Episode 41: Inside The Vicious, Deranged, Literally, Metaphorically Violent World Of Young Adult Twitter
Blocked and Reported
English - December 06, 2020 19:24 - 53 minutesSociety & Culture Comedy internet culture internet culture social justice politics Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
One would not expect an online community devoted to discussion of dragons, vampires, and teenage heroes to be a cesspool of almost unimaginable toxicity. And yet! In this episode, Jesse walks Katie through a recent history of young adult fiction Twitter, aka "YA Twitter," and attempts to explain how it got to be such a Hobbesian hellscape. The latest scandal involves Jessica Cluess, a YA author falsely accused of racism and violent speech, and the opportunistic authors, consultants, and agents rushing to denounce her in as colorful and overwrought a manner as possible.
Show notes/Links:
Please pre-order Jesse's book, "The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills," if you can: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374239800?aff=macmillan
Or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/
Vulture: The Toxic Drama on YA Twitter - https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/the-toxic-drama-of-ya-twitter.html
Tablet: How a Twitter Mob Derailed an Immigrant Female Author’s Budding Career - https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-a-twitter-mob-destroyed-a-young-immigrant-female-authors-budding-career
Reason: Teen Fiction Twitter Is Eating Its Young - https://reason.com/2019/05/05/teen-fiction-twitter-is-eating-its-young/
Reason: He Was Part of a Twitter Mob That Attacked Young Adult Novelists. Then It Turned on Him. Now His Book Is Canceled. - https://reason.com/2019/02/28/he-was-part-of-a-twitter-mob-that-attack/
Reason: A Review of a Book That Will Never Be Published, Thanks to the Young Adult Twitter Mob - https://reason.com/2019/03/15/a-review-of-a-book-will-never-be-publish/
Twitter stuff:
Jessica Cluess' apology: https://twitter.com/JessCluess/status/1333906316247457794
Brooks Sherman denouncing Cluess but not dropping her: https://twitter.com/byobrooks/status/1333967020258373632
Brooks Sherman denouncing Cluess, amplifying a false rumor about her, and dropping her: https://twitter.com/byobrooks/status/1334685571449556994
Some tweetstorms by Jesse running down some highlights of the craziness:
https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1334156650467520513
https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1334356668273070081
https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1334642155437101058
YA Twitter's Victims and Critics Speak Up (four-part series on Singal-Minded):
https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak
https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak-855
https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak-4b5
https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak-c56
Advertisers:
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bidets! - https://hellotushy.com/barpod
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