Man angry at famous woman's appointment to literary society

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/01/05/man-angry-at-famous-womans-a.html

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tenor

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Nick who?

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So this guy is seething with anger because she starred in a play that wasn’t very good?

Somehow I don’t think we are getting the full story here.

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A key long-term challenge is making sure that enthusiatic mediocrities are no longer taken as authorities on anything beyond the fine details of their preoccupation.

This seems to be the point the offended man baby was making, without the sexism and pearl clutching!

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Incidentally, a First in art history at Cambridge is not a basketweaving type degree. And you don’t get into Kings by being pretty.
If you look at Cole’s bio, she is genuinely exceedingly bright.

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Well sure - he’s an enthusiastic mediocrity with XY chromosomes, mortally offended at the thought of sitting on the board of a museum alongside someone he sees as an enthusiastic mediocrity with XX chromosomes.

The lack of self-awareness is striking.

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Reading more, I’m finding that the man may believe himself to be the penultimate authority on the Bronte sisters and is having a hissy fit that a pretty young woman is being appointed, regardless of any talent or credentials she may possess.

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I think he is self-aware… but in an outrageously psychotic XY kind of way.

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asshole_peanuts-2

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Glass house, meet guy who lives in you. I suspect if you’ve never heard of Nick Holland, that would also put you firmly in the majority.

In fact, since Lily Cole has a Wikipedia entry and Nick Holland does not (at least not that I can find, unless this really IS the form Aussie rules football player) I am awarding Lily Cole +5 Internet Points and Nick Holland -100000.

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I was going to say I’ve never heard of Lily Cole, but apparently I’ve seen some of her movies. Certainly, I’ve never heard of Nick Holland or the Brontë Sociëty. Knowing nothing about their membership, the quality of their appointees, or any prior controversies, I am left scratching my head.

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I do not know who the lady in question is, and frankly the quality of the play she was in or her performance is irrelevant to me. Judging by what has been stated about her the arts is clearly something she’s passionate about and shouldn’t various institutions be trying to bring in and engage with younger generations to stay relevant and inspire more people?

The guy sounds like an absolute joy to be around. Good riddance.

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Why are you calling him “man”? Shouldn’t he be called “gentleman”?

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Eh, if you read the whole thing, it seems like the problem is the whole Traditionalist vs Modern schism. The group is looking to expand and attract a younger audience, which he feels is alienating the core group - or at least part of the core group. Criticism with Cole seems largely due to his feelings of Nepotism and the larger feeling that the Director shouldn’t be an “outsider”. That past outsider consultant didn’t know enough about the subject matter to do it justice. One gripe was putting up “inspired” by displays, and other sort of peripheral displays, when actual artifacts are left to rot in storage.

I am sure there is “a little from column A and a little from column B” in his gripes. But it also seems Cole is in the cross hairs due to the larger issues he has with the organization as a whole.

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I prefer “asshole” but each to their own.

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The guy should just calm down but I agree that the term "social entrepreneur” deserves at least an eye roll.

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Yeah, I’ve seen one movie with Lily Cole (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) and read zero books by Nick Holland. I thought Cole was quite good.

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So does that mean we are all going to ignore the fact that if the play did contain the line, “women smell my power, men smell like sex,” we have a contender for worst line of dialogue ever? (That not quite Vogon poetry level, but it isn’t that far off!)

Someone please tell me he is horribly misquoting that line! Please?

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You haven’t seen ‘The Last Jedi’??? :wink:

Though Lily Cole didn’t write the play, of course.

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