Thread by @LyanaRodriguez1

It's time for that highly depressive talk I did not want to have...

We have to talk about Caitlin R. Kiernan. A Thread.

Who is Caitlin R. Kiernan? She's an Irish-born writer of horror and weird fiction who doubles as a paleontologist. Several years back, I reviewed one of her works, "The Red Tree." It was a novel I really enjoyed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitl%C3%…

Ever since I read and reviewed that novel a while back, I've followed her on Twitter to keep track of updates on her work.

For the most part, I found her Twitter a chill place with lots of paleontology posts, art, literary vibes, etc.

However, yesterday, something very concerning. Namely, Caitlin retweeted this:

This tweet immediately raised red flags, especially when I went to watch the video.

Firstly, the video is about how white people should not feel guilty about chattel slavery because, supposedly, the Arabic slave trade was worse.

This kind of whataboutism is very common among conservative circles. Usually it's used to derail much-needed conversations on the impact of racist chattel slavery in British, American, and Canadian societies.

However, just in case I was wrong, I decided to look into the people behind the tweet.

My red flags were confirmed in the worst possible way.

For one thing, Paul Golding is a far-right politician. And not polite about it.

He's specifically the leader of Britain First, an openly fascist political party from the British Isles.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_F…

Douglas Murray himself is also a huge problem. And he's an account Caitlin happens to follow. Just look at his Twitter bio in Caitlin's following accounts page:

This is all deeply concerning. At first, I thought it must be a mistake. Maybe Caitlin hate follows these accounts and retweeted them by accident?

However, she has not taken down this tweet. They're still up.

It gets worse.

Today Caitlin retweeted this:

This could not be anything but on purpose.

This tweet is obviously a dogwhistle and an unsubtle one at that about diversity initiatives. Then I saw Caitlin respond:

At this point, I'm deeply shocked, disappointed, and dismayed. Caitlin herself is a trans woman, and her fiction has always seemed pretty progressive.

What's going on here?

I vagueposted yesterday about that initial tweet and offered to send DM's to people who were curious.

In the process, a follower ended up telling me something important: this is not new behavior for Caitlin. It's been happening for two years.

And it's gotten worse.

This follower proceeded to send me the receipts of just what Caitlin believes.

And it's not a pretty sight.

Content Warning for Racism.

Here's Caitlin's facebook account. In it, she's decrying these images posted at the National Museum of African American History and Culture about whiteness.

As it so happens, this backlash on whiteness studies in a highly renowned museum comes with a blog post from Caitlin.

greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/1769856.html

For those who do not want to read the entire blog post, here's a pretty crucial part of it:

Needless to say, her posting on this specific issue has all the hallmarks of racism.

1) Fragile backlash to criticism of whiteness.

2) Pushing out a token Black person to roundly critique the idea.

3) Using the word "woke" and "wokeism" to describe the phenomenon of Black issues and conversations about racism entering the public sphere, especially education.

It gets worse.

Here's Caitlin decrying "Marxist-Leninist indoctrination" infecting our schools and how this will influence her vote for the next President.

This language feels especially alarming to me as a queer brown Latine in Florida. This kind of language is routinely used by fascists like Ron DeSantis to ban books, censor educators, and scapegoat minorities.

And it's not a one-time thing for Caitlin. It repeats, over and over.

Perhaps another problem? These views are impacting her own views on the industries she works in.

For example, Caitlin fucking /hates/ sensitivity readers.

Needless to say, Caitlin's wrong. Sensitivity readers simply do the paid work of explaining how characters, plotlines, or tropes might better reflect the realities of marginalized groups.

And their advice is not mandatory. You, the author, have ultimate decision-making.

Furthermore, for Caitlin to be proclaiming that sensitivity readers are the biggest threat to literature in an age where governments are literally banning books from needed readers in order to hurt marginalized groups?

Bad move.

And it's not just literature. Caitlin's own personal "war on woke" is affecting her perception of the STEM fields as seen in her blog.

greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/1769094.html

Here she is full-on refusing to admit science's history of racism and how white people are complicit in racist systems within the sciences:

In that same blog post, she mocks a trans woman who was barred from cycling with other women and claims trans women have an unfair advantage in sports.

That old lie.

In this blog post, Caitlin decries DEI and muses quitting her membership at two paleontological societies for having to sign them:
greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/1768879.html

She also pontificates about how the Left is destroying comedy and making fun of inclusive language surrounding people's bodies.

For those that don't want to click, I find the DEI passage especially unnerving:

I could keep going, but I'd be here for a really long time.

Instead, let's come to our conclusions.

At best, Caitlin R. Kiernan is being racist and showing extremely conservative views on issues that directly harm the most marginalized among us in the literary and paleontological scene.

At the very worst, Caitlin is being radicalized into further and further far-right spaces. Remember, at the beginning of this thread, she retweeted a /literal British fascist party head/.

For those who know Caitlin personally or have known her for years, if you're upset at these views, I suggest privately talking to her about them.

For the rest of us though? It's time to show we won't stand for this in our communities.

There is no room for racist and fascist dogwhistles in the horror community. There is no room for racism or fascism in paleontology.

Caitlin has the right to believe and say whatever she wants. But they come with consequences.

We also have the right to respond how we see fit to these incredibly dangerous views.

Caitlin R. Kiernan is now on my personal blacklist. I will not read any of her books nor any anthology with her work in it. I will be unfollowing her and possibly blocking.

I highly suggest followers, readers, and fans do the same, but it's your choice.

For those of you with presses, please do not publish Caitlin's work.

For my paleontology followers? Don't use her papers. Don't invite her to your events.

Not until Caitlin apologizes and shows sign of changed behavior.

I wish I did not have to say this, make these decisions, or write this thread. I wish Caitlin did not get radicalized.

But this is where we are.

For now, I move on. There are many wonderful weird and horror fiction writers out there who are are not, at best, fascist sympathizers.

My work on my blog and Patreon, as always, will highlight their work.

For now, I wish to show my condolences and deep sorrow to other Kiernan fans who are dismayed and heartbroken.

But especially, I wish solidarity for other fans of color who are especially and egregiously wounded by Caitlin's bigotry.