Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

that was a good follow-up post she wrote.

my comment re "thin skinned" is from encounters with Claire irl!

it can be neutral but that phrase is generally seen as a negative and not very complimentary, though

she's had some rough shit in her life iirc + recent rape threats from trolls

but she's probably thin-skinned

I'd just like to add that EG James is one of my favourite musicians online

I just assumer Claire is sensitive/thin-skinned/whatever adjective you want to use for "has feelings", seeing as she's gone from playing to two people at SXSW to being the face of Versace in two years, it'd be a waste of meteoric success if she were aloof

I like how she's handling this, tbh, and deleting her tumblr page seems like an awesome great first step.

Re: blaming the victim, I totally get it. But I hesitate to call her a victim of anything serious (or unique, alas) enough to warrant invoking that word. It reminds me of the hit movie "Twister" - remember that one? - where people with cameras chase tornados, and then get stuck in tornados. Or "Jaws IV: The Revenge," where Mrs. Brody sees the shark, takes a boat out into the open sea to follow it, and then is relentlessly attacked by the shark. The internet is full of twisters and sharks and dicks and trolls. They seem to be attracted to public or semi-public figures like ants (those assholes!) to picnics. I should say that in no way does she seem thin skinned in this affair at all. She's just figuring out how to deal with it. But to claim a public website or whatever is somehow such an essential component of her music making abilities or creativity is to undersell/undervalue those very things. It may be a parallel creative component or outlet or whatever, but she does not need it, so good for her for recognizing that a break is in order.

Still find it hilarious that anyone (and in this case I guess I mean the people saying mean things about her?) would be so reactionary about Grimes liking Psy or Beyonce or Mariah Carey.

I mean I know merely posting "people shouldn't be dicks" will not make it so, but...posting "people should just get a thicker skin" is not gonna make that so either. And only one of those things is actually shitty behaviour

― lex pretend, Thursday, February 7, 2013 1:38 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^

lol @ josh being all, i'm not gonna blame the victim *blames victim*

also, i don't know the exact nature of what people have been saying to grimes this week, but if it's even 1/100th of what any woman with a moderate public profile receives as a matter of course NO ONE should be throwing around an adjective like "thin-skinned"

"she's not much of a victim of anything, she's like those people who were killed in tornadoes! not victims of anything, those guys"

also, i don't know the exact nature of what people have been saying to grimes this week, but if it's even 1/100th of what any woman with a moderate public profile receives as a matter of course NO ONE should be throwing around an adjective like "thin-skinned"

― lex pretend, Thursday, February 7, 2013 2:50 PM (4 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ that's what im saying

josh how grimes handles this is literally irrelevant, she can handle it exactly as she pleases and how she feels would be best for her

yeah see i suspect grimes to get to the point she is at, hugely acclaimed artist, doing it by herself, dealing with people who clearly didn't believe she could do it along the way...i suspect toughness is not her problem. but little things do build up over time and people get pissed and sometimes, amazingly, delete their blogs.

even if she's very easily offended or prone to overreacting in real life, I see absolutely no evidence of that here and I honestly wish I was nearly as contemplative in my reactions and thoughts. and I don't even have anyone hounding me or caring what I think.

not that this isn't part of real life!

really wish I hadn't actually seen her list

josh how grimes handles this is literally irrelevant, she can handle it exactly as she pleases and how she feels would be best for her

No, I insist she take my advice. Do you have a way I can contact her? I know what's best for her.

Seriously, I think this whole thing transcends blame the victim. I feel like we're all victimized by this stuff all the time, in a sense. If someone told me when I was little that one of my favorite artists would not only have a portal that provided a direct link but would actively encourage free (in every sense) communication, I would not have believed you. If someone then said such a thing would be ruined by assholes writing in hateful and hurtful shit just because it's easy and anonymous, young me would have asked why the fuck anyone would do that? It makes me sad. Sort of recalls the ground zero of this sort of thing, of Bob Dylan trying to live a normal public life, and that getting fucked up by psycho fans going through his mail, dropping in on him at home, etc.

it's true. you are actually the victim in this situation.

I think I'm going to blog about it.

Josh I don't agree with what you're saying but I do think you're expressing a globally accepted consensus opinion about people in the public eye, "you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen". I think it's nonsense but here I am also expressing opinions online about public figures

I think it's possible to disagree strongly in the abstract, but reality dictates this shit will never go away. Internet comments are the least of it.

cannot stand the "bad thing [x] will never go away so we should just accept & tolerate it" mindset

yeah, me neither.Lex, let's you and I get together to make sure this kind of thing never happens again.

the best I can do is not do that s*** myself, and teach my kids not to do it either.

Android, taking the first step by censoring my writing.

I mean, that stuff thousands of people have to go through on a daily basis via via the Internet infuriates me, but I honestly don't know what the solution is.

I'm honestly scared s******* at what my daughters will have to go through in just a few years. but short of cutting them off from the internet I'm not sure what I can do.

this situation seems to me an example of somebody making the inevitable just that much easier. unfortunately.

lmao does android actually censor when you type the wort shit

It does! Sometimes. When I do it by voice.

There is the part where she isn't actually sure that blogging is helpful to what she does, it feels like she was thinking about closing the tumblr and that the trolling was the final straw.

5*** 3*** 7*** 1*** exp **/13

omg android is amazing

lex be honest how many people have you sent death threats to for having "Gangnam Style" on their EOY list

all of them, twice -_-

uh not the trolling, but because her posts were being used in a way she didn't intend them to be. which is a perfectly valid reason to delete one's blog imo.

xposts lmao lex

man, if only there was a place on the web where I could interact as just a fellow human being with musicians who have had critically acclaimed work

Wait, are you saying we should invite Grimes to 77

we're... not on 77 right now

* mind blown *

oh man, I don't know why I said that. I hope Grimes googlers don't start coming around and asking questions.

they seem to have calmed down, the Ned googlers haven't tried setting up any shrines for him on ILE for a few years

beyonce posted here as dom passantino for years before she was banned

Been thinking earlier today that Grimes would fit in pretty well here between being amazing.

wkiw claire

yep

Not sure who is arguing for her playing the victim but either there are plenty of strawmen here or some words have been misunderstood. I was just trying to tell her what i would tell any stranger, friend, or family member to do about internet trolls: ignore them. There is no magic internet troll b gone button....yet.

It's kind of a mute issue now that she's taken it down. Personal webspace turning into office public space is a tough thing to deal with I imagine. If you're recording and playing shows and all it's much easier to just tune it out and focus on what's important at the moment.

And then we can look forward to seeing more posts turned into pitchfork headlines

Xpost

she could post as "underrated beyonce singles i have blogged"

She won't show up if you keep saying nice things about her