Suffering For Your Art
Steven Wells has a story in today’s Guardian about music critics getting physically attacked by band members and crazy fans for daring to give a bad review.
The demographics of the average classical music audience is a persistent trope in our corner of the universe, particularly how to include a younger, less affluent population. While Miss Mussel is, on the whole, on board with these efforts, it must be said that sometimes writing for Q Tips* has its advantages. Namely, unless the Tip in question is superhumanly spry, chances are good that Miss Mussel can outrun any sort of attack, thus avoiding the predicaments endured by Wells and company.
Still relatively new to the business of criticking, Miss Mussel has only received a small trickle of hate mail all of which has been devoted to her particular inability to appreciate good music when she hears it rather than threats on her person. Has anyone else been on the receiving end of a verbal/physical assault or some especially virulent campaign of hate mail?
*There was meant to be a link to a definition here but the only place an appropriate one could be found (people with white hair, usually elderly) was the Urban Dictionary, which contains several very inappropriate alternate definitions. Have a look if you wish but be warned…definitely NSFW.
Has anyone else been on the receiving end of a verbal/physical assault or some especially virulent campaign of hate mail?
Uh-huh.
ACD
Not surprising ACD, given your fondness for polemics. Are your correspondents just giving as good as they got or do they just like to hate on you for sport?
Oh, no “sport” involved. Typically, they’re really pissed and aren’t the least bashful in expressing their pissed-ness in the most, um, colorful terms. Much of the hate mail is written in crayon, so to speak, and those I simply ignore except when I see an opportunity to make fun of them on the blog publicly (but without naming names, of course). The non-crayon ones I’ll respond to if I can get off another quiet zinger that I know will get the correspondent foaming at the mouth more (I’m rather vicious that way, I’m afraid).
I’m of course talking here about the hate mail only, not honest disagreements with something I’ve written, which is another matter altogether.
ACD
Looks like you’re going to have to fire your editor too
Oops.
My above closing sentence should have read:
“I’m of course talking here about the hate mail only, not honest, reasoned disagreement with something I’ve written, which is another matter altogether.”
ACD