"Every Author I Love Turns Out To Be Problematic"

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Honestly, I'm this close to quitting reading for good. Every single author I actually love turns out to be problematic or worse. I'm so tired of finding out after I already got attached. Feels like I can't enjoy anything anymore without a background check first. Guys, this is a very prominent mindset in today's culture.

[00:00:14]I'm here to call it out. Being unproatic, especially today, is boring.

[00:00:19]And if you are consumed with the idea that everything around you needs to be unproatic, you're probably stunting your growth. Let's talk about it.

[00:00:28]Guys, before we get into today's video, please like and subscribe. Today, I came across an ex post that made me think, and while I'm a little bit under the weather, I'm not too under the weather to have this discussion. So, we're going to get into it. I'll read it one more time. It says, "Honestly, I'm this close to quitting reading for good. Every single author I actually love turns out to be problematic or worse. I'm so tired of finding out after I already got attached. Feels like I can't enjoy anything anymore without a background check first." Now, this generated a lot of responses. Let me read you a few of the top ones. One says, "Probably for the best since you are clearly incapable of critical thinking." 26,000 likes.

[00:01:07]Another writes, "This is an insane way to engage with literature and terminal fandom brain is turning you into a crazy person." 14K likes. And lastly, this is what happens when you have a superiority complex and think that every action or waking decision you make has to be a moral statement. It doesn't. If you like an author's work, then that's about it.

[00:01:23]You can appreciate their skill in writing or their books, but that doesn't mean you have to agree with or support every little thing they stand for.

[00:01:29]You're not in a relationship with the author. Yeah, she's getting some valid criticism for this take. And I think her take points out so much of what has gone wrong with our current culture. We are so obsessed with cancellation and censorship and this sort of moral purity, but a moral purity that's based on the sensibilities of a particular group of people. And I think when I read her post, you all knew the politics of this young woman without me having to tell you, am I right or am I right?

[00:01:54]Yeah. Whenever I hear somebody these days say that they found out somebody is problematic, I can almost always come to the conclusion that they are a leftist and they found out that a person doesn't completely tow the line of their leftist/woke ideology. Now, there are people in other camps that engage in this way sometimes, but there's a particular thing with leftists where you have to 100% wholeheartedly believe everything it is that they think and feel or you're out. You're labeled problematic and they don't want to engage with you or your work anymore.

[00:02:26]And just for shits and giggles, I looked into the word problematic to find some sort of urban dictionary definitions of how people view this word. And a lot of people are sharing this sentiment. On urban dictionary, one person writes, "Problematic is used by university lecturers to say they disagree with a piece of literature while not outwardly expressing that fact. There is often a long pause before this line is delivered, often with pointless hand gestures." I find insert author's name here problematic. Another person writes, "A tired and passive aggressive word used by sociology majors when they are too afraid to call someone racist, sexist, or homophobic." And just one more because I'm having fun. the go-to adjective for propagators of cancel culture to describe when someone has crossed the proverbial line. It sounds scary enough to spook corporate entities away, yet vague enough to simply be thrown around without adequate explanation. Most often used by white fifthwave feminists on Twitter with an unchecked white savior complex. said demographic is also commonly associated with festering daddy issues, thinly veiled sexual deprivation, the glorification of mental illness, a sad addiction to performative activism, and the compulsive need to search for racist undertones in anything and everything.

[00:03:35]So, now that we have those baseline definitions of problematic, let's move forward. Now, she mentions authors in her statement and how problematic she finds them once she does a little bit of digging and that she can no longer engage with the works that they've created. And we've seen this happen a lot in today's culture. I racked my brain for some of the instances in which we've covered authors on this show and where people have come after them and said they're problematic and called for their cancellation. Of course, the first one who comes to mind is JK Rowling, who when you look her up has headlines that say a timeline of JK Rowling's anti-trans shift. And because JK Rowling believes that men are men and women are women and we should abide by the recognition of that reality, she's been classified as a horrific transphobe. And a lot of people have called into question her work on the Harry Potter series. They're saying they no longer want to read it. Some people are burning her books. They're no longer going to the Harry Potter parks and worlds.

