Of all people....Margaret Atwood ‘we’re all part of a flowing bellcurve’

[BubblegumFactory]

Can’t link to Twitter so I took a screenshot.
I’m kind of in shock.
Anyone else seen this?

She replied to Jane Clare Jones with an arch musing on fish.

Sorry, rubbish at doing twitter screen grabs, but here is JCJ's reply

mobile.twitter.com/janeclarejones/status/1280387608640716800

I really, really. want MA to explain the answer, because it does seem to be a bit of a plot hole.

@merrymouse

She replied to Jane Clare Jones with an arch musing on fish.

Sorry, rubbish at doing twitter screen grabs, but here is JCJ's reply

mobile.twitter.com/janeclarejones/status/1280387608640716800

I really, really. want MA to explain the answer, because it does seem to be a bit of a plot hole.

Ha! It's great.

I'm still just so surprised how barramundi entered the convo.

Maybe I am misreading but I thought her replies to OJ are holding him very much at arm's length and not wanting to get pulled in to that role either?

i didn't see it like that. shes being foolish- makes me sad to see.

OJ tried fawning and was dismissed for his silly comments. Whatever her stance, I doubt MA has any desire to be the leader of tedious SJWs who she's probably never heard of.

This has made me despair afresh this morning. I can see a lot of 'right thinking' people breathing a sigh of relief that they can now discount everything jkr has said because the higher power of Margaret Atwood has reassured them they were right all along.

The Handmaid's Tale 2020 Offred: 'I'm a man!', Commander: 'Oh OK.... Let her go.' The End.

This. I was going to say how on earth did they tell who could be a Handmaid in Gilead but this is better.

The cynical part of me wonders if she sees that transactivism is clearly heading in the direction of Gilead and she's positioning herself to be an Aunt rather than anything else, since they're the only ones allowed to read and write IIRC.

She is throwing young girls and vulnerable women under the bus.

Aunt-like.

She's a shape-shifter. I remember an old interview from the 80s where she spoke of the influence of her visit to Afghanistan under Taliban rule around 1980 on The Handmaid's Tale. The revolution had just happened in Iran too and suddenly millions of women were forced to cover themselves and had their most fundamental rights stripped away. She spoke of trying on a burka in the marketplace and how it made her feel.

Fast forward a few decades and her emphasis has shifted to women under Bush and Trump and right wing Republicans and sorry but the scale of it is just not comparable. World politics had moved on and I could see she didn't want to be accused of Islamophobia or racism, the usual things you get hit with if you criticise non western cultures. So it seemed like a kind of cowardice to me, and this does too.

@Langismyhero

The Handmaid's Tale 2020 Offred: 'I'm a man!', Commander: 'Oh OK.... Let her go.' The End.

This. I was going to say how on earth did they tell who could be a Handmaid in Gilead but this is better.

The cynical part of me wonders if she sees that transactivism is clearly heading in the direction of Gilead and she's positioning herself to be an Aunt rather than anything else, since they're the only ones allowed to read and write IIRC.

And we know Lydia was somewhat redeemed and definitely humanised in the sequel.

she is tyng to sell more books and avoid being attacked

@ValancyRedfern

This has made me despair afresh this morning. I can see a lot of 'right thinking' people breathing a sigh of relief that they can now discount everything jkr has said because the higher power of Margaret Atwood has reassured them they were right all along.

I think we all put too much stock in what people say on twitter. Only about 20% of the UK has a twitter account, and twitter as a platform is biased in favour of wokeness.

JKR's reach extends far beyond Twitter. Her tweets have been all over the news. Is "Margaret Atwood thinks sex is on a bell curve" going to be? I doubt it.

Canada is highly woke, as is the canadian literature scene. So I'm disappointed in MA, but not surprised.

