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It's not surprising he'd want to turn his back on social media after the (justifiable) kicking he took over this: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/14

It's not surprising he'd want to turn his back on social media after the (justifiable) kicking he took over this: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/14/stephen-fry-sorry-for-telling-pitying-abuse-victims-to-grow-up http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/14/stephen-fry-s...

coldtea 10y ago
Justifiable? Based on what he actually said? -- there's an accurate transcription down in the link.
- ascorbic 10y ago
  “It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy – but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity.” The 58-year-old went on to say: “Grow up.” So, yes.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    He is not talking about everybody who has had such an experience -- but those who linger on to it for decades and hurt their lives and the lives of others with that. So, yes, grow up -- or grow over it. You'd rather they didn't? Life has not only that, but even worse experiences in store -- like losing a limb, your mobility, your life expectancy, your whole family, your house and homeland, etc just like that. Much worse stuff has happened to people -- and some live that everyday -- and they still rebound and go forward. Wallowing in self pity is bad for those doing it and bad for those around them. And it can even turn them, themselves to something dark (many rapists were in turn abused when younger).
  - forgetsusername 10y ago
    Do you deliberately ignore the first half of the sentence? It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy His criticism is of "self-pity". I can agree.
  - pharke 10y ago
    Let's take an ounce of effort to post the whole quote shall we? Speaking to the US TV show The Rubin Report about campus free speech, safe spaces and trigger warnings on literature. "In terms of how they think, they can’t bear complexity. The idea that things aren’t easy to understand, they want to be told, or they want to be able to decide and say, ‘This is good and this is bad,’ and anything that conflicts with that is not to be borne. There are many great plays which contain rapes, and the word rape now is even considered a rape, if you say: ‘you can’t watch this play, you can’t watch Titus Andronicus, or you can’t read it in a Shakespeare class, or you can’t read Macbeth because it’s got children being killed in it, it might trigger something when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you in a nasty place’, well I’m sorry. It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place, you get some of my sympathy, but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.” Context matters, you can dice up anyone's words to make them say what you like but it doesn't prove a point, it's still a deception, and you're still doing everyone the disservice of assuming that you know better than they do to make up their minds for them. Grow up.
    - zwischenzug 10y ago
      This from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience following the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity? Should we have felt no sympathy for him? Or is that too complex? I wouldn't take any so-called wisdom from this man.
      - coldtea 10y ago
        >This from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience following the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity? So? That would only prove he can wallow in self-pity too. Which he has admitted already anyway, and condemned even in himself. It certainly doesn't prove that self-pity is not as bad as he says. So he is right. As for him doing it, it doesn't even make him a hypocrite (since he admits it) -- just fallible. Like an ex (or even current) drug addict sincerely warning people that drugs are bad and that they shouldn't do them. Not only are they right -- but they also speak from personal experience.
toyg 10y ago
Fry was already a serial social-media "quitter", going on and off Twitter a few times; he even (famously) entirely quit real society, back in the day, after a bunch of bad reviews; and he has self-confessed mental health issues. All considered, it's not that surprising that he might want to disconnect altogether, regardless of specific episodes.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
takno 10y ago
That was well after he quit Twitter over another unrelated bashing he got

coldtea 10y ago

Justifiable? Based on what he actually said? -- there's an accurate transcription down in the link.

ascorbic 10y ago
“It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy – but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity.” The 58-year-old went on to say: “Grow up.” So, yes.
- coldtea 10y ago
  He is not talking about everybody who has had such an experience -- but those who linger on to it for decades and hurt their lives and the lives of others with that. So, yes, grow up -- or grow over it. You'd rather they didn't? Life has not only that, but even worse experiences in store -- like losing a limb, your mobility, your life expectancy, your whole family, your house and homeland, etc just like that. Much worse stuff has happened to people -- and some live that everyday -- and they still rebound and go forward. Wallowing in self pity is bad for those doing it and bad for those around them. And it can even turn them, themselves to something dark (many rapists were in turn abused when younger).
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  Do you deliberately ignore the first half of the sentence? It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy His criticism is of "self-pity". I can agree.
- pharke 10y ago
  Let's take an ounce of effort to post the whole quote shall we? Speaking to the US TV show The Rubin Report about campus free speech, safe spaces and trigger warnings on literature. "In terms of how they think, they can’t bear complexity. The idea that things aren’t easy to understand, they want to be told, or they want to be able to decide and say, ‘This is good and this is bad,’ and anything that conflicts with that is not to be borne. There are many great plays which contain rapes, and the word rape now is even considered a rape, if you say: ‘you can’t watch this play, you can’t watch Titus Andronicus, or you can’t read it in a Shakespeare class, or you can’t read Macbeth because it’s got children being killed in it, it might trigger something when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you in a nasty place’, well I’m sorry. It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place, you get some of my sympathy, but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.” Context matters, you can dice up anyone's words to make them say what you like but it doesn't prove a point, it's still a deception, and you're still doing everyone the disservice of assuming that you know better than they do to make up their minds for them. Grow up.
  - zwischenzug 10y ago
    This from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience following the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity? Should we have felt no sympathy for him? Or is that too complex? I wouldn't take any so-called wisdom from this man.
    - coldtea 10y ago
      >This from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience following the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity? So? That would only prove he can wallow in self-pity too. Which he has admitted already anyway, and condemned even in himself. It certainly doesn't prove that self-pity is not as bad as he says. So he is right. As for him doing it, it doesn't even make him a hypocrite (since he admits it) -- just fallible. Like an ex (or even current) drug addict sincerely warning people that drugs are bad and that they shouldn't do them. Not only are they right -- but they also speak from personal experience.

toyg 10y ago

Fry was already a serial social-media "quitter", going on and off Twitter a few times; he even (famously) entirely quit real society, back in the day, after a bunch of bad reviews; and he has self-confessed mental health issues. All considered, it's not that surprising that he might want to disconnect altogether, regardless of specific episodes.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

takno 10y ago

That was well after he quit Twitter over another unrelated bashing he got