Can’t believe this person had the audacity to attack Sanderson’s prose, when it took him 5 months to write “I don’t like Brandon Sanderson”.

@TheLizardKing752

Жыл бұрын

Criticising prose is, like, the most snobby angle to take as a literature critic.

@jmike426

Жыл бұрын

@@TheLizardKing752 Yeah, that whole section reeks of, “I can’t wait to get out of this hick town. I’ve got a decanter of my finest farts waiting for me back home.”

@TheLizardKing752

Жыл бұрын

@@jmike426 I sip sherry and read James Joyce on the fainting couch in the veranda with my Italian greyhound.

@jamesmontgomery7074

Жыл бұрын

To be fair, the article author did write "I don't like Brandon Sanderson" about 400 different ways so that may have taken a while.

@TundraGheist

Жыл бұрын

Even if you are calculating a slow-AF typing speed (30PWM) for an industry professional writer, It would only take around 2 hours to physically type an article of 4k words. Consider it may take another couple hours of composition to actually put the article together. What should have taken a writer a single day of work (at most) took this clown 5 months?

"Most of what he says isn't worth saying" is a hell of a take when writing an article not worth writing.

@SolitaryLark

Жыл бұрын

Right?!?!!

@SolHeiM

Жыл бұрын

That's some good projection right there.

@bjorngerlach7829

Жыл бұрын

It’s also, please forgive me, so stereotypical American. He’s basically pissed, that Sanderson doesn’t say anything “exciting” or “profound” or as he calls it: quotable. Like someone can only be interesting if they sound like some tacky piece of entertainment…

@Kefroth1

Жыл бұрын

@@bjorngerlach7829 Naw. I have traveled all over the world. People have bad takes like this everywhere.

@GlueGunsRoses

Жыл бұрын

Perfectly sums it up to me

My wife and I decided on the perfect metaphor for this article: "The jock is mad that the nerd didn't do his homework for him."

@DeadPressed4444

Жыл бұрын

That's exactly it, you both are geniuses 😂

@katiehettinger7857

Жыл бұрын

😄👍

@shreyasgham3632

Жыл бұрын

OMG. 😂You guys are so right. Very similar energy.

Ok I can't listen to this whole thing because it's making me too mad, but this feels like one of those situations where someone just doesn't like or get Some Popular Thing, and instead of accepting that they have personal tastes and that's a fine and neutral thing, they go digging for some Profound Moral Correctness that justifies/explains their opinion and makes it the Objectively Right One. "I don't like Brando Sando so there has to be a good reason." What results is a self-congratulatory spiral that inadvertently exposes their Whole Ass and makes them look judgmental, conniving and cruel - because that's what they were doing. In absence of a real concrere reason to pin their dislike on, and unable to truly believe their proposed objective answer ("maybe you're a bad writer") they engage in schoolyard bullying of his clothes, his looks, his religion, his fans, his friends and family. We are witnessing a very sad, very small person scrabbling desperately for validation of their cruelty because they lack the confidence to simply and harmlessly feel a certain way about a certain thing. Nice to know these guys don't just evaporate after high school, I guess? -R

@linstar9172

Жыл бұрын

This is so right!

@dromo37

Жыл бұрын

Well said 👏

@magnus_cockstrong

Жыл бұрын

Good description of an under acknowledged toxic internet phenomena.

@louisgray3650

Жыл бұрын

Go off Red, did not expect to see you here but damn we all need to let a comment like this off once in a while.

@subtleRemnant

Жыл бұрын

Your assessment brings to mind Anton Ego’s last words In Ratatouille after eating at Gusteau’s

The reporter set out to write a mean spirited takedown of Brandon Sanderson and then cried in the shower because there wasn’t any dirt to dig up, it’s pathetic

@hopesflaw6523

Жыл бұрын

That sounds about right

@squngy0

Жыл бұрын

It could just be me, but I also got a sense of deep jealousy. Any excuse that could (or couldn't) be taken to paint BS as someone who didn't earn his success was taken, along with pointing out how success full he is. IDK, just seems like someone was very jealous.

@bemboing4338

Жыл бұрын

This "writer" seems like he built an online career while cooped up in his room all his life and finally was given the chance to go out, meet and sniff people.

@quentinh3140

Жыл бұрын

@@squngy0 Theres a lot of failed writers who do journalism so it wouldnt surprise me

@st.cimmerian1680

Жыл бұрын

Exactly.

I once met mr. Sanderson at a diner. He ordered intravenous alphabet soup and ten thousand napkins. By the time my soft boiled egg arrived the napkins were off to editing. He looked into my eyes and said "Ka-Ching, motherf***er!" I have been crying ever since.

@rachbronson

Жыл бұрын

This is the best remark in the flaming pit that is this comment section 😂

@sharicola

Жыл бұрын

Holy fuck, I'm laughing so hard

@ethanfaris

Жыл бұрын

OMG this had me laughing so hard.

@AtinDalkoness

Жыл бұрын

He's LDS, He would have said "Mother fudger" and then apologized for his language.

@DeezScotts2023

Жыл бұрын

This took me awhile. I’m glad I took the time.

The fact that one of Sanderson's employees had to tell this guy that "he HAS to try the shower" might reveal that he was actually the person with B.O. at Dragonsteel LMAO

@profjeff9

Жыл бұрын

FACTS

@FlyingFocs

Жыл бұрын

My nose not work, because I have NEVER encountered anyone smelly at a con. Or I'm lucky. Or it's a stereotype, who knows?

@littlered6340

16 күн бұрын

I've been to a lot of cons and use to actually work them (so about 2 a month at that point) and is say more than half of them have smelly areas, usually on show floors. But it's not all of the for sure. Anime cons seem to be most likely, I had less bad experiences at science fiction and developer conferences. Every Doctor Who con I've ever been to has been clear. ​@@FlyingFocs

This is one of those articles that reveals WAY more about the person who wrote it than about the person who is supposed to be the subject of the article.

@malkeytone3285

Жыл бұрын

it was hilarious...we got his entire psychological profile in one essay, and nothing about Brandon other than he's happy and he's some superhuman who feels no pain

Props to Daniel for reading the whole thing out, so now no one has to click on the article and feed Wired the clicks they wanted for this rage bait.

@peaceofcrap

Жыл бұрын

My thoughts exactly.

@tonykuriger573

Жыл бұрын

Tbh this article got push notified to me by Google. I read the first few paragraphs and stopped reading as obvious BS was BS. Wasn't onlineuch for a couple of days and came back to this. It's a shame that my click would count as 'engagement' as this article is pretty pathetic.

@PureMagma

Жыл бұрын

It's like Daniel happened onto some wannabe journalist's suicide note and decided to read it to the world. I'm glad that I don't have to go to the actual article to read it. I have no respect for Wired magazine for publishing such an obvious hit-piece. Wired really must want to cut their readership in half because Sanderson wouldn't be so popular if his works weren't any good.

@samanthaa.6055

Жыл бұрын

Yessss

@elliottharrop5031

Жыл бұрын

This.

They really complained about Sanderson describing unnecessary character expression and wrote a paragraph about the salt on his ramen

@aerynmusick4548

Жыл бұрын

😂😂😂😂 Right on the money!

@HardlyDOTA

Жыл бұрын

Putting salt on Ramen isn’t a food heist but it is a food crime. A talented author could incorporate this as a funny anecdote without being a dick and of course mentioning his son. The fact that he couldn’t says everything about the author.

@Aldric524

Жыл бұрын

@@HardlyDOTA We tease my dad in RL about how much salt he puts on everything. Who'd ever do that in an actual article about a guy you're interviewing? That doesn't even mention saying it about his son. It's tacky enough even without that.

@jonathanmarth6426

Жыл бұрын

Well, most Ramen is already pretty salty. Roman legionaries used to be paid in salt. Thus, salt is analogous with money. Brandon Sanderson salting an already salty dish means that he is a bourgeois megalomaniac who revels in excess. We can therefore assume that B-Money is, in fact, not a character but rather Sandersons true face revealed with plausible comedic deniability. /s obviously

@highdefinition450

Жыл бұрын

@@HardlyDOTA it's already so salty lol

This whole article is just like "How dare these lovely people invite me into their home and treat me with such gracious hospitality." Like sheesh dude.

@gregortheoverlander4122

Жыл бұрын

Seriously... The big scoop here is that Brandon... is a normal dude who gets excited talking about things he loves? Holy crap, call the FBI.

@poggestfrog

5 ай бұрын

I love how he framed sanderson buying him tickets to the Greatest Showman as some horrifying thing

@hrothgarnogar

4 ай бұрын

@@poggestfrog He didn't even buy him tickets, he just showed it to him in his home theater. The author could've asked Sanderson to put on a different movie at any time.