Chin up

remember that a lot of twitter is bots, paid-for meddlers and daft kids with too much time on their hands,

She's a shape-shifter. I remember an old interview from the 80s where she spoke of the influence of her visit to Afghanistan under Taliban rule around 1980 on The Handmaid's Tale. The revolution had just happened in Iran too and suddenly millions of women were forced to cover themselves and had their most fundamental rights stripped away. She spoke of trying on a burka in the marketplace and how it made her feel.

Fast forward a few decades and her emphasis has shifted to women under Bush and Trump and right wing Republicans and sorry but the scale of it is just not comparable. World politics had moved on and I could see she didn't want to be accused of Islamophobia or racism, the usual things you get hit with if you criticise non western cultures. So it seemed like a kind of cowardice to me, and this does too.

Great point.

She did reply to JCJ to the effect that if what JCJ was saying was true, it needed looking into.

& a lot of her references to slugs etc sounded like a pisstake. I don't know. I suspect she's just not given it much thought. Maybe now she will?

Also, I teach THMT. Always generates a good discussion about the role of the Aunts - I point out that I'm an educated older woman, & so it would be massively in my interests to sign on with the Aunts rather than be shipped off to the colonies - I'd probably be quite good at it with all those years of teaching experience.

Then we talk about totalitarian regimes generally, & how they rely on a cadre of relatively privileged people who are technically members of the oppressed group, but who are able to opt in to collaboration as a survival mechanism. & how if that's you, it becomes easier to live with yourself if you can convince yourself you are somehow being altruistic & the values of the regime are honourable.

I reckon it's depressingly easy for anyone to turn into Aunt Lydia, however much we kid ourselves that of course we would be a Moira.

& I suspect that might be where Atwood is right now.

Weirdly, Im not that surprised.
I liked some of her work a lot, but it has always struck me from her work that she seems quite synical,
mix this with ambition and you end up with someone prity ruthless.

Gotta keep that woke praise going, attention is currency in a crowded marketplace.

On reflection, I was insufficiently caffeine and it should have been this:
Offred: 'I'm a man!'
Commander: 'Oh OK.... Let him go.'
The End.

Caffeined.

I've read most of her books and she has often given off a flinty Cool Girl vibe and seemed to enjoy skewering other women. I reread The Robber Bride recently and thought she actually seems to be on the side of Zenia!

Yes I agree with the Cool Girlness.

@PurpleCrowbarWhereIsLangCleg

She did reply to JCJ to the effect that if what JCJ was saying was true, it needed looking into.

& a lot of her references to slugs etc sounded like a pisstake. I don't know. I suspect she's just not given it much thought. Maybe now she will?

Also, I teach THMT. Always generates a good discussion about the role of the Aunts - I point out that I'm an educated older woman, & so it would be massively in my interests to sign on with the Aunts rather than be shipped off to the colonies - I'd probably be quite good at it with all those years of teaching experience.

Then we talk about totalitarian regimes generally, & how they rely on a cadre of relatively privileged people who are technically members of the oppressed group, but who are able to opt in to collaboration as a survival mechanism. & how if that's you, it becomes easier to live with yourself if you can convince yourself you are somehow being altruistic & the values of the regime are honourable.

I reckon it's depressingly easy for anyone to turn into Aunt Lydia, however much we kid ourselves that of course we would be a Moira.

& I suspect that might be where Atwood is right now.

Oh, I wouldn't be a Moira. I'd be one of the women who carked it on the way to the colonies. No heroics here.

Maybe she's always "felt like a man" but got stuck with being a woman and THT is actually a fantasy of how things should be.

It's funny though even we disagree with her, we haven't defaulted to sending her dick pics.

Both sides? Hmmm.

She will put a foot wrong - not give enough and she will get her piccys. Its never enough for some people.

@HeistSociety

It's funny though even we disagree with her, we haven't defaulted to sending her dick pics.

Both sides? Hmmm.

Well there's this

twitter.com/mcgrawfinkle/status/1280361231816159237?s=21