I may have just earned myself that title.  Author Behaving Badly.

Prior to yesterday, I believed the title was reserved for those authors who came after critics of their published works.  Those authors who decided they couldn’t handle that someone didn’t like what they’d put out there and so they took it upon themselves to defend their work.  And in turn, became an Author Behaving Badly.

Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of criticisms.  Due to the nature of my specific work in one of my series, I’ve had flack from people who identify as Christians and are mortally offended by my portrayal of their religious founder.  I.E. I used an old tradition that Jesus was trained in a Buddhist temple in India and after he was rescued from his crucifixion, escaped back to Kashmir where he lived, died, and is currently buried.  (Seriously look up Isa of Kashmir– you won’t be disappointed, I promise.)  But I don’t reply to those people critiquing my work because it’s their opinion on a book they (may or may not have) purchased with their own money.  You buy it, you earn your public opinion and I’m not going to feel one way or the other about it.

But I digress, because that’s not the issue here.

We’re talking about me, and how I earned my title yesterday during a giant facebook wank.

See, there’s a fine line you have to walk as an author.  You have a public face, and whether or not you’re famous, you’re still visible.  People may choose to read your work, or skip it based on certain things.  And I think the trouble comes with the assumption that people in a visible line of work are required then to abandon all personal morals and become completely neutral.  We reserve our opinions for private conversations with people we trust because we don’t want to alienate our audience.

I don’t buy that, and I don’t believe that.  The goddess J.K. Rowling herself has taken down sexist and horrible tweets without regret or remorse.  She’s not sorry.  She’s not playing respectability politics.  She’s being who she is as a person.

Just today I read this fantastic blog by Chuck Wendig taking down some homophobic dude who sent him hate mail for having a gay main character.  He’s unapologetic and he uses the phrase Fuckity Snacks which probably made my entire day.

But here’s the crux of it all, as authors we create worlds different from our own.  There, we DO represent different lifestyles and viewpoints, backgrounds, genders, etc.  But as people, which we are allowed to be, we don’t have to play nice.  We don’t have to be the fucking Switzerland of the writing world.  We are under no obligation to hide who we are.

Here is a screen cap of my status which earned me the title.

This status, which sums up my very real views on the world as it is, earned me threats.  I was mocked, ridiculed, had my writing career threatened, was told I was giving an “ultimatum” to people on my facebook.  I’ve been scolded that I’m not “playing nicely”, and told repeatedly that it’s my job as an author to be neutral on these things.

This like (copy-pasted, not screen-capped to protect their identity)

“This link that I saved may hurt your standing one day. Everything we say in life is, and can be, used against us.“

“Oh no, there is another Pooptard who wants to be a follower of mandates and unethical demands…”

“Well I agree with 10 and 11–two out of 15 isn’t all that bad for an ole white guy.“

“Everyone thinks that society is just going to give everyone what they want. Not everyone can have what they want. Therefore there will never be true equality. As for Bruce Jenner, he carries a Y chromosome which makes him a man regardless of how he mutulates himself.“

So here’s the thing… No.  It’s not my job to be neutral.  Just as it’s not my job to endure people wanting to debate me over the importance of black lives or the LGBTQ community.  It’s not my job to pretend like I don’t have an opinion on the racist shitbag Donald Trump running (and doing disgustingly well in the Republican polls) for POTUS.  It’s not my job to sit quietly and endure bigotry.  It’s not my job to allow people on my page who believe these things.  I am not obligated as a human being to “agree to disagree” on oppressed people’s right to live.

So if this means I’m an Author Behaving Badly, I’ll gladly wear that badge today.  Because I don’t want these people to interact with me.  I don’t want to cater to that audience.  If you sit in silence, you side with the oppressors.  And I won’t be that person.