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Originally Posted by Andrew H.
I could not disagree more strongly. There are much worse things than coming across as an ass. One of which is sitting quietly and tolerating mediocrity instead of speaking up. What we need are far more authors and critics who aren't afraid to say what they think.
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Then I'm confused... because as far as we can tell, we
don't disagree at all. I have no problem with his majesty expressing disappointment in the shortlist. I have no problem with him saying; "this is what I would have done." I don't really even take issue with his personal opinions of some of the mentioned works (in fact I agree with many of them). What I take issue with, is the presumptuous manner with which he intimates that his "opinions" should be accepted as the "correct" ones.
I'm in complete agreement with
John Scalzi who said:
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As I’ve noted before, there’s a difference between saying “This is not what I would have done” and “Why did you do this? You suck.” The first is a perfectly valid thing to say; the second assumes the primacy of one’s personal opinion over everyone else’s. Mr. Priest may feel well qualified to assert such a thing, but no one else is obliged to agree with him. “Incompetent” does not actually mean “valuing the works I do not.”
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And besides...
"There are much worse things than coming across as an ass" has no bearing on my assertion that there's no way for an author to do what Priest did without
"coming across like an ass."
Agree/disagree/don't care about the actual
content of his diatribe... there's just no such thing as a "constructive rant" by one author about his contemporaries.