[00:04:30]They're saying they don't want to play her Hogwarts Legacy video game. All of this stems from her being problematic.

[00:04:37]And I got to say, if somebody's personal political beliefs stop you from engaging with the work that they've created, that you have up until this point enjoyed and it has resonated with you, I think you have the problem, not them. Just admit that you like Harry Potter and keep it pushing. And if her personal political beliefs come up and you don't agree with them, you can just say that you don't agree with them. As one of the posters we read before said, "Not every waking decision you make has to be a moral statement." And I think we've lost the plot on that. Speaking of books, and we've seen this happen with other authors. I'm immediately reminded of Rald Doll and Dr. Seuss. They've both been called racist. And despite their major contributions to kids literature and kids books, a lot of them have been ushered out of certain school spaces.

[00:05:23]The Biden administration went to separate Dr. Seuss's name from their like national reading day. I forget what it's called. but all because these authors were labeled as problematic.

[00:05:34]Nonetheless, kids really love these books and the books sort of stand on their own, which I think means we need to reconcile with the idea that people who we may view personally to be problematic can create great things that resonate with us. Even further than that, sometimes their problematic nature or the things that we deem to be problematic within them are actually what give them the capability to create many of the things that they create.

[00:05:58]Oops. And I can't imagine going through the world and thinking you need to background check every single person who you are about to engage with or consume the work of before you do what it is you set out to do. I'm not a religious person. Does this mean I shouldn't engage with the works of say CS Lewis or JRR Tolken. You know, a lot of leftists would probably say yes that these men are inherently problematic because of their religious beliefs and because of the way that their religious beliefs influence some of the great works that they've created. To me, it's just absolutely insane to think that way. And it's going to hinder your experiences in life and keep you from learning new things, engaging with new things, being challenged by ideas that you do not like the sound of or the look of or the feel of. Our existences are not meant to be unproatic. In fact, they're meant to be the very opposite. Imagine thinking you have the world figured out at the ripe age of what? being a 22-year-old sociology and gender studies major. You don't and none of us do. But we find out our first principles and the things that we believe or don't believe, the things that resonate with us and the things that don't by engaging with problematic things and problematic people. Not only will you be pigeonholed into a smaller experience and an echo chamber in having this mindset, but you won't even, I guess, know your enemies at this point with the way in which you're moving through the world. There are people that society almost universally views as being problematic and I'd still urge that we engage with their work. Hitler's mine comp for example, Ted Kazinski, the uni bomber and what he wrote industrial society and its future. Bin Laden's letter to America. Even all of those people were definitely problematic and in an even deeper sense than many of the leftists who are throwing this word out or even using the word. Yet still they have work we can engage with. Yet you can't find it within yourself to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone because JK Rowling believes that men are men and women are women. Give me a break. James and the Giant Peach suddenly irks you because Rald Doll said something racist once or a hundred times. This moral superiority complex that so many people have and the puritanical way in which they move through the world is quite literally rotting their brains. It's cutting off their critical thinking skills. It's making them incapable of engaging with any topic that doesn't make them feel wonderful all the time or any topic that they don't agree with all the time. And we're essentially childproofing the world rather than world proofing the child. I can't believe I'm saying all of these names in the same sentence, but from JK Rowling to Dr. Zeus to Adolf Hitler, you should be able to read problematic authors. And I could dive so much further into the subject matter, what we even mean when we're saying problematic, the wide scope of that word, how our culture is trending when it comes to problematic people and problematic ideas and what that means for our future. But maybe I'll save that for some part twos and part threes. I would love to hear your thoughts on this specific topic as I'm sure it's going to open up Pandora's box as to your guys's experience with different authors, media creators, artists, and you'll let me know in the comments down below how you feel about these things. If you disagree with anything I said in this video, do have a respectfully encourage healthy debate on this channel. And if you like this video, like, subscribe, click the notification bell, be notified every single time I post a video for you guys, which is every day. And I will see you guys tomorrow. Bye, guys.

[00:09:32]Yeah, you better.