John Green's tumblr

I have updated the tumblr devoted to your questions, and my answers, about The Fault in Our Stars. I will try to answer a few more questions tonight. There are lots of spoilers. Don’t click that link if you haven’t read the book. Seriously. Okay, thanks.

I’m also not going to post an “I Can Count to Potato” image in this post, because 1. I think it’s hurtful, and 2. I totally disagree with the idea that a meme can’t go away. Memes go away all the time. Remember All Your Base Are Belong to Us? I don’t. 

That said, I had no problem with Brad O’Farrell’s original post; he was making the point that when we are called to account for our hurtful actions on the Internet, we all suddenly feel embarrassed and regretful. (This meme had existed for three years, after all.) I think he caught a lot of flak for posting the image mostly because once the Internet realizes it has gone too far, it has a tendency to go too far in the other direction.

(See also, Kony.)

But make no mistake: The Sun is not running that story to end bullying. The Sun, as Kenyatta pointed out, is TMZ for old people. They’re running that story as link bait: They recognize that if they declare war on trolls, they’ll get attention (and therefore clicks and dollars), just as trolls realize that if they do something trollish, they’ll get attention.

We can keep chasing our tails. Or we can work together to improve the quality of discourse on the Internet. You might say that’s impossible, that we all must live with the lowest common denominator, but that has not been my experience on the Internet at all. My experience has been that this place is as useful and kind and generous and engaging as we make it.

islandgirljam:

When I saw all the posts about this book

I thought you were all a bunch of cry babies did not believe that this book could evoke enough emotion that people would cry real tears from just reading it. 

I have never read a book that has made me cry, movies have caused tears, songs have caused tears, but books…no tears.

But this book, TEARS, at approximately 59% (thank you kindle fire), I felt them coming. I I felt my eyes start to fill, then a little tear rolled down my cheek, then a few more, then streams of tears and sobbing to the point that I could no longer see the words. I spent the rest of the book a crying fool and I have John Green and the lovely world of tumblr to thank for my puffy eyes and red nose (and the looks of confusion from my husband).

It is a beautiful book, so well done, and I will recommend it to everyone I know.

Next…

50 Shades of Grey. 

First, thanks. (ALSO, GOOD JOB AGAIN, TUMBLR. U R DOING IT RIGHT.)

Second, you are about to SERIOUSLY change gears, book-wise.

I am livetweeting soccer games over at sportswithjohn.

(Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are playing in the Champions League semifinal.)