John Boyne properly nails his colours to the madt

[PretzelKnot]

It’s taken a while but well done John.

”A really smart piece by Brendan O'Neill for
@spikedonline.
The people who are currently trying to destroy @roisinmurphy's life & career for defending vulnerable children are mirror images of those who tried to destroy Sinéad's life & career 30 years ago.

Self-appointed moral arbiters and men's right activists who cannot bear the idea of a woman's voice being heard.

For me, this story is the straw that broke the camel's back.

I am no longer going to stay silent on the way that women are treated.

I will defend women's rights, children's rights, gay rights, and lesbian rights to my dying day. I will also defend trans rights.

But I will not defend the online activists who are neither gay, lesbian or trans but who exploit the lives of LGBT people simply to earn followers in the hope of giving themselves a voice in the world and, in time, monetising that.

If that costs me readers or my career, so be it.

On June 9th 1954, at a Congressional hearing, Joseph Welch said to Senator Joe McCarthy: "You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"

I would ask the same question of the people who are trying to destroy the life of a woman who has done nothing - NOTHING - but suggest that vulnerable children should be protected.

You have done enough, all of you. Have you no sense of decency?”

https://twitter.com/johnboynebooks/status/1698793743761969267?s=46&t=f8U9xaap9RM6pcBCdpsFIA

I love that apology. I might even think about reading some of his books now.

Not to mention that there was some study by the London Jewish Centre that found that some horrifying percentage of children reading it thought it was a true story and that Bruno’s death brought an end to the camps.

Well that’s not John Boyne’s fault is it. That would be the fault of the adults presenting the book to the child and how it was discussed with them.

He already has

"Don’t know what to say. Apology accepted, obviously. I said some things in anger to John that must have made this doubly hard to write, so my particular thanks to him for looking past that. Very decent of you, John, thank you."

Both of them being rather graceful imo.

I managed to completely miss that! 😜

Beautiful apology and I hope many more follow.

Please God the tide is truly turning 🙏

A link to Graham Linehan's tweet, for posterity:

https://twitter.com/Glinner/status/1698835803332301160

There are some very moving responses under that tweet.

I imagine Glinner will accept JB’s apology with good grace. He made his own heartfelt apology recently to Mark Meechan. He knows what it’s like to have been on the wrong side of things.

This apology made me actually cry.
My favourite author (of adult books) has seen the light.
Anyone who has not read the hearts invisible furies should do so now. So good I've read it twice.

I'll kindle up the first in his new 4 part series

Not ashamed to say this whole exchange brought tears to my eyes when I saw it on X-Twitter earlier. It’s sad that it’s so rare nowadays but it’s truly beautiful when it happens.

Quite, NitroNine, but then being Jewish is not trendy or interesting. On the spectrum of oppression being misgendered is far worse than some ancient genocide.

Hah

@NitroNine brilliant post. I'm Jewish and absolutely hate BISP. It's a dangerous and very misleading book.

Separately from that though, I LOVE his apology to Glinner, and the acceptance of it. I respect him hugely for posting that.

Really generous apology. That is definitely the way to do it. I'd love to see some of our politicians learn from this.

@NitroNine really interesting post, thank you. I've never read/watched BISP. It's on the lengthy but vague really-should-read-at-some-point list. Thank you for these comments

Genuinely, If you are interested in reading more about the Holocaust, I would be happy to recommend you a number of really good books for both adults and children. Let me know if you would like this.

I think JB's apology is wonderful, (and i have worked with him, and he's a nice bloke) but that book is... not good.

One or two very odd replies to Glinner's post.

Covered in the Telegraph (archive link)

https://archive.ph/lHQPM

The heart's invisible furies is the only one if his that I've read and I recommend it to everyone, I absolutely loved it

His book, The Echo Chamber is a v funny satire of social media and cancel culture, so it's something he's already done a lot of research on ( as well as it happening to him personally ). Sounds like this was a last straw for him!

Nice apology and graceful acceptance by Glinner. Hope Roisin is doing OK. These past few days must be so hard for her.

Thanks @Superfood I did study the history of this period at one stage, both here and in Germany so I'm not so bad on the factual, historical stuff. I also very much admire Zygmunt Bauman's Modernity and the Holocaust which tries to theorise and capture the way of thinking, and how people shift from the (dramatically lower) death tolls of the pogroms to the horrific millions slaughtered in the Holocaust. I've not read much fiction about this period, largely because I often find historical fiction annoying (with some important exceptions!) because of the anachronisms.

I read that as the Heart's invisible furries, and was thinking that was quite the pivot 😁

TRAs never had a problem with his views before when he was seen as being on their side. It's a bit late for them to pretend concern now.

He's obviously not antisemitic.

I fully accept comments above indicating that one of his books was not well researched and has caused some issues. I haven't read it or seen the fillum, don't have anything to add on that.