@Crabernacker

Ай бұрын

@@poggestfrog i wish that the worst thing that ever happend to me was a famous author showing you a movie that you dislike

I also met Sanderson once. I drove from my utterly luxurious and scintillating home state of Minnesota to the decrepit, backwater cesspit that is Utah. I met Sanderson at one of his fan conventions, which I went to so that I could explain to all of king Sanderson's peasants that Sanderson's work is bad and that they should feel bad, as bad as I do every waking moment of my miserable life as a roving journalist who has to suffer through writing one article EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. When Sanderson and I finally met, my first question was, "what am I even doing here in goddamn nowheresville with a bunch of nerds?" He had no answer, of course. To follow up, I asked him a very straightforward and unbiased question: "why do all of your fans smell bad, why is your religion bad, why do you look so stupid, why are your books terrible, why aren't you more quotable, why are you simultaneously famous and yet nobody at my local Wholefoods has heard of you, why is your shower so good, and why am I crying?" Not surprisingly, he had no answer to that either. Or rather, he did answer it, but who cares? It wasn't a riveting answer, therefore I did not write it. In conclusion: why is everyone in Utah mad at me now?

@ChandraArthur

Жыл бұрын

This is top-tier sarcasm and I am here for it!

@malkeytone3285

Жыл бұрын

You wrote the entire article faster than the five months he took to puke it out

@unrulysimian3897

Жыл бұрын

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@bazhumke4040

Жыл бұрын

@Tom D you're my hero hahah

@Lunatic0855

11 ай бұрын

Lmao

If you ever feel like you’ve done something dumb, just remember that someone wrote this article.

@aenea22980

Жыл бұрын

😂😂 Me: *feeling afraid of failing a deadline at work* Me: "Well, at least I didn't write that psycho Wired article and embarrass myself in front of millions of people* Me: *feels better* 😂😂

@ThanatoselNyx

Жыл бұрын

I can understand that some asshole wrote it. I can't understand how an editor let them publish it.

@Thrawn90

Ай бұрын

Not only that, put someone approved it for publication

"This is what I drove all the way from San Francisco to the suburbs of Salt Lake City in the freezing-cold dead of winter for? For previously frozen dim sum and freeze-dried conversation?" As a non-American, I wonder if it is normal for people in America to go to someone's house, eat their food, and then go online and publicly insult them and the food they put on the table in front of them as a welcome? This is so disrespectful and horrible and quite frankly bizzare, I'm literally embarassed to even read this article.

@sdstarr01

Жыл бұрын

It’s not normal. It’s psychotic.

@Silas_MN

Жыл бұрын

it's such a weird side shot to take at the random chinese place they ate at

@hawkfu

Жыл бұрын

Its not normal. If you eat dinner with a man and his family in their own home, they’re entitled to more respect than petty insults and out of context quotes.

@HQofrandom

Жыл бұрын

This guy sounds like a closeted narcissist

@philiplueth5911

Жыл бұрын

i'd say its not normal to be a writer and go stay at someone's house in order to write an article

I was on the Writing Excuses Retreat last September, which Brandon Sanderson attended. A random fan was on the ship and happened to share an elevator with him on his way to a WXR-exclusive event. The fan came to the entrance of the event shortly afterward with their parent and a copy of one of his books, asking very politely if there was any way to get an autograph. I asked him if he would be willing to autograph the book, and instead, he asked me to bring them and their parent into the event where he spent about 10 minutes talking with them while signing their book. He was absolutely kind anytime I saw him.

This is honestly horrible. Imagine opening your house to someone like that and 6 months later that person comes out with something like this.

I like how the author found the time to kick a small local Chinese restaurant in between their other garbage takes. Real classy

@MostlyReformed

Жыл бұрын

Local Chinese restaurants are some of the best things ever. Idk what that article writer is one about lol

@Kedai610

Жыл бұрын

As someone also from SF, yeah the Chinese food in Salt Lake City likely won't be as good, but why mention that in your article? "Flopsy Utah Chinese" - sorry they cater to a different clientele and that the Asian population there isn't as big as it is here? All it makes him sound like is a pompous coastal elite.

@itszaque5031

Жыл бұрын

@@Kedai610 pretty sure Californians get off on talking about how bad Utah is after visiting. It happens often 😂

@jacobc3400

Жыл бұрын

@Kedai To be fair, authentic and good aren't one and the same. General tso is absolutely delicious but isn't authentic. But yeah a town 4x the size will probably have better food options.

@FirstIsa

Жыл бұрын

@@Kedai610 I was born in San Diego, moved to the rockies when I was 9 and I can honestly say one of the things I miss most is proper sushi. Ironically the best Sushi I've ever had was from a local shop in Columbus Ohio (seriously Haiku is a fantastic place if your in town and can afford to drop $40 on lunch), the most disappointing place was Nakama in Pittsburg that I think was trying a little too hard to be upper class.

Alternative title: "I suffered through this anti-Brandon Sanderson hit-piece so you don't have to". Thank you for this invaluable public service, Daniel, much appreciated.

@Theblondebass1

Жыл бұрын

I know! And we don't have to click into the article to give then views

Man wrote hit piece and only managed to hit himself.

@1Kapuchu100

9 ай бұрын

Bravo. That line made me chuckle.

Daniel, you have my utmost respect, sir. Also I really do need to express: I work on the Dragonsteel art team directly with Isaac. I illustrated the Alcatraz series, and did those standees of the Mistborn Era 2 characters at the convention. Our team is great, I love them a lot. I am not Mormon/LDS. Nor am I related to anyone at Dragonsteel. I was a kid drawing fanart that Isaac contacted at the tail end of my college career and offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. Fullstop. Please do not attack the author of this article, folks, even if it offends you as much as it offended me. Question his agenda, for sure, but also DO understand that Brandon and his team are the real deal, in my humble opinion.

@studiozealot

Жыл бұрын

@Mark DiSalvi as a huge fan of the series, I’m right with you, and so delighted to be able to be part of the journey!

This just makes me sad for Brandon. Like he invited you into his home, you met his family, his closest friends. You shared meals with him and learned some intimate details of his personal life that probably shouldn’t have been shared. Then you vomited on your keyboard and insulted him with everything you had for no reason. What a way to treat the hospitality and kindness he showed

@CharalamposKoundourakis

Жыл бұрын

Apparently the author was friendly and trying to get close the whole time. So true snake in the grass.

@nachikahn8567

Жыл бұрын

So disgusting...

@jasonmacomber4020

Жыл бұрын

That article showed me nothing about Sanderson and everything about the person who wrote the article. What a way to treat someone who was kind to you.

@lupolinar

Жыл бұрын

This should make you sad about the author of this article. Brandon is fine.

@obviousalias132

Жыл бұрын

Shit like this gets you baked into pies in some fantasy worlds

this was VERY cathartic to listen to - thanks for covering this lol

@achimwienzi381

Жыл бұрын

True. I would have had to scream at my screen had I not listned to the article through Daniel. XD Now it was more like disagreeing with the article alongside Daniel. ^^

18:03 Heartwarming story about a man who felt inspired by Brandon’s stories, turned his life around, and become a happy father. The Author of this Article: What a weird NERD!

As a former Mormon raised in Utah who went on to live and work in NYC and later SF, this article does not surprise me one bit. I've felt that smug condescension my entire adult life, especially when people learn that I left the Mormon church and thus feel more at ease telling me what they really think. What the Wired author truly despises is that Brandon is happy. People like that genuinely believe that the only thing worth chasing in life is status among the crowd that hobnobs in places like The Battery in SF, or Soho House in Malibu. That is the status this Wired author craves with every fiber of his being, and the fact that Sanderson has wealth, status and happiness outside of what the author deems important offends him. It violates his worldview, and thus he must cast Sanderson as a deviant meriting nothing more than contempt and derision.

@breendart134

Жыл бұрын

That's a really interesting and compelling take. Unfortunately there are plenty of people nowadays who seem to resent anything outside of their "ideal reality," and see people thriving in a different lifestyle as undeserved or somehow wrong.

@malkeytone3285

Жыл бұрын

I felt that too. The happiness upsets him. He can't comprehend it. He describes how happy they are, then describes himself crying.

@jampersand0

10 ай бұрын

"It violates his worldview, and thus he must cast Sanderson as a deviant meriting nothing more than contempt and derision." Ironic since that's what super religious people are often criticized of doing.

@awesomesauce980

5 ай бұрын

@@jampersand0 oh the writer is religious alright, just not theistic. They've got a "higher calling," acceptable virtues and tenants, sinners and deviants, and their own little holy land. They've found their own little golden bull and resents Sanderson for not believing as he does.

@anival9576

3 ай бұрын

Grew up in conservative Christian Kansas. I got a PhD at a school in SoCal, and the people I met weren't quite this bad, but the things they said about Americans who didn't think like them could be so breathtaking. They couldn't even hear how they came off to people outside their little world--which they thought was THE World. They're supposed to be the smart, sophisticated, tolerant ones, and they were just so ignorant. It was mind-blowing for me... but this article is just more of the same--a permanent exhibit. I think you're right. The writer is eating his heart out with envy. He can't admit what Sanderson has is real or important because what would that say about his life?

