A few years ago, I wrote a blog here, Neil Gaiman and the Lie of Purity. This was mostly about how he, and I, have an ethos about adaptations that does not at all resemble being a ‘purist’, but it did start with the following passage, which has aged not merely like milk but like diseased milk painted onto a clown’s corpse:

Gaiman occupies an unusual place, to me. He’s a middle-aged white British celebrity, which these days puts him in a demographic practically guaranteed to be hostile, but by all accounts he’s a good guy. Like, properly a good guy, of the understands-his-privilege and now supports the liberation of all minorities…

Of course he fooled me. I’m pretty sure he fooled virtually everyone who wasn’t in the actual circles in which he traveled (eg. high up in the convention circuit), and a pretty good chunk of the ones who were. It’s been months since this all started coming out, and former fans are still trying to figure out how to deal with it; the new even more horrifying exposé that came out today has touched off a new round of soul-searching and cynicism, so let’s talk about the two questions I encountered today that seem to sum it up. [Read more…]