Philip Pullman has joined J.K. Rowling in that exclusive club of beloved children’s authors doing exasperating Tweets, after he asked his followers for guidance about whose side he should take in the “trans argument.”
Overnight, the 72-year-old author asked his readers if he was alone in finding said issue confusing, adding that it would save him “a lot of worry” if someone would clear it up for him, leading to a flurry of angry responses from fans.
Am I alone in finding the trans argument impossible to follow? If someone could tell me which side I should be on, it would save a lot of worry.
— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) October 18, 2018
“Trans people aren’t an argument or a debate or hot controversial topic to choose sides on,” said one follower, echoing the thoughts of many others who came later. “We’re just people. We just want to live our lives as people.”
Another added that there is no “argument” in the first place, saying “trans people exist, and they get a lot of hate, some is outright hostility, and some is subtle – ‘questions’ and ‘concerns’ akin to those raised against gay marriage / desegregation / suffrage.”
Many followers pointed out that Philip Pullman could actually take a lesson from his own books, which deal explicitly with themes of oppression and persecution of young people by unjust authority figures:
Try this one: do I get to keep my daemon, or do you believe the TERFs who say I don’t deserve one and should be separated from my daemon? I mean, *you already know the answer, it’s in your books.* JFC. https://t.co/hCAYmzclu8
— Stephanie Burt (also elsewhere) (@accommodatingly) October 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/gritfish/status/1053067893678628864
As the replies came flooding in, Pullman was criticised for only engaging with some people, but he Tweeted back “I can’t reply to over 3,000 comments.”
I can’t reply to over 3,000 comments.
— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) October 19, 2018
When one follower accused him of ignorance, he replied “I asked for clarification so that I might become a little less ignorant”, and saying that he put the question to his followers because he does not know a lot about the issues involved.
I asked for clarification so that I might become a little less ignorant.
— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) October 19, 2018
I wouldn’t ask that, because I know something about those issues. I know less about this one, which is why I was asking about it.
— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) October 19, 2018
Pullman is partway through a new trilogy of novels, The Book Of Dust, which takes place before, during and after His Dark Materials. The first book, La Belle Sauvage, came out last year, and he is working on the second, The Secret Commonwealth.
