Exactly. And if it's a well thought-out opinion, being dissected won't actually hurt the opinion at all, merely explain the rationale behind it.
Only poorly thought-out opinions can't withstand analysis.
Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...
- Thread starter Nerdius Maximus
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Exactly. And if it's a well thought-out opinion, being dissected won't actually hurt the opinion at all, merely explain the rationale behind it.
Only poorly thought-out opinions can't withstand analysis.
Ah, but you see, the act of dissection is also opinionated. Instead of dissecting to see the merits of the opinion, one can dissect to merely see the demerits or to misinterpret and misread the opinion with unwarranted negative assumptions to show that it only has demerits. And sometimes the latter kind of dissection can become disgusting, especially to people who neither have the time nor the inclination to go into lengthy debates as to why they like apples and not oranges. (As an aside: language is not perfect; our use of it even less so. It's just as easy to read something positively as to read it negatively)
And of course there's the question of why one has the need to rigorously analyze anyone else's post that's clearly an opinion and not about facts in the real world. After all, this isn't a scientific journal. Wanting to understand a different point of view is one thing; attempting to change/correct or "prove" that someone is "wrong" on an Internet BBS is quite another.
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I hear he was born in Kenya, is secretly a jihadist, and wants to turn this country into a socialist hellhole.Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
I think Christopher's an excellent sci-fi author. And he's probably a good scientist as well. As for his love life and political affiliations, I couldn't care less. I hope he is doing well financially so that he may continue to do the things that he likes to do and give us more good stories to consume. I suppose that should sum up the sentiments of most people here who like his books.
I've never yet stopped reading someone's books because of their personality, and I'm certainly not doing so now. Looking forward to CLB's next offering.
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Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
I think Christopher's an excellent sci-fi author. And he's probably a good scientist as well. As for his love life and political affiliations, I couldn't care less. I hope he is doing well financially so that he may continue to do the things that he likes to do and give us more good stories to consume. I suppose that should sum up the sentiments of most people here who like his books.
I would like to add that your posts have been the most reasonable, fair and intelligent ones I've read here. And that's including mine!
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Perhaps you didn't understand what kind of innocuous opinions I meant.
I'm not talking about anything political or religious or anything close to that.
I'm using the example of mine of the use of apostrophes in alien's names. You really should check out that thread to see how silly his responses became in the sense of having a lot of information on how apostrophes are used and so forth while missing the point.
There's another thread where the Constitution class Enterprise is compared to a 747 airliner and someone said that they thought the Enterprise would've been bigger than this picture showed it to be. His post started with "On the contrary..."
So you see I've no problem with an opinion being dissected...but we're talking about minor trivialities of Star Trek here!
Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
I think Christopher's an excellent sci-fi author. And he's probably a good scientist as well. As for his love life and political affiliations, I couldn't care less. I hope he is doing well financially so that he may continue to do the things that he likes to do and give us more good stories to consume. I suppose that should sum up the sentiments of most people here who like his books.
I would like to add that your posts have been the most reasonable, fair and intelligent ones I've read here. And that's including mine!
Thanks! Just throwing in my few cents.
I hear he was born in Kenya, is secretly a jihadist, and wants to turn this country into a socialist hellhole.Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
And worst of all, he may be a Red Sox fan.
And worst of all, he may be a Red Sox fan.
Best kind of fan there is.
The Bronx can suck it.
Some people don't read/buy Christopher's books because of posts here, OK fine. We don't need to get into the gory details of what was said how where and to whom.
Thanks
Thanks
And worst of all, he may be a Red Sox fan.
Best kind of fan there is.
So much temptation, soooooooooooo little time today.
Why not?
And worst of all, he may be a Red Sox fan.
Best kind of fan there is.
You first.
And worst of all, he may be a Red Sox fan.
Best kind of fan there is.
You first.
Oh SNAP.
Oh SNAP.
And welcome to the reason I'm adamantly against both teams.
But isn't this more for the sports forum, guys?
I agree with your statement. And yes, so far he is the only author that has disappointed me so much I think twice before buying his work. He has made several statements to me that I thought were over the top. Sometimes, I don't post just because I don't want my opinion torn to shreds.
Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
I'm beginning to understand why he just started his own blog...
Okay, so we've covered Christopher's posting style as well as any possible social disorders...
*checks off items from list*
Now, when are we going to talk about his love life, finances, and political affiliations? Come on, people! We have to get moving if we're going to completely dissect the man's entire existence! I want blood!
I'm beginning to understand why he just started his own blog...
Right, 'cause it's not like he said why he started his own blog or anything.
I know THAT feeling. Like I said, lack of consideration towards others in a fiction author--whose job it is to understand motivations and the effects of words upon different types of characters (not just clones of oneself)--is something I find particularly irritating. Either it's deliberate (and given the job description I just cited it could be), or it's a case of being oblivious of a) how one sounds or b) how others actually regard said behavior.
If someone is deliberately being rude, then they sure won't get my money...why should I reward bad behavior?
But let's say it's the second scenario--just being oblivious. When I see that sort of behavior, I find myself less able to believe that author's characterization or forgive the flaws in that area. After all, if there is a lack of understanding of real-life interactions, how can I expect to read a book with convincing and diverse characters whose motivations and emotions make sense? If the author has little experience in connecting with people who are not very, very similar to him/herself, then what is there to inform the writing? Merely studying interactions in the academic sense will only carry so far. And if you get in the position of having to write about emotional experiences you've never had (and dealing with as many aliens as Trekdom does, that's par for the course whether you're single, married, or of any belief persuasion, etc.) and get your audience to buy it, it takes a tremendous degree of empathy to get people to buy it. If that's lacking, it's going to fall flat.
It's no coincidence, perhaps, that this is the exact failing I found in Torrent Sea--what character action we did see was in a wholly unsympathetic vein...that is, when the characters weren't doing a Michael Crichton and taking a complete backseat to the various scientific ramblings. Once I knew that lack of interpersonal skills was there, I couldn't un-know it and the results in the actual product were blatantly obvious. Now, I will say that Torrent Sea was probably the weakest of his works thus far and other works didn't exhibit the problems to quite the same degree--so that was also a factor. But, based on Torrent Sea AND the unfortunate behavior I've witnessed here, I can safely say that should I read his books again, I'll be making a trip to the library. Or going to the "library" that only has new books and a coffee shop in which to read them.
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