture that would cancel her for no coherent reason. How on Earth that makes them ‘allies’ is beyond comprehension. And especially so since she rejects the notion, very much walking the walk.
And I do think that in the gentler times of even five years ago, those same suspects might have said “Well, that Rowling’s a proper Karen transphobe bitch and no mistake….. but fair play to her on the whole giving awau bloody great wadges of money to Ukrainian orphans thing.”
But these days, they can’t even bring themselves to do that. Perhaps because the hole they’ve dug for themselves is too deep, perhaps because they dragged so many people in after them. They know that if they give the slightest grunt of admiration, they’re cancelled too.
And PZ is one of the worst of them, because he built his reputation on being unafraid to say what he thinks. Bullshit.
“misguided anti-Russian fervor”
Were there examples of that sort of idiocy before WWI
I know that then people did things like rename Berlin Ontario to Kitchener Ontario, or German Shepherd dogs to ‘Alsatian’, but I’m not sure if it was common in earlier wars.
Probably less so in earlier wars because mass communication didn’t really exist. Pre-telegraph it wasn’t possible to whip up crowds over a vast distance.