HP Lovecraft is just what you get when an anime pfp Twitter Nazi is born 100 years too early
Also not to defend him but for what it's worth he wrote in some of his final letters, when he was dying of colon cancer, that he regrets posting cringe on race and politics back in the day (paraphrased). Also he married a Jewish woman, something she'd have to remind him of when he'd go on long rants about the Jews when they had guests over, which is just fucking wild.
they did eventually get divorced, though they never really say why lol
when an anime pfp Twitter Nazi is born 100 years too early
so, a nazi
Also he married a Jewish woman
that poor soul
They didn't invent Nazis until after he died
(tbf I don't relish the idea of reading what his opinion of them would have been)
They didn’t invent Nazis until after he died
He died in 1937. The Nazi party was founded in 1919.
Could have sworn he died in 27 and they were founded in 29. My bad.
the New York Times was talking about Adolf Hitler as early as 1922
https://i.ibb.co/kSDGcGf/NYT-1922.jpg
He was also really fucking scared of frogs, tress, soap bubbles, stars, and about anything else that isn't a cat.
Love telling Lovecraft fans who deny his racism to say the name of his cat out loud to my face
Yeeeeeeeeeep
There are some who use the ol' "Well, everyone was racist back then" or "He got better about it before he died" canards and they suck too
"Well, everyone was racist back then”
lmao, he was considered very racist by the racists of the time
I really love the “Well, everyone was racist back then” defense. You're basically saying "If everyone was openly racist today, well I would be too" you're just telling on yourself my dude.
If someone is not racist it is not because of some quality of their mind or soul, its because of events that occurred during their life. So it makes sense that if someone's life was different they would have different thoughts
Let's not forget the "he was married to a Jewish woman" dweebs who conveniently forget that one of the reasons his wife stated for the divorce was that she was tired of hearing his constant antisemitic tirades (back then, divorces included going to court and finding out if there was a "valid reason" for getting divorced and who was the guilty party for that, so we have that testimony on file, under oath). He absolutely hated Jews, he just thought his wife was "one of the good ones".
also he was a total homophobe in spite of one of his closest friends being gay. anybody who brings up the "i can't be a bigot, i have friends who are [marginalized group in question]" excuse is a callous, ignorant bastard who constantly tramples on the feelings of his way too patient loved ones.
“He got better about it before he died” canards and they suck too
Yeah, this is a prime example of something that is true but used to justify shitty behavior or beliefs.
The modern day equivalent would be if JK Rowling moderated her shitty beliefs and Potter stans decided that made her books unproblematic
The thing is, people have to actually try and undo some of the damage they did before they can be counted as reformed
Simply being less vociferously racist is the absolute minimum of a start, but it doesn't fix anything
For some though, that's the equivalent of Darth Vader being redeemed by saving Luke and killing the Emperor
Much of his work is mid but I for one will always appreciate "Ah! An Irishman!" for it's deep themes
I really got the into Lovecraft and the adjacent genre “weird horror” genre over the COVID-19 lockdown. I like to think that H.P. was both a product of his time, and also uniquely racist. I wonder how his works would have changed had he not died as he began to realize the error of his ways later in life. I wonder him getting over his fears of just about everything would have impacted his storytelling
Also lmao this comic tho :data-laughing: