Twilight hate is getting out of control.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 12:20 am

I don't mean on these boards so much, but it's recently become sport to pick on people who like to read those books. People need to chill.

If you need to hate on something, reserve it for something that really deserves it. Like Chrono Cross.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 1:11 am

Twilight is A: A romance novel.

B: Shitty.

C: Misogynistic; it's a female victim fantasy. Princess saved by two princes and her uterus.

So it deserves any and all hate it has lumped onto it.

And more people in the world and on this board have seen/read Twilight products than Chrono Cross.

Deal with it.

-Crissa

Jilocasin · Post by **Jilocasin** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:17 am

Normally I don't give a crap if people spend their time reading bad books or watching bad films. I do want to point out however that whenever a person purchases anything Twilight they are actively harming gay people. It's sort of indirect, but there's three things to keep in mind.

1) Stephanie Meyer is a mormon.

2) She tithes a percentage of all the money she makes to the church.

3) The LDS has put forth a lot of money towards anti-gay initiatives. Prop 8 being the most visible recent one.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:53 am

I'm down with it being a romance novel. Some examples of the genre are genuinely good reads. Sure, of course the couple involved is going to go Happy Ever After, but a good romance novel makes sure they deserve it.

I don't like Twilight for several reasons--the messages and ideas it contains being foremost, and the godawful purple prose being second. It's not a good romance novel. That dumb girl should get a good smack in the head for the sheer stupidity she displays sometimes (she figures he's a vampire. Goes into the woods with him, alone, not telling anybody, and with no protection. I'd have a stake down one sock.) and Sparkles needs to be slapped with a restraining order. Or staked.

The worldbuilding is bullshit, too.

But, despite that, I can acknowledge that a lot of people enjoy it, and I won't bitch about their taste. I like some movies and books that I can objectively acknowledge as being poorly done (still hanging in on Naruto), so I'm one to talk.

What does worry me is that the fanaticism towards the series makes me a little concerned for the well-being of Robert Pattinson, the actor in the Film of the Book. I mean, shit, girls come up to get his autograph after scratching their necks open and say, "We're bleeding for you, Edward!" When he goes to an event, security makes a point to ask him not to make eye contact or encourage the mob.

A bit more of a push and that poor dude's going to get some crazy psychobitch stalker.

So, yeah. I hate the book. I tolerate the fans--mostly.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:50 am

Actually, they just did that one in Maine, so Prop 8 is now not the newest one.

-Crissa

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:40 pm

Can Twilight Hate get out of control? I mean, let's be real here: the Ugandan Government seriously put up a law before parliament that made being gay or even failing to turn in a gay person you knew about punishable by imprisonment. And also made being gay and sick a capital offense. This law was crafted by those sick fucks at "The College of Prayer" back in the United States. As in, seriously by Rick Warren, who is a vile scumbag who can now add "attempted mass murder" to his resume.

But make no mistake: the LDS are not blameless here. They have a full time mission there which gets funds and supplies from the church that they funnel to the LRA, and help spread the good word about how hating gay people is the right thing to do. They only have seven thousand people on the ground, but they do as much damage as they can.

So yes. When you give a dollar to Twilight, a fraction of that dollar goes to Stephanie. And then a tenth of that fraction goes to the LDS coffers. And then a small fraction of that is sent to Uganda, where it bolsters their campaign to create actual fucking concentration camps to actually fucking murder whole groups of actual people. Buying Twilight is like buying something from IG Farbin in 1936. This is not a joke, and it's not something that can be taken lightly.

Mass murder with your money is mass murder in your name. If you buy Twilight material you aren't just buying bad writing, you're behaving in a morally unjustifiable fashion.

-Username17

Jilocasin · Post by **Jilocasin** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:28 pm

I know Prop 8 isn't the newest thing, or even close to the most reprehensible, as Frank so eloquently pointed out. I would argue that it was the most visible as far as publicity goes, at least in the US. I suppose that could just be my sense since I live on the west coast though.

Wyzzard · Post by **Wyzzard** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:49 pm

I remember the good old days, back when Eragon was still the pinnacle of bad writing...

But apparently Twilight is so bad that humanity would be better off if I just bought Mein Kampf instead?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:09 pm

Well, the copyright holder of Mein Kampf isn't a Nazi anymore.

-Crissa

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:55 pm

Frank, can I ask where you found evidence that the mormon church supports the LRA? 'Cause I can't find that anywhere.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:17 pm

I dunno about that, Frank. Let's say you buy a Twilight paperback for $10. I'm too lazt to go find reoyalty infomration; wikipedia suggests that 10% is common in the UK; Stephanie Myers probably gets a better deal than most, but let's go with 10%.

The tithe is also probably around 10%. So you're seriouls talking about 10 CENTS going to the mormon church off every twilight book.

