Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
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Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#2I feel like my choice to not participate in non-anonymous social media in any but the absolute most bland and uninteresting ways is the best long running decision I've ever made. The end of anonymized internet is the end of my participation in it and sadly I think that day is fast approaching.
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#3Was the agent fired for writing something specifically, or simply for signing up for these networks?
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#4how can they say with a. straight face they value equal opportunity and then ban someone for their personal use.....sorry. but I see stupidity leeching into society everyhere.... stupidity is a nice way of saying hate..
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#5I thought it was going to turn out that the employee was making bad posts, but from the quote by De Chiara, it's simply because the agent was even on those platforms at all.
My surprise lessened after I Googled the name of the agency. It seems like De Chiara has been flippant with her business partners in the past:
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#6hope the woman gets a job and the president is sacked (in every way)
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#7Was the agent fired for writing something specifically, or simply for signing up for these networks?
According to the article it appears she signed up and actively encouraged others to join as well explicitly for the lack of censorship.
"In a November 12 tweet, Oefelein invited followers to join her on the conservative social network, which she described as "a great platform with no censorship." Oefelein suggested earlier this month that she may also use the far-right social networking site Gab."
The fired agent also said:
"Well thanks Twitter and @JDLitAgency," Oefelein wrote. "I just got fired because I'm a Christian and a conservative."
Which makes me suspect that she was writing political stuff with her real name on Parler/Gab, since Parler/Gab are not inherently Christian sites. (and theoretically aren't inherently conservative ones either?)
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#8Was the agent fired for writing something specifically, or simply for signing up for these networks?
"The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency was distressed to discover this morning, January 25th, that one of our agents has been using the social media platforms Gab and Parler. We do not condone this activity, and we apologize to anyone who has been affected or offended by this," De Chiara wrote. "The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency has in the past and will continue to ensure a voice of unity, equality, and one that is on the side of social justice."
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#9[flagged]
Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab
#10Reminds me of Dawn Frederick, a literary agent who was "cancelled" for calling 911 on looters who rammed a van into the gas station on her apartment block: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p...
This happened during the BLM protests this summer in St. Loius. The looters she reported were blocks away from any BLM protest, and other looting bands were setting fires on nearby blocks.
Frederick was a vocal advocate and financial supporter of BLM and had attended protests in the past. Didn't stop the hordes from calling her racist and threatening to ruin the careers of agents who dared to work for her literary agency, and authors represented by her.
Her agency was gutted. All over calling 911 to report people crashing a van into a small business to raid it.
(Edited to add: I worked in publishing for years. I left because of the censorship in the arena. And I'm a proud lefty.
It's gotten really crazy. Authors getting death threats. Books literally ripped off the shelves and destroyed. (No, not rabid white supremacist books. Books by PoC authors.) But industry professionals insist this is NOT censorship, just business decisions. And if you disagree? You're a dirty, filthy -ist.)
Another edit to add links to the incidents I was referring to:
Black author/illustrator team had their book ripped off shelves and pulped: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/25/censorship-chi...
Asian author was threatened and intimidated into cancelling the publication of her novel: https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/ya-twitter-forces-rising-sta...
Black author was intimidated into cancelling publication of book: https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/in-ya-where-is-...
I can think of 10+ more books that belong on this list. This is just the tip of the iceberg.