What stuck out to me was that the wired writer was so offended by wholesome things. He was offended by it at every turn. Wholesome conversation. Faithful family members, friends, and fans. People refusing to be insulting or gossip. A Wholesome movie. Spiritual comments. A family dinner. Even basic kindness, like letting a strange reporter stay in your nicest room. He hated all of it.

@robhillman2238

Жыл бұрын

Yes. This so true and strange. The Wired writer felt so victimized by Sanderson and his family/team’s kindness and goodness

@kimbarbeaureads

Жыл бұрын

I think he wanted to hate him before he met him. He isn't hateable so it fueled this rant.

@Btn1136

Жыл бұрын

Typical costal journo

@andrewdiaz3529

Жыл бұрын

​@@robhillman2238 almost feels like a Lovecraft protagonist

@wafflingmean4477

Жыл бұрын

Honestly it feels like this guy felt personally insulted that Sanderson didn't give him good enough material for an actual hit piece so he just decided to whine for the entire article instead.

Sanderson is definitely not "extremely mormon". In the latest episode of his podcast he described himself as just over the 50% mark on the spiritual to skeptical scale. He is very understanding of people of other or no faith and his written several agnostic or atheist characters in a very human, non-condemning way. He has talked about the fact that he has questioned his faith and so cannot blame other people for coming to different decisions than him. This sort of understanding is the opposite of any type of religious extremism...

@atlasmonologues

Жыл бұрын

And funnily enough, that is a fairly decent way (IMO) of describing the general culture of mormons as looking at people of other or no faith. I am a member myself, and certainly more conservative than Brandon, and I resonate with every point you wrote. Mormons aren't really very weird or extreme at all in general.

@dexter5653

Жыл бұрын

Anyone who knows ACTUAL "extreme Mormons" would know that he would never get away with staying in his community writing the things he writes lol.

@a.r.hollowayauthor7210

Жыл бұрын

@@dexter5653 Uh . . . I guess it depends on your definition of extreme.

@DanielLopez-ob9jz

Жыл бұрын

@Cameron Williamson depends on the ones you meet ig..... but I've met some people on VERY different ends of the spectrum.

@Matthias129

Жыл бұрын

@@DanielLopez-ob9jz That doesn't negate Cameron's point at all, though? I've met extreme Christians, atheists, toxic fans of different fandoms, and more, but that doesn't preclude me from realizing that not all members of whatever community are that way. Most people in any group are just regular people, with good points and bad points, and the vocal extremists shouldn't paint your perception. If everyday people were loudly proclaiming everywhere how normal they were, they wouldn't exactly be normal, would they?

Imagine being such a poor writer that you need to include literal book quotes and chat GPT to increase your personal word count to a 4,000 word magazine article in the same amount of time that your target took to write 2 entire books. And edit 7. And literally teach a college level writing course. And still maintain a big family and attend conventions and have a meaningful faith... Clearly one of these is not the same. And then Sando's response to this is unbelievably forgiving. What an incredible guy

@Spiney09

3 ай бұрын

What was Sanderson’s response? I’m only finding this now sorry.

@marcelolage1395

3 ай бұрын

​@Spiney09 Please show him respect,” Sanderson wrote. “He should not be attacked for sharing his feelings.…I bear Jason no ill will. I like him. Please leave him alone. He seems to be a sincere man who tried very hard to find a story, discovered that there wasn’t one that interested him, then floundered in trying to figure out what he could say to make deadline. I respect him for trying his best to write what he obviously found a difficult article. He’s a person, remember, just like each of us.” To me, that was actually very polite and insulting at the same time

@Spiney09

3 ай бұрын

@@marcelolage1395 he went with the “kill them with kindness” approach it seems.

I have never before grown to respect person while someone is actively trying to insult them to me. To react with such kindness and patience to such disrespect as this is simply amazing.

This article is fundamentally unkind. The author talks about crying in Sanderson’s home because he(?) couldn’t find an angle on this story, through no fault of the author or his team. Making that angle trashing the character, family, fans, and faith of someone who treated you with kindness is such an awful choice.

@veelogation3890

Жыл бұрын

That makes a lot of sense as a reading. I wondered why he mentioned crying and how bad a time he was having. I guess it was just a way to complain about being bad at his job without coming off as completely unprofessional.

@aflameinthevoid8047

Жыл бұрын

@@veelogation3890 yeah, I don’t want to trash this article’s author, that just extends the negativity. I don’t know his talent level or frame of mind, I just think this particular piece of writing was, as you put it, unprofessional.

@user-yp6yr9te7l

Жыл бұрын

It's a straight up hit piece in my opinion. The author doesn't like Mormons, and it almost seems like his motive was to seek out problematic famous Mormons in the public sphere to "take down" and he was trying DESPERATELY to related something, ANYTHING, about Sanderson to bad religion for said take down, only he couldn't find anything bad, and so he switched gears, no expose on alt-right bigoted X-phobic past, ok, no worries, let's just belittle the man, his wife, his children, his community, his city and state, the restaurants that he frequents, and paint him as an irrelevant weirdo who compares himself to God and whose prose sucks and thus is someone we should all find irrelevant and who should disappear so we don't talk about him already. W. T. F.

@Lurklen

Жыл бұрын

Why was this guy crying all the time? He seems like he was having pretty powerful emotional reactions to this whole experience. Dude seems like he needs some help.

@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t

Жыл бұрын

Just as bad, an editor presumably read it and approved it for publication. What the actual fuck?

The insistence this writer has on portraying Sanderson as weird for 'not feeling' is honestly one of the nastiest parts of the article in my opinion. It's very middle school bully. There are PLENTY of reasons people struggle with 'feeling' and none of them mean that someone is any less human

WTF??? I was one of the lucky few who attended the first ever Writing Excuses writing retreat in TN (in Mary Robinette Kowal's family's home). 20 of us lived with Brandon, Dan Wells, Mary, and Howard Taylor for a week. Ate meals together, played games together, watched movies together, and listened to them teach us how to be more effective writers for 40 hours that week. I continued to see Dan and Howard yearly at GenCon, and Brandon was there in 2018, and still was just as nice, friendly, polite, and fun as he was in 2013. I never found him to be "weird" nor did I find him excitable. He was actually quiet and seemed shy except when he had to be "on" for classes or the podcast. It's as if this person didn't really meet Brandon Sanderson at all.

I’m a bitter atheist exmormon and I will die for Sanderson. He is what Christians should aspire to be. So genuinely wholesome, kind and understanding.

@TheCrimsonIdol987

Жыл бұрын

Same. Every time I've seen an interview of Brando Sando, he's nothing but endearing and intelligent.

@localabsurdist6661

Жыл бұрын

Same!!

@the_son_of_tartarus

9 ай бұрын

I’m a member of the church and have met many unsavory members but Sanderson is what all members and religious people in general should try to be

@MichaelJLClark

9 ай бұрын

SAME! I first found out about him being mormon a few years ago, after watching his lectures and reading some of his books, and it was a cold shock. I've got a lot of trauma built up there. I'm not exmormon, because I never considered myself mormon, but I did grow up in it. I just never once believed. Learning he was mormon instantly knocked me into fight or flight, suddenly realizing WHY all my mormon family members were happy I was reading Sanderson. But this man is so kind, empathetic, understanding, and most importantly - capable of change. You get that sense just from reading his books, but when you actually listen to him talk about his craft, life, his values, it's all laid bare. What a genuine human being.

@mattiOTX

6 ай бұрын

Knew a mormon dude like that in the military. Very cool, down to earth guy. That is a lot how brandon comes off as so I dont really get the hate the piece was talking about. Im sure the church has its issues but this seems more like he was projecting his dislike of religion onto Sanderson.

I honestly cannot fathom the fact that someone at Wired read this and was like "yep, let's publish this". Like... what the hell?

@rsrocha1984

Жыл бұрын

Why not? They did the same thing with Hogwards Legacy. Wired is full on cancel culture.

@NameTaken123

Жыл бұрын

They did it because people read it, made videos about it, etc. The only thing 99% of online article publishers care about is traffic and ad revenue. Controversy generally equals profit.

@JustForTheTunes

Жыл бұрын

I may be wrong but I think the writer is a senior editor at Wired. So I don't know how many had to actually look at it before it got published

@nunyabizz3357

Жыл бұрын

@@rsrocha1984 this doesn't look like an attempt at canceling so much as an attempt to get canceled

@MarcAmAlb

Жыл бұрын

@@NameTaken123 You nailed it.

This is one of the most unhinged things I've ever had read to me by a man on the internet @__@

@Pablo360able

Жыл бұрын

Oh, wow, that’s saying a *lot*

@jasonblodgett8769

Жыл бұрын

You must not spend much time on the internets

@MicahMicahel

Жыл бұрын

the whole media is this unhinged but you know about e subject matter so you notice how unhinged they are. it's called the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. You see other media and don't realize the rest of it is lying just as boldly, but knowing you don't know the facts.

@ihavegotnoidea

Жыл бұрын

He‘s a literal youtuber

@gregortheoverlander4122

Жыл бұрын

It isn't about the content of the article... it's just how nonsensical it is. The dude had NOTHING negative to say about Sanderson, but still framed it negatively.

I'm not Mormon, Christian, or even "religious" in the conventional sense of the term, but I really appreciate you calling Jason out for being so unfair and ignorant about Mormonism. I have several problems with the LDS church myself, but the way to solve those problems is through serious investigation and honest critique, not thoughtless dismissal and bigotry.

@Spiney09

3 ай бұрын

This. I am in the faith, but I’m more aware of the issue than many of the older folks in the faith are (most likely due to people online). If you approach people in a sense of “I have these issues, here’s my thoughts” and make sure they know you’re acting without malice, you are much more likely to get through to a person. Articles like this are the reason people stop listening to the good criticisms and it drives me insane.

@TalmoTheSell

3 ай бұрын

@@Spiney09yeah and others just assume we don’t see the issues when in fact we do

It’s so freaking weird that he went to the convention and was just going around to fans being like “Say he’s a bad writer. Say it, say it now!”

Imagine going to a fancon and asking people “but this thing you love isn’t really that Good, right?” And being surprised when you get confused looks.

@ShinNefzen

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, Imagine doing that at a Star Wars convention or something. You'd get laughed out of the building and/or clubbed with lightsabers.

@Swiergotka78

Жыл бұрын

But how someone making an effort to go to a phantasy convention, obviously a hobby, could spend money on a sword and get it delivered home? Is this journalist for real?

@fenixchief7

Жыл бұрын

​@@Swiergotka78 bro, I'm not sure what exactly you're saying. People going to fantasy conventions can't have jobs or money? Or that buying swords isn't a real thing people do?

@Andrew-jh2bn

Жыл бұрын

​@@fenixchief7 pretty sure he's pointing out the absurdity of the journalist commenting on this.

@Swiergotka78

Жыл бұрын

@@fenixchief7 I was being sarcastic - people at fancons are usually more into their passions than just "lukewarm" fans, so how would anybody be surprised to see them geek out and buy stuff? Isn't it exactly what people go to fancons for? And how is a sword any less acceptable than a 200$ bottle of wine, perfume, hat, bag or shoes which so many people spend money on.

Just proof that you can be a genuinely kind person and someone will still find a reason to talk shit about you.

@Wingedmagician

Жыл бұрын

And that’s sometimes people make you out to be a bad person only because they want to feel justified in being vile to you.

@fenixchief7

Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of the old adage, "if you meet an asshole first thing in the morning you've met an asshole, if you meet assholes all day long, you're the asshole." Mr. Sanderson met an asshole that day.

@gdhuertas07

Жыл бұрын

@@fenixchief7 The Raylan Givens School of Philosophy.

@weregretohio7728

Жыл бұрын

Usually you get more shit and less defense. Sanderson is popular enough to get tons of defense, at least.

@jamesesparza6893

Жыл бұрын

The writer is from San Francisco n went to Utah. San Fran is where all the super crazy left leaning politicos come from. I guarentee you they made up their mind about Sanderson once they learned he was religious.

As a member of the church I can 100% say that he is not an “extreme Mormon” I also don’t see any direct ties within his writing to the church or any heavy influences. Sad people just attacking my faith for no reason😢

Brandon Sanderson’s civil response to this hit piece article just makes me like him even more.

I actually find the fact that Sanderson admits that he struggles with emotions and ‘pain’ and uses his profoundly emotional writing as a way to express that is beautiful.

@andrewdiaz3529

Жыл бұрын

YEAH. And that's not too uncommon a thing, it's just that it's being talked about more; Painting it like they did is super messed up

@gdhuertas07

Жыл бұрын

A good writer could have found a moving angle for that story. Not here.

@samanthaa.6055

Жыл бұрын

​@@gdhuertas07 RIGHT?! But the issue is that the writer never bothered to read Sanderson's work or even try to find some passages people find moving

@kendra_t

Жыл бұрын

I don't know what his mental health is like but my depression makes me emotionally dead a lot of the time, and his books make me feel things.

@csarmii

Жыл бұрын

Brandon and emotional writing? What?

Who just randomly hates Hugh Jackman so much that they burst into tears upon seeing him in a movie? Like that is a profoundly weird reaction to have.

@kaimcdragonfist4803

Жыл бұрын

I sincerely don’t think this guy is emotionally stable. Like, he needs help

@whawhawhawhaaaa

Жыл бұрын

Right. Who doesn't like Hugh Jackman? That's the biggest red flag in this entire article.

@GuineaPigEveryday

Жыл бұрын

@@whawhawhawhaaaai mean seriously, hate people like Jared Leto for example, I mean even big stars like Tom Cruise its plenty justified. But Hugh Jackman? Dude’s pretty damn great and wholesome and hasn’t even had any outburst like Christian Bale or anything, he has a great record and good career. Wtf is wrong with this writer he’s genuinely unstable and probably suffers from some trauma. I mean an intense distrust of anyone nice or acting nice sounds like he has some unprocessed trauma, dunno why he’s even allowed to write

@MrSphandor

Жыл бұрын

Yeah it's like he just doesn't understand kindness or good people doing good things because they are good. Feel a bit sorry for this writer now he has a lot of baggage, a lot of needs.

@ingvarsuigin609

Жыл бұрын

Maybe he was previously traumatized by a wolverine attack.

Ernest Hemingway's books are studied in U.S. high schools as part of great English language works, and he wrote incredibly simple prose... that conveyed deeper meaning through mechanisms like subtext. Simple prose is only just simple when there's nothing else going on underneath the surface or overall.

I haven't read all of Brandon's books and haven't loved all of the ones I read. I will say though...the ending of Stormlight I got me in tears, not even Tolkien did that for me and I am a massive Tolkien fan. I have nothing but respect for Brandon and his body of work. He is a powerhouse.

@matthewdennis1739

Жыл бұрын

There are only a few times I've genuinely cried in my life because of a work of fiction. One was a moment in a Sanderson novel.

Ive met Sanderson early in his career for a book signing, and he invited me and a couple others back to his hotel to play Magic the Gathering. He was an awesome guy. I really enjoyed the evening and we introduced him to St Louis Style Pizza from Imos. He's honestly just a normal nerdy guy, he's not all that different than most of the people I play D&D with. I don't know what got up this guys butt, but I've hung out with Sanderson for an entire evening and he was great. And this is also coming from a pretty strong athiest.

@totallyjerd1751

Жыл бұрын

That's actually a really cool story!

@tonym.8069

Жыл бұрын

Well let's be frank here, this journalist gives me "I envy him so god damn much!" vibes. This is likely because Brandon despite being super nerdy has a good family life, strong character, solidified beliefs, is a prolific writer and got that cash monay this dork can only drool about get for his writing. Plus he's creative and this writer obviously isn't.

@lukeangell413

Жыл бұрын

I’m just so proud y you introduced him to St. Louis Style Pizza

@MarkHansen

Жыл бұрын

OK, who do I have to pay off to get a chance to kick back and play MTG with Sando? With pizza? Bonus!

@gobbobbicus2503

Жыл бұрын

I agree I'm an atheist as well and he seems really nice. I met him at a WOT party at dragon con in 2012 I think and there weren't many people there so he was just talking to everyone. Crazy to think now that he's gotten so much more popular.

Having quit the Mormon church just last year, I can say with fair certainty that Brandon is not “extremely Mormon”😂. I have my issues with the church but they have nothing to do with Brandon’s character or ability to write

@MrRusty103

Жыл бұрын

No kidding. I don't follow everything he does, but I wouldn't have known he was mormon had I not had it told to me. Unlike other mormons I've interacted/worked with who were very obvious and open about their faith. And "weirdo"? Its not like he's using his writing classes to try and preach mormon stuff or anything like that. Wtf is this.

@WasatchWind

Жыл бұрын

​@@MrRusty103 If you're a church member, or very familiar with our beliefs, you'll find themes inspired by our doctrines and history very frequently in his work. However, it is completely enjoyable, at least to my understanding, for non-Latter-day Saints. Orson Scott Card I find writes in a far more bizarre way - the Ender series is fine, but he has a serious called Memory of Earth that just rips off the Book of Mormon - which to me at least, felt very blasphemous, and to a non member, I'm sure felt very bizarre.

@wyatthancock9261

Жыл бұрын

@@MrRusty103 exactly. There are plenty of authors that let their theology influence the themes within their works, but Sanderson isn’t one of them.