We could be charitable and say that a tenth of the church's budget goes directly to oppressing gay people. So now we're talking one penny going to EVIL from every purchase.

You know, if I had any desire to own Twilight, I'm pretty sure I could live with that. Buying computers funds the tantalum wars; buying groceries from Whole Foods funds anti-healthcare lobbyists, etc. I could just donate 2 cents to gay rights group for every Stephanie Meyers books I bought and call it good.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:59 pm

PoliteNewb wrote:Frank, can I ask where you found evidence that the mormon church supports the LRA? 'Cause I can't find that anywhere.

I find that their Website is usually a pretty good source.

LDS Newsroom wrote:Church humanitarian efforts have benefited Ugandans through such projects as delivering clothing to the Kitgum District in Northern Uganda for victims of fighting between political factions.

-Username17

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:28 pm

I'm not understanding the leap of "shirts for the victims of violence in violent Uganda" to "funding the LRA" unless you're assuming an overly paranoid/cynical interpretation of events. It's almost like equating donations to a shelter for battered women as a declaration of support toward's misogyny.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:56 pm

virgileso wrote:I'm not understanding the leap of "shirts for the victims of violence in violent Uganda" to "funding the LRA" unless you're assuming an overly paranoid/cynical interpretation of events. It's almost like equating donations to a shelter for battered women as a declaration of support toward's misogyny.

The key is that there isn't any "fighting between political factions" in Kitgum District. There's the LRA insurgency, and there's the Ugandan government. One is a political faction, the other is a Christian terrorist group that has conducted a multi-decade reign of terror across 5 countries with an army of child soldier slaves. No one would ever call the LRA a "political faction" unless they were intending to legitimize them. And the LRA gets most of their stuff (and a lot of their child slaves) from Kitgum. Giving out supplies in Kitgum is at the very least horribly dangerous and irresponsible - the UN needs the constant protection of armed guards to keep their food warehouses from being over run. The Mormons do not have the manpower in that country to actually give handouts to anyone without cutting a deal with the LRA.

So they walk in and out of LRA areas with impunity, carrying supplies in and not out, and they refer to the LRA as a "political faction" as if they had any legitimacy at all. What the fuck are we supposed to conclude?

-Username17

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 10:39 pm

-SNARK- I just find it funny that buying twilight can be similar to buying cigarettes and funding TERRORISTS!!!

---

:-D

My wife funds Ugandan hate camps through buying a bad paperback and I've funded Terrorism by buying cigarettes.

And I thought we were vaguely decent people. Jeez, I'm a douche

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:02 pm

The More You Know! (TM)

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:51 pm

So where do you draw your line on when buying product X funds action Y? Is it when you know about the connection? I guess obviously you can't make an informed decision if you don't know the connection between the LRA, the Mormon Church, and the author of the books.

The only reason I ask is it seems like you could potentially be funding something heinous with about any purchase you make, but you just don't know about it. Is it the same thing if you buy a product, the profits go to the company, which get spread to the worker's wages, and one of the workers is a member of KKK who goes out, buys a gun, and kills someone? I guess the big difference there is the Mormon Church knows about the LRA's actions whereas my example company probably doesn't know about their racist murderer employee.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:37 pm

Frank, my question is why you were reading th LDS website in the first place to find that information?

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:22 pm

So, I can't think of a better place to ask this, so it goes here.

But anyway, I've heard second-hand that one of the most frustrating parts of New Moon was that the author had a chance to totally turn the story and its more twisted morals on its head completely with the character of Jacob. Bella becomes clinically depressed after Edward leaves her for no good reason and Jacob slowly helps her get out of it but then it's all undone when Bella just accepts Edward again anyway.

Anyone want to elaborate on this? You guys know that Lago loooooves his hate.

Jilocasin · Post by **Jilocasin** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:25 pm

This will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Twilight. It's pretty funny too.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:02 pm

Jilocasin wrote:This will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Twilight. It's pretty funny too.

This and this , too, give some more serious analysis, but still doesn't come out looking favorably on the series.

I've linked to the Sparkledammerung myself as the third part of having to explain the series to people and why it's not something people should take seriously.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:09 pm

I thought this was an interesting take that ends up more positive about the series than the author intended.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:43 am

Technically, Bella accepting Edwards back is a horribly accurate representation of love and an abusive relationship.

-Crissa

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:50 am

Crissa wrote:Technically, Bella accepting Edwards back is a horribly accurate representation of love and an abusive relationship.

-Crissa

And now it's the gold standard for young women all over America. Neat!

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:57 am

I know a girl that voluntarily goes by the nickname "Bella" specifically in reference to the character in Twilight. No, it is not meant in an ironic way either.

People. Are. Crazy.