It clearly grieves Ken of Popehat to have to give McRapey the bad news, but let’s give the man credit for his professional integrity anyhow:
So: here is the short answer. The book title is almost certainly
parody protected by the First Amendment, because an audience familiar
with the circumstances would recognize it as parody and not as an
assertion of fact.The factors point very strongly to the book being treated as parody, and protected by the First Amendment, rather than as a defamatory statement of fact. With all respect to Scalzi, his question is wrong: you can’t analyze the book title in isolation. You have to look at it in the context of the whole. In that context, the intended audience (both fans of Beale and fans of Scalzi) would recognize it as a reference to Beale’s tiresome meme. Plus, the Amazon description explicitly labels it as “a blazingly inventive parody,” and the descriptive text is mostly nonsensical and evocative of ridicule of “SJW” concerns, and references some of the topics that anger Beale’s coterie in connection with Scalzi like the Hugo Awards.
I think this one is protected parody, and I don’t think it’s a very close call.
I’m not even remotely surprised; it was a stupid question in the first place. I suppose that leaves lobbying Amazon to ban books that make fun of John Scalzi, which I tend to doubt will be a successful strategy. UPDATE: Amazon just pulled down John Scalzi Is A Rapist: Why SJWs Always Lie In Bed Waiting For His Gentle Touch; A Pretty, Pretty Girl Dreams of Her Beloved One While Pondering Gender Identity, Social Justice, and Body Dysmorphia
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,736 Paid in Kindle Store
#1 in Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Parodies
#1 in Kindle Short Reads > 30 minutes (12-21 pages) > Humor & Entertainment
#2 in Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Political
Fascinating, in light of how Is George Bush a War Criminal and Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Paula Deen is a Big Fat Idiot are still available for sale there. I wonder who will be the next target of these dread parodists? McCreepy? Mary Three Names? George Rape Rape Martin?
They may own the mainstream media, but all their public persona now belong to us.
John Scalzi @scalzi
Just confirmed: That silly book with the silly title defaming me appears to be off of Amazon. In the US, at least.
John Scalzi @scalzi
We’ll see how long that lasts. I imagine someone might try to upload it again.
John Scalzi @scalzi
However, let me without reservation express my thanks to @amazon for dealing with that nonsense quickly. It’s appreciated.
John Scalzi @scalzi
Awwwwww, now the dudes who don’t understand what censorship is are ALL ANGWY AT ME.
Yes, I can’t imagine there won’t be any more parodies published about SFWA’s most prominent book banner. Of course, as Popehat told Scalzi, the book was not defaming him. SJWs always lie.