I think I may already know the answer, but what are your thoughts on the Zola/Jessica story from Twitter?
The tweets themselves are tragically hilarious. Aziah has a strong voice. I’m guessing only about half of her Florida story is true, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.
I dunno. I’ve known my fair share of Zolas, Jessicas, Jarrets, and Zs, so the larger context of the narrative kind of breaks my heart. There are so many layers of exploitation that you can lose track of them. After a while, the whole thing becomes an exercise in meta-exploitation, especially when you start throwing in potential book and movie deals.
Ultimately, I don’t care whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. It’s compelling either way. Those characters are so vivid for me that I can’t help but look past the outrageous zingers and see all the trauma and dysfunction underneath. That’s why it’s good writing, and that’s why I definitely want to see more stories from Aziah, ones that she hopefully gets paid to write.
Preach.
I want the movie version of this story to be Zola and Jessica’s respective versions playing out simultaneously in split screen. I wonder if Backpage would consider throwing some bucks at this project.
Ooh, yes.
Apparently I follow all the wrong people on Twitter.
There are a few things that don’t sit right with me, besides the obvious.
First, what were Aziah’s motives in telling this story seemingly out of the blue? Did she expect her story to receive this amount of attention?
She didn’t change names, and she put up photos of Jess. She knew people would be able to track down the people involved. She either didn’t consider how recounting traumatic incidents would affect the victims, or she didn’t care. Jess may very well have PTSD from the incident. She herself has said that reading the story hurt her. Why didn’t Aziah make an alias for her? Aziah also told the world about Jarrett’s bipolar disorder and suicide attempt without his permission. That’s insensitive.
I’m also uncomfortable with Zola pimping out Jess, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea of pimping in general.
Also, this whole story is bringing out a lot of ugliness in people. People are taking to social media to attack Jess, and the words they’re using are nasty. They probably think they’re defending Zola, but all they’re doing is being misogynistic.
All that said, I’m still gonna read her book.
You’re bringing ethics to a social media fight? I jest. I’m pretty sure that most people on an even keel would agree with you. Unfortunately, watching a shit show on Twitter is more or less akin to watching a yacht fire from the marina. There’s very little that we can do, and these days, I think that looking on and gleefully rubbing our icky little hands together is the de facto response. Morally bereft hobgoblins that we are. See you in line at B&N?