@munchcat

Жыл бұрын

Technically an inactive member of the church, myself. When I first heard he was Mormon, I was shocked. He not only does so well keeping religious doctrine out of his books, but he's outright said in a video or two that he has his disagreements with the church. I got the impression that he took the best from it (like putting aside designated time for family), and left behind the more toxic things.

@thequeensthief5593

Жыл бұрын

I also grew up Mormon, and I didn't realize that Brandon was LDS until he said something in a video.

"I guess...I guess because I admitted to him that I'm not a person who feels pain very easily, he thought he should see how deep the knife would go?"

Imagine an editor at Wired being like "Yeah, good 👍" lol Blows my mind.

The article is so bizarre its like an article you would expect to read 20 years ago about d&d or something and the weird obsession with pointing out he lives in utah

@userJohnSmith

Жыл бұрын

Maybe in the early 90s but not 20 years ago. There would have been far too much fascination about the weird subculture aspects of DnD by then.

This is singlehandedly one of the weirdest articles I've ever read. I'm glad to see you took a look at it as well Daniel! If I didn't know who Sanderson was before reading that article, I would walk away from it assuming Sanderson is some megalomaniacal rich Mormon cult leader.

@craigh5236

Жыл бұрын

The author of this article is being negative on purpose for attention.

@WasatchWind

Жыл бұрын

The endless "Mormon" exoticism continues, long after it was birthed a hundred and fifty years ago. We are just another church. Stop conflating us with Warren Jeffs and stuff. I'm so dadgum tired, and really would prefer that people just forgot we existed.

@snapgab

Жыл бұрын

I'm honestly not even sure what I would think about Sanderson after reading this article, I feel like the article says much more about the author than it does about Sanderson. It's actually kind of impressive how the author completely failed to make any kind of coherent claim about who or what Sanderson is.

@jackwriter1908

Жыл бұрын

Am I the only one who thinks that someone decided to ask an AI for a Sanderson Article? I mean... what the f*ck? Some things feel so randomly out of place, half of the things that are mentioned could be told by anyone watching one of his livestreams and the other half sounds like made up crap (maybe it's true I personally don't know and any knew Informations I gained from this article, will be locked away simply because I have no way of knowing if any of this is actually real, since the author tries to make every little thing sound as horrible as possible)...

@blackearl7891

Жыл бұрын

​@@jackwriter1908okay so I am not the only one who thought that. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprise that the author got lazy, and made the entire thing thru ai.

Oh, yes, the metal system of magic is sooooooooo hard to film. Character drinks a vial which has some small pieces of metal in a liquid and gets super strong. Audience: WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN???

As someone who grew up Mormon, who is now VERY MUCH NOT...gotta be honest I read 3 Storm-light books and I think the first era of Mistborn before I even found out the dude was Mormon. I'm pretty anti organized religion in general these days, but his books have never read as veiled doctrine to me. Now that I'm aware of his religious beliefs, in hindsight I could possibly point out some recurring themes or values he likes to highlight in his stories...but honestly nothing I couldn't point out in a different Author's fantasy story that has godly beings in it..after all it is a fantasy.

@jmiller6066

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I see him as Mormon the same way my mother is Catholic - they're both fantastic people that focus on the good parts of their respective religions but maybe turn a bit of a blind eye to the actions of the churches their nominally derives from.

@HDCybersun

Жыл бұрын

Yeah same here, grew up the same way and not a fan at all of religion as there are over 4000 of them actively practiced right now and each thinks they are the one true one, the very best. It all just seems like delusion on a grand scale to me. I am a big fan of Sanderson's work and got introduced to him when he wrapped up the wheel of time series, and from there I moved onto the mistborn books, elantris, warbreaker, stormlight archive, wax and wayne, all of it was fantastic. I never knew his religion or cared until now, I haven't noticed it in the his books and I suppose that's all that matters. If anything, his writing has gotten more spicy over time and less tame. Though, overall, I really dislike mormonism/lds stuff as I've never felt worse or been more hurt than I was growing up in that cult hell without a choice. It just tries to control your life and steal 10% of your income for life and keep you constantly feeling shame and guilt. It was a great day when I discovered the exmormon subreddit over a decade ago and got access to the resources and knowledge needed to leave that cult hellscape behind. I guess I don't really know how to feel knowing Brandon is a part of that. sigh..

@aaronzegas5270

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, like, when I was reading Mistborn for the first time, I was specifically looking for Mormon references, since I'm not wild about getting preached to in books (being a pretty secular Jewish guy), and I honestly couldn't find anything, apart from being sort of vague about alcohol, since most Mormons don't drink (not sure if Sanderson is a teetotaler or not). So, like, if I was actively looking for preachiness and not finding it, I don't think bringing up his Mormonism in connection to his books is really all that relevant.

@JoeMama-yd1ve

Жыл бұрын

I’m being dead serious.. I picked up VERY early into way of kings that he was religious and I correctly guessed Mormon. It’s pretty obvious, the repression oozes off the page.

@WritingGeekNL

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget the fact that a lot of values from Christianity and Judaism are integral parts of western society. I'm not a believer in any faith, but my stories do include aspects of religion. To be kind towards your fellow man is a virtue, etc. I'm more of a liberal myself, as in European liberal. That means that, even if I have religious values, I'm also actively pointing out the democratic values and corrupting nature of power and zealous believers. To fight for rights and freedom of any person, etc. is what is most dear to me.

this seems like in Harry Potter when Rita Skeeter attacked all the main characters, but i never thought i’d see something like that outside of a young adult fantasy series

@insertname2035

Жыл бұрын

Then you've luckily never heard of the right wing British tabloid press that inspired Skeeter

@thedeadd.c.207

Жыл бұрын

​@@insertname2035 don't you mean the left-wing British press. Yours faithfully a Brit and a centrist.

@insertname2035

Жыл бұрын

@@thedeadd.c.207 I'm also a British centrist 🤣 the British press is definitely right wing (the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Times, the Spectator, the daily express for example) . Even in the books Mr Dursley reads the Daily Mail. JKR has made it pretty obvious who Skeeter is inspired by.

@nectanbo

Жыл бұрын

​@@thedeadd.c.207 You might be British, but you're not the only one here and this comment is deluded 😂. The Sun and the Mail are the most needlessly aggressive papers we have in the UK and they're both right wing.

@FirstIsa

Жыл бұрын

@@nectanbo Dude the Daily mail is basically the fox news of Britain.

This was the saddest attempt at a hit piece I've ever seen edit: it just looks like the journalist was jealous and petty for no reason. I can't believe a somewhat reputable magazine published something so terribly unsophisticated

One of the things that stands out to me is how long this journalist got to dedicate to this piece. I was a journalist for three years, working for a daily newspaper. I won a number of awards for profile pieces. I would interview someone for less than an hour, write for less than three hours, and wind up with 1-2 page article. (I wasn't allowed to write longer articles because of the format, but I easily could have.) Let me spend a day with Sanderson and give me a day to write it, and I would create something way better than this guy from Wired. How did this guy get this job? Why did the magazine give him the green light to make it like this?

@enotsnavdier6867

Жыл бұрын

He's a senior editor, apparently

@seaof_stars

4 ай бұрын

man I haven't finished the video yet (I'm at 11 minutes) and it already feels like the article has dragged on way past its limit, the dude knows how to yap

8:15 “In the five months or so which it has taken me to write this magazine story…, Sanderson has published two books” that sounds like a skill issue on their part

Love the reek of ableism hanging over this article. The implication that because Brandon doesn’t emote as strongly as he’d like means he doesn’t feel any emotions, and that that’s a bad thing. The weird invasiveness about the food he eats throughout their meetings. Being extremely weird about the fact that he happens to have a high pain tolerance. Like what the fuck does all this have to do with his writing??!

@lucdamiani

Жыл бұрын

"Then I watch his son salt his yakisoba. I could cry..." This dude has some serious issues if that's how he writes.

@charlesc.r.9324

Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU! I was thinking this exact thing. He acts like pain tolerance make Sanderson some strange inhuman thing, when really the most you could extrapolate from it is that Sanderson might be neurodivergent - and even that's a stretch from one detail

@Swiergotka78

Жыл бұрын

As if it was weird that people actually eat at restaurants.

@Swiergotka78

Жыл бұрын

​@@charlesc.r.9324 Feeling physical pain is a scale thing and I'm quite insensitive but how would that reflect on my personality and life in any way, other than perhaps getting injured more often than others, I really couldn't say. To me it's almost as banal as judging people based upon their hair or eye color.

@VoxAstra-qk4jz

9 күн бұрын

​@@Swiergotka78"Judging people based on eye color" Boy howdy do I have a book series for you.

I like how the author complains about Utah as if it's Sanderson's fault. Like yeah, totally forgot Sanderson created the entire state of Utah.

