Posted on 08/30/2015 6:55:55 AM PDT by pabianice
The latest pitched battle in science fiction is not between space pirates and alien monsters but between fandom factions, with the Hugo Awards as the battlefield. Depending on where you stand, this fight pits either forces of progress against reactionary barbarians or the elitist establishment against anti-authoritarian rebels. The progressive elites have decisively won this round; but was it a pyrrhic victory? One thing is certain: this culture war is here to stay.
The Hugos are science fiction’s Oscars, selected by fans—anyone who pays the $40 World Science Fiction Convention membership fee is eligible to nominate and vote—and presented at the annual WorldCon...
What’s more, Givens argues, the current crop of pro-“social justice” authors who dominate the field not only use their fiction as a vehicle for ideology but seek to enforce conformity throughout the fandom, posing a genuine threat to intellectual diversity. He points out that, by contrast, the Sad Puppies “went out of their way to put some authors on the slate who are liberal rather than conservative...”
This reign of terror was made possible by fandom politics. Mixon noted that, as a self-identified lesbian of Asian background, Requires Hate enjoyed support from “progressives … who appreciate[d] that—despite her sometimes over-the-top rhetoric—she unapologetically sp[oke] up for people of color and queer/ LGBTQI people, calling out racist, homophobic, misogynist content in many popular SFF novels and stories.” Never mind that her “calling-out” methods included gruesome calls for murder, torture and mutilation (“her hands should be cut off so she can never write another Asian character”; “flay him alive slowly, pour salt, pour acid, dismember and keep alive as long as possible”)...
Full article at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/30/mutiny_at_the_hugo_awards_127934.html
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
I tuned into this summer’s spate of Dr. Who “new” stuff only to find out that it is just commentated rehash of old work. Further, somehow the powers that be at BBC America have installed some little lesbian who had an internet show about “drunk cooking” as the ‘host’ of this stupid fakery.
Hanna Hart is her name. A lesbian with a half buzz cut hairdo on one side that is so fake “bubbly” it is enough to make a hard core Sci Fi afficianado puke. Forced animation, scripted nonsense and an optics that is just screams queer. I watched ONE show. I refuse to watch any more Dr. Who stuff with her leading it in, discussing it or showing herself in any fashion. Dr. Who isn’t a queer showcase, and this little snit isn’t old enough to be anything real Dr. Who.
Of more concern are the publishers only publishing SJW tripe, but I suspect that electronic media has a surprise for them just like the MSM.
I’ve noticed this recently. Well, for quite a while, actually.
Good ol’ sci-fi used to be about rocket ships and space men and aliens and flying saucer invasions and checking out the planets and galaxies.
Now it’s all about alternative political systems; women’s empowerment; those awful and perfidious White males; Earth people (especially those perfidious White male people) waging war on innocent species; evil corporatists defiling their own and others’ planets; and on and on and on.
Used to be fun, now it’s just another excuse for yet one more infinitely tedious, tendentious and strident exercise in Marxist politics - a Leftist screed presented in semi-story form, and all but unreadable.
Bring back the good ol’ days!
I’ve **BEEN** a Sad Puppy supporter from the start.
I know all the organizers: I even know Ted Beale/”Vox Day” somewhat.
And I’ve seen the screeching of the opposition.
I know who I’ll continue to stand with, just as I do on the political side.
After all, Politics flows from Culture, and the Puppy-kickers are exactly the same sort of people that the Obama Administration is stuffed to the gills with.
Three things made the Puppies possible: the communications of the Internet, a core of fans gathered around the one SF publisher that has held out for Story over message (i.e. Baen Books), and the rise of Indie Publishing, which bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Publishing. . .
It’s laughable how tiny the Hugo’s are. One thing to keep in mind that the Hugos were only chosen by 5,950 people who are supposed to represent all of fandom. Last year it was only 1,923 people voting. Bottom line the Hugo’s are tiny to the point of ridiculousness. Most folks now invariably first think of ‘movies/TV’ when they think of sci-fi instead of ‘books.’ It’s been that way probably since Star Wars. The Hugos have media awards, but supposedly Hollywood doesn’t even send representatives or hype them at all.
Also, anyone who isn’t a stiff knows that folks like John C Wright are great writers even though he doesn’t write about black lesbians being persecuted by colonial white dudes all the time.
Freegards
Whoa - that is minuscule.
If it is a ‘Hugo Award Winner’ I automatically pass it by. Now, I buy self-published works from Amazon Kindle because I know they bypassed the PC Editors (with the exception of Baen).
I think you have to pay $50 or something to be a voting member? So when someone asked ‘how many here are writers or involved with publishing in the field,’ almost all attending the Hugos supposedly raised their hands.
Like I said, the % of folks reading sci-fi/fantasy that doesn’t have some sort of movie/TV tie-in to it is very small, and the % of people who know what’s good and what’s not is probably even smaller.
Freegards
David Gerrold was probably the first gay scifi writer to put homosexuality into his stories in the 1970s (”The Man Who Folded Himself” and a Star Trek script about a gay couple refused by Roddenberry). Fine. But to turn scifi into a militant gay pride parade? Almost no one wants to read someone else’s rant. No wonder pub house written scifi is ossifying as self-published books explode. The Science Fiction Book Club — one of the pillars of my teen years — has been reduced to irrelevance.
This BS would have made good science fiction back in the 50’s.
I noticed one of the planned 2016 WorldCon hotels is prominently pushing a pride package with a picture of two guys (I think) holding hands. Just one factor in selecting which hotel to stay in.
I have published all of my work on Amazon - paperback is dead owing to this PC crap.
I really don’t see the advantage of paper-based sales anymore - too much to the publisher and very little support for the cut they take.
Amazon is no longer “The future” it is Now. More E-books are sold than paper these days....
This is an interesting case study on how the Left has achieved cultural hegemony. They really care about this stuff while most conservatives have other things to do.
But that is wrong because culture really matters. By controlling education, the news media, entertainment and even large parts of religion, the Left exerts far more influence than their total numbers and dangerous ideas merit.
Given that, I cannot move myself to get involved with this. I figured out a long time ago that any book labeled as a Hugo winner is one to avoid unless it was written before 1970. As some have mentioned here, indie self-publishing of ebooks has reduced a lot of the significance of the awards since now there are no more gate keepers to publishing books.
I read self-published ebooks almost exclusively except when the publishers buy out a book I like such as Weir’s “The Martian.” In that case, I borrow from the library in preferably ebook form or a dead tree book as a last resort.
Still it is not good that the Left has taken over another cultural institution.
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