Things continue to develop in
the case against author Neil Gaiman with at least two more women coming forward
to accuse him of uncomfortable, weird sexual behavior taking place in an
unbalanced power dynamic; in other words, of taking advantage of his fame and
popularity to foist himself on females sometimes decades younger than himself.
Gaiman, who has famously touted the ‘believe all women’ doctrine, has not
denied that the encounters ever happened, but has stated that they were
completely consensual. So consensual and justifiable, in fact, that several of
the accusers were paid off and made to sign non-disclosure agreements to save
trouble and keep them quiet. Agreements, it must be pointed out, that his
accusers are now not honoring.
The former secular saint has
been so notorious along the writer’s workshop circuit that many have quietly
instituted the so-called ‘Neil Gaiman clause’ in many writer’s and lecturer’s
agreements, stating that speakers will not take advantage of their position as
teacher and mentor to sleep with their students, no matter their maturity or
willingness. Detractors have been scouring Gaiman’s works for problematic ‘kinky’
passages in a further effort to tar him as a sexual deviant (without taking
into account that, well, this is fiction), while rabid fans wring their hands
and moan, “Say it isn’t so!”, going so far as to threaten those who would dare
stain their idol.
Obliquely related, in that
it links literary matters to politics and morality, is talking torso Rachel
Maddow’s assertion that Tolkien’s works are favorites of ‘the far right’ and
that Republican vice-presidential hopeful J. D. Vance’s fondness for them (“He
named one of his companies Narya, which is just ‘Aryan’ with the ‘N’ moved to
the front!”) proves his racist, fascist bona fides (or does Vance’s approval
prove that Tolkien is racist/fascist? Either way, it’s bad, folks!) I hate
dragging fandom, even fandom for the artists themselves, into politics, and by
extension, morality. I was asked lately by someone who is very close and dear
to me whom I thought Tolkien would support, Trump or Biden (this was back when
Biden was still ‘the best Biden ever’ and sharp as a tack). I eventually
replied that there was no way of knowing that now, and that anyway fandom was
not a method of deciding these matters (he liked to compare Yoda and Gandalf to
Biden and Trump to the Emperor and Saruman, and so on). Also, I am not so sure
that the Catholic Tolkien would come down so clearly on the liberal
fetus-killing side of things as he may hope. Tolkien could be very pragmatic
when it came to deciding between two bad choices (politically).
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