Thread by @_grayscale_

@BillAicher Maybe, maybe not. Offhand, I can't think of any writers with sexually suggestive avatars. Maybe I just haven't run into them, yet.

But to be blunt, this subject makes me uncomfortable. I think that when writers snipe at each other, this takes us to a unproductive place.

@BillAicher I think we've all heard of "Tall Poppy Syndrome," before. Social media sites seem to do a lot to help it along, and once it gets going, personal, creative growth is the one thing that isn't being encouraged.

@BillAicher We grow by becoming better than we used to be, and in the process, we will from time to time seem to be doing better than those who were seen as our peers quite recently.

@BillAicher If, the moment this happens, one's former friends, instead of feeling happy for one view this as justification for little passive-aggressive pot shots at one, what does that do the satisfaction one would otherwise gain from a job well done?

@BillAicher Even as a beginner, I can see this - writing, when done well, is hard work. Snark, on the other hand, is easy, just as long as one doesn't let that pesky empathy thing get in the way.

@BillAicher And that, Mr. Aicher, is where "phoniness" comes from - the need to fake empathy because one has stopped feeling it.

Getting in the habit of accepting backbiting will do that to people.

@BillAicher Are there writers who are getting praise they don't deserve because they've shown a little cleavage that, if we tracked it down, would probably turn out to belong to a cam girl they don't know? If so, what of it?

They hurt nobody but themselves, as they end up reading trash.

@BillAicher If you're going to say "but it's so unfair, sex appeal is why I can't get ahead as an author, I would like to introduce you to one of the writers who immediately comes to mind when my hometown of Chicago is mentioned.

The late Mike Royko. He wasn't exactly a looker, was he?

@BillAicher Didn't keep him from getting book deals or being remembered. On the other hand, all one has to do in the same city to find a long line of breathtakingly beautiful women who nobody will remember is to go barhopping on a Saturday night.

So let's get real.

@BillAicher Your real problem doesn't seem to be that you don't fill out a bikini the right way. Or a speedo if you want to be less "modern" about this. 🙂

@BillAicher Your problem, Mr. Aicher, is that you're abusive and that the sort of people who are going to put up with that on a long term basis tend to a source of trouble themselves.

@BillAicher They'll put up with your BS because they've alienated so many other people, that hanging around with you is the best option they have left.

If that's the crowd you've gathered around you, why is the reader going to stick around for more, most of the time? Masochism?

@BillAicher Face it like a man - you are the source of your own problems in this area. You're not a marginalized person being unjustly excluded or horribly misunderstood, you're just a jer,k.

As I keep saying, that's not a condition, that's a choice.

@BillAicher Please unroll @threadreaderapp