On Writing About "On Writing About Writing"
This has gone far enough.
Good evening.
As you know, the honorable—at least I THOUGHT he was honorable—Slater of
recently put out a piece of commentary that I could not find it within myself to ignore.The aforementioned Slater, if that is his real name, made several points that I vehemently disagreed with for reasons that I will not bother to rehash here, out of respect for everyone who already read my initial response.
I freely admit that I had a hunch about some of the consequences for writing what I wrote about “On Writing About Writing,” but I could not let the matter stand. Sometimes being right is more important than being kind. Sometimes it’s more important than being safe. Sometimes it’s more important than being welcomed back at your family’s favorite restaurant ever again. And damn it, this is one of those times.
Those consequences for my incredibly hot take have been swift and ferocious. I have been harassed by members of the alt-right, the alt-left, the traditional right, the traditional left, centrists, “apolitical” people, everyone. People are so mad at me that they’re mad at
for some reason. And just a few minutes ago, my tires were slashed—well, not slashed, but someone parked my car way too close to the curb and now one of them looks like it’s flat. People are taking this way too far.My response to all the hate is this: if you can’t deal with a guy writing about another guy writing about writing, what are you doing on this platform in the first place? Is this where you get your news or something? Or are you just really into chefs writing poetry?
Lame. Get a job. All of you, go get jobs. And hobbies. And girlfriends. Even AI ones. Apparently that’s a thing now.
I will never apologize for what I said. Never. Just like I will never apologize to Toby who works at the Cheesecake Factory on 47th Avenue..
I said fries, goddamnit. I have witnesses.
Yours,
Thomas Clark Schecter
(You can read my original statement here.)