You can’t get used to the fact that you ain’t a kid
You like to think that you speak for them all
You’d cut off your nose if you thought it would make you hip
It drives you crazy you can’t be a star…

                   —Excerpted from “Imposter” by Oingo Boingo

Some of you will remember the recent outrage over Ginia Bellafante’s non-review (on the New York Times website) of the Game of Thrones tv series in which she declined to actually discuss the work and instead resorted to making ill-informed statements about it (and the people who may or may not like it). Among the worst of these was her claim that (paraphrasing here) women don’t like fantasy. (This statement inspired geek girls around the world to come together and form the Geek Girls Book Club on Twitter (#GGBC), Facebook, and GoodReads. The first book we read—also inspired by Ms. Bellefante’s ignorance—was The Hobbit.)

The review received a 1.5 star reader-rating and after 48 (I assume scathing) comments, the site closed comments down. The Internet roared its terrible roars and gnashed its terrible teeth until finally, Bellafante posted this follow-up, ostensibly asking for a sit-down with those who disagreed with her. Many comments followed, but one was published and later deleted. Mine.

This comment has been removed. Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

I have no idea what it was about my comment that threatened Ms. Bellafante so much she had it deleted. I can only assume that, while she could ignore the posts stating outright “You are an idiot,” there was something in mine that really pissed her off. (I followed up with a comment asking why, and that one didn’t even make it past her the first time.)

Without further ado, here is the comment I attempted to leave in response to Ms. Bellafante’s request for comments.

I’m sorry that some readers were so outraged they couldn’t think of anything constructive to say, however, many of us did post thoughtful comments which were blocked by NYT. If you’d read past “You are an idiot” you’d understand what you clearly still do not as of writing this post: You wrote and published a non-review that was ultimately a disservice not only to the Times, but to serious critics everywhere. In the process, you managed to betray not only your ignorance of the subject matter but your unwillingness to do your homework. And for the hat trick, you dismissed a genre and its audience. If you’re still wondering what all the fuss is about, I’m afraid all the comments, emails, and blog posts we can write won’t make you a capable, thoughtful reviewer worthy of our attention. 

I find it amusing that this reviewer recently came under fire again for allegedly making false statements in her review of The Killing’s finale.