@starsun6363

Жыл бұрын

OH NO! Utah is COLD in the winter?! Better blame it on this dude I CHOSE to meet with!!

@ninjaartist1235

Жыл бұрын

Also, the author says it as if San Francisco is any better. They literally have an app that tracks human feces on the streets. I SWEAR I AM NOT KIDDING!

@SilverstreamPJ28

Жыл бұрын

Well he does believe Sanderson is God apparently

@starsun6363

Жыл бұрын

@Gabriela no no, he's not THIS guys God. He's the god of dweebs and nerds. The author is totally stable and seperate from all that.

@marocat4749

Жыл бұрын

Of course sanderson founded the entire state of utah.

Hearing that Sanderson is a Mormon was a big surprise to me bc I never got this vibe from his books with all their versatility of characters, motivations, worldviews, sexual orientations and ethics. So as a fan of his books I don't care. I'm not his friend, I'm not reading his diary, I am not even his fan - I just love his books. And while I understand that the author and his works are deeply intertwined, as someone who has written a few pages of prose myself I also understand that stories grow beyond what a writer is on a personal level. Would we like Talkien or Jordan if we knew them personally? Maybe we wouldn't. It doesn't change that we love their works. When you enjoy something, be it a fantastic dinner, a great movie, a delicious bottle of wine or a mindblowing painting - how much of that delight comes from knowing the religious views of the maker and how important is it that he's rich, a workaholic, numb to pain or enjoys Asian cuisine? But if you were to write about an author and have spent a couple of days with him I guess most of us would write less about ourselves and more about that person. And not just the superficial stuff like their food choices. Does his son love the journey of Caladin? Does his wife feel connected to any female character? What do they love most about Brandon Sanderson? How did he start to write? How and why did he become a Mormon? Why is it so important to him to include all sorts of mental and emotional disorders in his stories? If you were given a chance to spend a few days around Sanderson, just imagine all the questions you could ask. I guess the author of that article was too busy with himself to grasp that opportunity with any grace.

@waddleburr8048

Жыл бұрын

what is wrong with being mormon exactly???

@Swiergotka78

Жыл бұрын

@@waddleburr8048 Wrong? Did anybody say that? His books seem to be written by a very open minded person who doesn't follow any discriminating religion or philosophy. Most religions discriminate (believers vs non-believers, conformity vs non-conformity, sexuality etc.) and put their dogmas above all others. I don't know much about Mormonism, but from what I've heard it's not the most liberal and tolerant religion. But as long as religious beliefs don't cause suffering, I'm for freedom of choice.

@kelvinrichardson5324

Жыл бұрын

@@waddleburr8048 nothing wrong with a person choosing to be a member of the LDS. The church itself is pretty unpleasant tho. I won’t buy any more of Brandon Sanderson’s books new, because he tithes to the church. I still love his work, and will still read them, just won’t financially support the LDS indirectly if I can avoid it. I’m not suggesting any course of action for anyone else, I’m stating mine.

@waddleburr8048

Жыл бұрын

@@kelvinrichardson5324 what made you hate the church so much???

@sudafedup

Жыл бұрын

@@kelvinrichardson5324 To be fair, money changes hands constantly in general. Someone down the line somewhere does something we don't like. I'm not going to stop tipping a bagger at a grocery store because I find out he's Mormon, or not take my car to the auto shop because I find out the guy who works on my car donates to a charity I'm not too fond of. I guess I'm just the kind of person that separates what one does with who they are. I dunno, weird mentality in my opinion. Then again, I'm the kind of person who thinks most boycotts are ineffective.

I've been to many of Sanderson's lectures. He's such a down to earth and humble person. He has so much insight, yet never acts snobby. Never would imagine someone would take shots at him for being so approachable despite his fame.

The the Author of the Article just cant wrap his head around the fact that Brandon is a pretty regular guy (besides his obvious skill in Writing and the Business aspect of writing) is just so weird. The Author wants for Brandon to have something shady going on or whatever. He just isn't happy with the answer, that Brandon is probably just a Nerd who has turned his hobby into is Job with great success.

@tonym.8069

Жыл бұрын

Right, dude probably wanted to have the next J.K. Rowling controversy to break, but despite his own sucess Brandon seems still like a pretty regular and still generous guy.

I cant get over that they let this be published. Its like Tumblr rant material. Twitter! I meant Twitter! 🤣

@stevenrasche3159

Жыл бұрын

I've seen bad Tumblr rants that were better written and more coherent than this article.

@Haxerous

Жыл бұрын

More like a 4chan shitpost

@thekawaiislartibartfast42

Жыл бұрын

@@stevenrasche3159 I didn't mean the quality. Its like the vibe, I guess? It's not even specifically a Tumblr thing really just personal dislike opinion piece which is all well and good! But wired?

@pattheplanter

Жыл бұрын

Oi! This is not like Tumblr, it is Twitter snarls puffed up to article length.

@veelogation3890

Жыл бұрын

@@thekawaiislartibartfast42 I get what you mean, it feels like the journalist was throwing a prolonged tantrum in the format of an article.

I loved Sanderson's writing class online. It was one of the best I've taken on writing, I was greatful he freely gave away such valuable information and he seems like a lovely person! ...This article "writer" needs to take some writing classes and go to therapy about his bullying.

@katiehettinger7857

Жыл бұрын

Me too.

That little insert from Sanderson’s response was like a breath of fresh air of good writing, my lord.

I honestly think this guy went looking for dirt on Sanderson, hoping he'd be mean or rude, and was extremely disappointed to find Sanderson is the real deal. He's a good man and he's mad about it.

@kittyshiv

Жыл бұрын

100% this

@adamrad2220

Жыл бұрын

I think you're probably right. That brain surgeon dude who ran for president in...2012...I honestly can't remember his name right now. But anyway, I remember back then there was a podcast with at least one major journalist and some other guy. Anyway, point was, it was very plainly admitted that at least some (not sure the number) journalists went so hard after Ben Carson (is his name!) to try to desperately find dirt. And they couldn't. And it made them even more mad and truly hate him more than they already did. Regardless of politics, journalists (which in this case of the Wired article, is a misnomer) can have this diabolical drive to just try and find dirt on people. I think it's the type of specific person who can't believe that there are probably millions of people who live up to their own moral code and have no skeletons in their closet. And it enrages them.

@jamesesparza6893

Жыл бұрын

Of course he dud hes from San Francisco. Just look up the kinda people who live there.

@csweezey18

Жыл бұрын

@@jamesesparza6893 Scott Manley's from San Francisco! I met him once; he's really nice!

@jamesesparza6893

Жыл бұрын

@@csweezey18 your name reinforces my statement.

He may not be written about a lot in the mainstream, but my god is it hard not to find an article about him in the publishing world, or hear about him on a bookish podcast

@fedos

Жыл бұрын

Seriously, the fact that mainstream media doesn't talk about Sanderson is an indictment of the media and not of him. The media should talk about books and authors more and not just focus on the ones that get movie deals.

@estacoda545

Жыл бұрын

But didn’t NYT do a piece on him when the kickstarter happened?

@groofay

Жыл бұрын

@@estacoda545 Yeah, mostly just because it shattered every record on the platform. It said the bare minimum about his work itself.

@erfanashkan5925

Жыл бұрын

i think the fact that sanderson already has his own podcast and is realy widely talked about in social media makes it so that his publisher has less of a need to go chassing after articles and mainstream media to market his work. people forget that articles dont just happen there is a marketing team and all behind these stuff. sandersons marketing team has just a different target audience that isn't much on the mainstream media. so spending time and money on the mainstream media doesnt make that much sens when you already have a huge presence on youtube ,tiktok,instagram and so on.

@johnmcternan4157

Жыл бұрын

@@fedos well, they do everything to discourage reading of just about anything.

I’m glad you made this video. I was horrified at how the editors at Wired let that article publish as it was. It was full of inaccuracies and downright a personal attack by the interviewer on Brandon Sanderson. Maybe the journalist was looking for attention. Perhaps Wired was too. Maybe they were thinking, “Any publicity, even bad publicity is good, “ for both Wired and the “journalist” that wrote the article. That approach doesn’t hold water in the age of social media. It’s a good way to get canceled. The article has so much bias it goes beyond any semblance of an opinion piece and exhibits attributes of slander and defamation. Wired should publish a retraction and a public apology to Sanderson and his family.

It took this guy 5 months to write this?! When I was going to a community college, I woke up in the middle of the night at the horrifying realization that I hadn't written my English Finals paper, and in that fevered adrenaline rush managed to write a better paper in that half of the night that's better than this.

This guy is the senior editor of wired......explains why this got through editorial but also how he got that position is an absolute mystery. His own writing is shocking. I'm not even really a Sanderson fan. This strikes me as doing a hit on big writer for clickbait when the fan base lash out. Don't give him what he wants.

@ProudPlatypus

Жыл бұрын

It's all so insubstantial in it's criticism and insults too, it reads like a trashy satire and I'm not sure if any of it even happened. I'm also not sure if they are trying to ape Sanderson's style, or what the article puts forward as its view of his writing style. I don't have anything to get around the sub thing so I can't really read any of their other articles right now to see what their deal is. Otherwise the bit about the kids eating habits was a bit over the line I think, it's like they were aiming to say something else but they could only comment on the salt without getting into outright offensive territory. IDK though that might be a bit unfair, it just felt off.

@Grux_ASG

Жыл бұрын

Hey, you just said his writing is shocking. Id say he did a good job than.

@skullfullofbats

Жыл бұрын

@@Grux_ASG entitled to your opinion but I personally found it fairly scatter brained, almost childlike, mismanaged with no direction of purpose. Almost not even worth publishing but hey that's just my opinion. Would love to hear your thoughts. All for constructive discussion if you're seeing something I'm not.

@skullfullofbats

Жыл бұрын

@@Grux_ASG did you mean he did a good job then? I don't mean it was for shocking as in shock value I'm meaning the actual quality of his writing in the subject at hand. I agree it definitely was for shock value.

@marocat4749

Жыл бұрын

​@@skullfullofbatsbut its a bad job if its so wrong that you get nice told off. By the person you tried to smear. Like did he want to be known as the guy who hates sanderson?

The article is 100% rage-bait. “As you travel the twists of Twitter As you pass through the Lands of Zuck And the frogs and the pinks overwhelm you with links And the links overwhelmingly suck When the Redditors ask if you've read it When the TikTokkers talk and tic Hold this admonition close to your breast: It's bad on purpose to make you click.” -Scott Alexander

@gdhuertas07

Жыл бұрын

If nothing else, this article helped me discover Scott Alexander.

@cailin5301

Жыл бұрын

That's beautiful 🥲

All I read was; "Man I'm jealous of this religious, talented, hard working and successful hyper capitalist."

I actually miss tabletop gaming in Utah. I graduated from Payson High right near American Fork. I had the best games, players didn't intentionally railroad the games to hell, there was always drinks. It was always pleasant. Also as someone from Asia we also have strong family values and tend to have our family tied up in our businesses. But with alcohol. Mormons aren't half bad. Never once have I ever had a major issues with Utah Mormons.

This just feels so cruel and mean. Especially the part about him not feeling pain like he admitted Sanderson was feeling uncomfortable, pained and embarrassed yet still keeps prodding and then uses it to insult and kinda dehumanize him it just literally feels like school yard bullying. The whole article just feels surreal and strange. Like what even was that. The guy just comes off as so petty and mean spirited

This one thing in the article irks me more than anything: I’m studying master's in anthropology and interviews are one of our basic tools. There’re probably some differences in how anthropologists and journalists use interviews, but one thing that got HAMMERED into me was that if your interlocutor wants to remain anonymous or doesn’t want you to mention certain things that aren’t necessary for your research, YOU ABIDE BY THEIR WISHES!!! What this author did is not only sleazy af, but also highly unethical and makes my blood boil.

@Rebecca-of7fh

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. This journalist is the Nice Guy of the writing world imo. Like "Oh you want me to respect your boundaries? Geez, you're a weirdo." The other part that struck me was that they mentioned they had spent 5 months writing this "article", presenting it like that's the norm. A teenager in 1st year uni/college taking an Arts/Humanities focused course to become a journalist will produce that volume of work to a higher standard and in less time for each of their four subjects.

@Minjoph

Жыл бұрын

Makes you wonder if supposed journalists don't have to bother with "petty, small things" like ethics. I've got a bachelors in industrial engineering and management, and we had a whole section of a course dedicated to ethics and the importance of it, and what I did was waaaaay less likely to have a negative impact on someone.

@Viraus2

Жыл бұрын

Journalism doesn't have ethics. It is an entirely parasitic industry

Dear Fellow Fantasy Nerds: this is what is commonly called a "hit piece". And was probably proposed as such when the writer (a senior editor?) approached Wired to write it. However, after failing to expose any sort of "seedy underbelly", and failing to come up with an actual story - which they actually sort of admit in the article - they shifted to make it personal While it's definitely sleazy, and Sanderson could understandably feel a bit betrayed, you could choose to take it as a roundabout compliment...after all, if a writer for a major publication chooses to do a hit piece on you, it's probably a sign you've truly made it It's also probably worth noting that many have said "there's no such thing as bad publicity"

@bennycarts

5 ай бұрын

This is on the money (no pun intended). Even if you're not a huge fan of Sanderson, there's loads of interesting stuff to mine about his process, business savvy, reasons for success, yada, yada. Perhaps a journalist who likes his work, has read it, but doesn't necessarily love it so can maintain a suitably impartial perspective would have been preferable, but it wouldn't have generated a fraction of the clicks. It would have been interesting to discover why people do love his work, despite ostensisble shortcomings (dialogue, not the best humour, straightforward prose). For example, one can't use the usual lazy appeals to populism (visa vi bubblegum pop or McDonals). Why, for example have people like me, who love all the big hitters in lit, become utterly engrossed in Stomrlight? That's far more interesting to me.

So, to start, I am also queer and irreligious. 🙌🏻 I think I maybe love Brandy Sandy (that’s what I call him 🥰) more than you do. I agree that he and his writing is not perfect, but he has brought me a lot of joy over the past however many years I’ve been reading his stories. 😊 I also happened to meet him in person and I was the most awkward human imaginable, but he was so gracious and gave me a Cosmere pin. 😳 I cherish it so much!! Your commentary on this poor excuse of an article was the best I’ve seen. Thank you. ❤

Wait a minute... In the beginning of the article the author says he's read 17 or maybe 20 he's not sure books from Sanderson but they all blend together... Then later he admits he's not read a single book from Sanderson that he's criticizing in this article. How the hell could he have read 20 books from Sanderson and yet never read the most popular books in the entire genre?

Gotta love gems like: "For now, there is only Sanderson, both wordful and wordless, the best-selling writer no writer writes about because writers only know how to talk about words." WHAT.

@vidyavenkateswaran494

Жыл бұрын

Seriously. What an obnoxious sentence filled with delusional self importance. He seems to have word smithed to sound clever but ultimately it ends up contrived and stupid. This journalist is clearly thinks personal attacks and prolific vitriol make him a “critic”. This article is garbage.

@chapstikcrazy

Жыл бұрын

Unintelligible.

@weareallbornmad410

Ай бұрын

This... kind of reads like poetry. On its own, it's not actually terrible writing; it's just the kind of sentence that you need to build up to for the entire article, so that when it finally arrives the reader knows exactly what you mean. It's quite a lot of work, actually. Which the author of this piece didn't do.

"This Tolkien guy is ok, but he sure writes a lot of Christian imagery. What a dork" -Senior Editor at Wired, probably

When you on a trance and thought you were writing a rant tweet but was actually making an article for your job

@katiehettinger7857

Жыл бұрын

And it took him months. 🙄

Positive spin: the fact that Sanderson has had a main stream media outlet write a hacky hit piece on him is proof that his work and fantasy lit in general is becoming more and more important to culture as a whole. Usually it’s only politicians and rockstars that get this kind of treatment. Cmon guys, this means we’ve won!

@calastyphon3414

Жыл бұрын

it's not just those and this isn't a mainstream media outlet either. At the end of the day, fantasy doesn't really find itself on the literary canon all that often. it might be easy to be dismissive of that but I think, even if this article is too scathing, that a lot of fantasy currently lacks encouragement of critical analysis

@peterheke

Жыл бұрын

I disagree. Sanderson is a very popular very prolific mid-tier fantasy writer. He's fine, but he isn't threatening any kind of established order. He isn't even threatening to say anything new. You're employing the same kind of cope that conspiracy theorists use when the mainstream debunks their harmful ideas. In this instance, there is no conspiracy to discredit Sanderson, just one edgy article writer who knows that controversy can be spun into engagement.

@alanrice6077

Жыл бұрын

@@calastyphon3414 🤓

@Nortarachanges

Жыл бұрын

@@peterheke maybe not his writing. But he personally is challenging Amazon pretty directly

@peterheke

Жыл бұрын

@@Nortarachanges that's a good point, but I don't think there's any evidence this jerk is in their employ.

