this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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I made the same decision with Brandon Sanderson and his fuckin fanclub takes it extremely personally when I point out how problematic he is as an author.
Yes, his writing is good. Yes, his writing is remarkably inclusive with regards to sexual orientation, disability, and mental illness.
However, Brandon is a Mormon first and foremost, and actively tithes to his church. That means a significant percentage of ALL Dragonsteel profits go directly towards the suppression and disenfranchisement of LGBTQ+ programs, sex education, and effective mental health services.
He might write a good story, but his IRL politics are repugnant.
Oh, when you brought him up I was worried he had actively done something bad. But no, you just don't like that he's Mormon, that's literally your only gripe.
Financially supporting the harming and oppression of others is a problem, no matter how it's labelled. I think it's completely fair to call that out.
So how many degrees of separation are necessary for your morals? Because unless you grow your own food, weave your own cloth, make everything you own yourself, and consume no media; I can pretty much guarantee there are things you have spent money or time on that contribute to groups or individuals that you find reprehensible.
Funnily enough, ignorance is a valid excuse here. You can't be expected to investigate the companies behind every single product you buy or use in the day to day, but that's not what were talking about here.
We're talking about Brandon Sanderson, specifically, and how his tithes to the Mormon church significantly contribute to the open oppression and abuse of LGBTQIA+ communities. You, buying your mistborn and stormlight archive books, are DIRECTLY supporting that behavior.
That is some very intense False Equivalence you are brandishing.
Every time he tithes to that house of abuse and oppression, he IS actively doing something bad. Is that not enough for you?
No. And his books are good.
He tithes and hopes those funds go toward the good things the church accomplishes.
He has a lot of explanation on his relationship with the church and his stance on not allowing his religion to negatively affect his writing.
He has consistently advocated for lesser know authors and fought against Amazon to improve conditions for them.
His books are full of LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse people, women passing the bechdel test, and irl cultural inspiration from around the world.
He actually hires people to consult on things like schizophrenia so he doesn't promote misinformation.
The thing you are asking him to do is abandon his community. Instead he works to better it from the inside. He is a lecturer at BYU and is directly exposed to the future leaders of that church. Let him cook.
So yeah I don't like his religion's track record but anyone who has investigated the guy can see he's a fair author and the criticism is hyperbole.
No different than Rowling in that regard. Giving money for others to actively do something bad is also bad. You don't get to launder your shit politics by paying someone to do the dirty work and it doesn't absolve you of those politics.
Neat, gotta start reading this guy books then
I read the Mistborn books, and wasn't terribly impressed. Anyone that repeatedly and unrepentantly uses the phrase "decked him in the face" is not a good writer. :)
Mistborn were his first books, the first trilogy is definitely a bit rough around the edges.
And how! That said, they weren't entirely without entertainment value, and I did finish all of them, but I didn't feel the need to read any more of his stuff, either.