Monday, December 8, 2014

Ghostwriting- Today's Book Drama

First thing that I feel like I should get out of the way is that yes, I watch Zoella's YouTube channel, and I like a lot of her videos.  However, I am trying to be unbiased about her right now so please bear that in mind.

Is it disappointing that she did not write the book on her own?  A little bit.  Is it the end of the world?  Absolutely not.  I think Victoria Schwab said it well by saying that this could have all been avoided by saying it was co-written rather than giving the ghost writer no credit.  However, all of the people giving Zoella no credit and saying that she can't write is ridiculous.  You don't know what she did, and you cannot automatically assume that she did none of the work.  If she was proud enough of it to share it with you, then I am willing to bet that a lot of it was her own work.  Yes, she had help. Yes, the help should have been credited, but that is not a reason to slander her.  To be perfectly honest, her publisher probably didn't want her to say she had help because generally when books are ghost written, it isn't publicized that they didn't write it.  I find it absolutely ridiculous what people are saying about her.  She is a human being and should be treated as such.  I understand that you are frustrated with her.  I get that, but that's no reason to be that anonymous person on the internet who just says terrible things.  If you're disappointed in her, that's fine, but don't go on the internet and complain about it on Twitter.  That's not going to change anything anyway.  Normally I stay out of drama, but when I saw her name trending on Twitter, I thought I would scroll through, and you know what? I feel bad for her.  She has anxiety issues and as someone with anxiety, I wouldn't want to be going through that.  With all of the other problems with youtubers lately, is having a book ghostwritten really the worst thing she could do?  Seriously, look at some of the bigger problems we have in the world and take a moment to think if it's really important.  You need to remember that venting your frustrations is fine, but keep in mind that there is a person on the other end of that screen.

Essentially I can spew all of the cliches that I use with my children when I teach, but I don't feel like I need to.  So just keep in mind.  It's okay to be upset, but it is not okay to slander someone as a person because of one thing.

2 comments:

  1. Well said, especially because it seems like the haters haven't read the book. I haven't yet, therefore I don't judge.

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    1. Thank you! I just think with all of the problems that we've had with YouTube and YouTubers in general. She's getting a lot of unnecessary hate.

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