Sanderson just posted a statement/answer about this article on his reddit. I have copied it here. "All, I appreciate the kind words and support. Not sure how, or if, I should respond to the Wired article. I get that Jason, in writing it, felt incredibly conflicted about the fact that he finds me lame and boring. I’m baffled how he seemed to find every single person on his trip--my friends, my family, my fans--to be worthy of derision. But he also feels sincere in his attempt to try to understand. While he legitimately seems to dislike me and my writing, I don't think that's why he came to see me. He wasn't looking for a hit piece--he was looking to explore the world through his writing. In that, he and I are the same, and I respect him for it, even if much of his tone seems quite dismissive of many people and ideas I care deeply about. The strangest part for me is how Jason says he had trouble finding the real me. He says he wants something true or genuine. But he had the genuine me all that time. He really did. What I said, apparently, wasn't anything he found useful for writing an article. That doesn't make it not genuine or true. I am not offended that the true me bores him. Honestly, I'm a guy who enjoys his job, loves his family, and is a little obsessive about his stories. There's no hidden trauma. No skeletons in my closet. Just a guy trying to understand the world through story. That IS kind of boring, from an outsider's perspective. I can see how it is difficult to write an article about me for that reason. But at the same time, I’m worried about the way he treats our entire community. I understand that he didn’t just talk about me, but about you. As has been happening to fantasy fans for years, the general attitude of anyone writing about us is that we should be ashamed for enjoying what we enjoy. In that, the tone feels like it was written during the 80s. “Look at these silly nerds, liking things! How dare they like things! Don’t they know the thing they like is dumb?” As a community, let’s take a deep breath. It’s all right. I appreciate you standing up for me, but please leave Jason alone. This might feel like an attack on us, on you, but it’s not. Jason wrote what he felt he needed--and as a writer, he is my colleague. Please show him respect. He should not be attacked for sharing his feelings. If we attack people for doing so, we make the world a worse place, because fewer people will be willing to be their authentic selves. That said, let me say one thing. You, my friends, are not boring or lame. In Going Postal, one of my favorite novels, Sir Terry Pratchett has a character fascinated by collecting pins. Not pins like you might think--they aren't like Disney pins, or character pins. They are pins like tacks used to pin things to walls. Outsiders find it difficult to understand why he loves them so much. But he does. In the book, pins are a stand-in for collecting stamps, but also a commentary on the way we as human beings are constantly finding wonder in the world around us. That is part of what makes us special. The man who collects those pins--Stanley Howler--IS special. In part BECAUSE of his passion. And the more you get to know him, or anyone, the more interesting you find them. This is a truism in life. People are interesting, every one of them--and being a writer is about finding out why. In that way, the ability to make Stanley interesting is part of what makes Pratchett a genius, in my opinion. That's WRITING. Not merely using words. It’s what I aspire to be able to do. People are wonderful, fascinating, brilliant balls of walking contradiction, passion, and beauty. I find it an exciting challenge to make certain that the perspective of the washwoman or the monk sitting and reading a book is as interesting in a story as that of the king or the tech-mogul. And I find value in you. Your passion for my work is a big part of why I write. You make my life special. Thank you. (NOTE: I do want to make it clear, again that I bear Jason no ill will. I like him. Please leave him alone. He seems to be a sincere man who tried very hard to find a story, discovered that there wasn't one that interested him, then floundered in trying to figure out what he could say to make deadline. I respect him for trying his best to write what he obviously found a difficult article. He’s a person, remember, just like each of us.)" He is obviously hurt, but still acts like a true gentleman. I feel proud to be a reader of his work.

@thedeadd.c.207

Жыл бұрын

Sanderson is just awesome. This is a classy response that owns this Jason guy.

@aliciasorenson3807

Жыл бұрын

🙌

@niteglys

Жыл бұрын

Make Stanley proud and give this post a pin

@hobbes1887

Жыл бұрын

He just cockslapped Jason on the cheeks😂😂

@BackAlleyTANGO

Жыл бұрын

Sanderson is such a class act.

the quiet "oh no" when the writer starts talking about mormonism relating to fantasy got me laughing so bad

I can't imagine sitting down with a person and their family and then writing this. It's so cruel.

TL;DR if you don't want to engage with the article: Weird successful Mormon author who is actually bad at writing is weird and has weird Mormon beliefs that affect his bad writing, and the weird people who like his books are weirdly enthusiastic about also being weird. Not to mention, he's kinda weird.

@John73John

Жыл бұрын

He's also weird. I think you forgot to mention that.

@kaimcdragonfist4803

Жыл бұрын

If I didn't know any better I'd say the writer thinks Brando is kinda weird, and it might be because he's Mormon. Not sure why I get that vibe though

@nickwalker5797

Жыл бұрын

​@@John73John Oh did I leave that out? Weird.

@jackwriter1908

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget to mention that he lives in utah, in a weird gated community, in utah, as a mormon, like a weirdo, in utah.

@nickwalker5797

Жыл бұрын

​@@jackwriter1908 I mean, I live in Utah not 10 miles from Sanderson. It IS weird 😂

It was Patrick Rothfuss disguised as a Wired reporter. "Sanderson writes ENTIRELY TOO FAST."

I have a family member who is a poet, and (the rest of what follows is my take, based on decades of experience) that fact is central to their self-image. They can’t enjoy a work unless they actively admire the prose (and doesn’t challenge their beliefs). I never ask them what they’re reading anymore because they criticize almost everything. It seems like reading isn’t about enjoyment or experiencing something new - it’s an opportunity to feel superior. That’s the vibe I’m getting here. Also, does San Francisco not have nerds anymore? I haven’t been since the early 2000s, but at the time, the three major groups seems to be: - people who grew up in the area - people who talked a lot about New York - nerds who moved there for tech industry jobs

@katiehettinger7857

Жыл бұрын

Please don't blame San Francisco, there are plenty Sanderson fans waiting with bated breath for his next book to come out. 😉

This turned out exactly as I’ve expected. This is a great example of modern journalism.

@katiehettinger7857

Жыл бұрын

I love a little salt. 😏

Fantasy books without sex scenes are my favourite fantasy books and someone needs to cater to this audience (me)

@colonelpopcorn7702

Жыл бұрын

I’m in that audience too!

@BP-dn9nv

Жыл бұрын

I view sex in fiction the same way I view swearing or violence. If the story can justify it, great. If it's there just to add edgy points, lame.

@nele3527

Жыл бұрын

@@BP-dn9nv i understand that however all of the characters are entirely unsexual for me and i cannot stand it any other way 🥲

@Amcsae

Жыл бұрын

PLEASE post more non-sexual series! I'm a total prude, and need reading suggestions 😅

I haven't read any of Sanderson's books but this article came up on my feed. I read it all the way through, and the only thing I learned in this article is that Sanderson is passionate, humble, a hard worker, and shared his success with his friends and family. And the writer has some weird takes lol.

@JustinHight-py2sw

11 ай бұрын

Please let the article be the impetus for you to start reading Brandon Sanderson. He's a great writer

I just looked up Kehe's last few Wired articles. They're all like this. Everything he writes appears to aspire to be the screenplay of Hot Take: The Motion Picture.

This video was very cathartic. Thanks!

Man I had no idea Sanderson salted his Ramen. What a monster.

@infinitenumberofmonkeys3738

Жыл бұрын

What I meant was Sanderson Cult leader ritualistically salts his Ramen in front of "family member" and allows this minor to copy his bizarre behavior. What a monster.

@achimwienzi381

Жыл бұрын

I can only agree. The unrecognizable noises must be an eldritch language he uses to communicate with Lovecraftian horrors, which he hides by saying he is a Mormon.

@niteglys

Жыл бұрын

Let us not forget the cardinal sins of talking with ones’ mouth full and liking Wolverine

@marocat4749

Жыл бұрын

Ok i agree,so unforgivable to have an admitedly weird ramen style. He is satan personsified.

this "article" was straight up bullying and you can feel in every response that he was deeply hurt by it. I've never even met Sanderson but his stories have been important to me for years and reading his reddit post on this just made me cry.

@abyrupus

Жыл бұрын

I'm not even a fan of Sanderson, but the way the journalist made fun of his clothes, the place he lives in, and generally book-lovers in conventions with nerd stereotypes, feels like he was a classic high-school bully who never grew up.

I really like Sanderson's simple prose! English isn't my first language and I'm not an avid reader so Sanderson's books are very approachable for someone like me.

Oh my gosh, this whole article was just WILD. Really appreciated your take on it and most importantly that you respect his beliefs despite some of them being different from yours, that attitude is rare these days and the total opposite of this ridiculous article!

“…it’s called social anxiety. And, yeah, you’re at a convention where that condition is A LITTLE MORE COMMON.” 😂

And Brandon just posted a response that may be the nicest, most understanding post I have ever seen after a situation like this.

@goosewithagibus

Жыл бұрын

Where's the response?

@Silas_MN

Жыл бұрын

@@goosewithagibus there's a couple of comments here quoting it, but it appears to be on reddit

Oh my god. The implication that the vast majority of his characters are perfect good people. Most of them are morally gray AT BEST

You and Man Carrying Thing should definitely do a skit "recreating" the interview between Brandon Sanderson and this guy.

@anth636

Жыл бұрын

I honestly thought at first that Man Carrying Thing made the article as a joke