Posted on 11/06/2019 6:22:24 AM PST by tbw2
Since 1991, the James Tiptree Junior Award has been given annually to a work of “science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.” The award was founded by two women science fiction writers, Pat Murphy and Karen Jay Fowler. From next year, it will be called the Otherwise Award.
Because social justice warriors decided to find it problematic.
Science Fiction Purges its Problematic Past
https://quillette.com/2019/11/05/science-fiction-purges-its-problematic-past/
We have totalitarian socialists in our midst and they must be stopped or we will suffer the same fate as Venezuela
Purges.
Yeah, those are always a good thing. [/s]
I’ve been heavily involved in fen for 25 years. Work on a convention and everything. This is the first I’ve heard of this award. Not too concerned about them changing the name.
“Problematic” the favourite catchphrase of the American Cultural Revolution to describe anything that is not deemed as being woke.
Heeeeeeeeere we go again with the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies...
LOL. The Revolution Eats It’s Own stage is truly here.
I have a large collection of old sf paper books.
In ten years or so it should be priceless because Amazon will “edit” out most of the text on old books—or add long chapters of apology for the sins of the books. :-(
They just trashed John W. Campbell a couple months ago after calling him a white supremacist.
They can FOAD with all the rest of our domestic enemy propagandists.
Another reason to add to my list of reasons as to why I now read very little SciFi.
In 2019, Jeannette Ng won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. In what is emerging as a new tradition for those receiving science fiction awards, she gave an acceptance speech denouncing the genre’s failings. She targeted the eponym for the award:
John W. Campbell, for whom this award was named, was a fascist. Through his editorial control of Astounding Science Fiction, he is responsible for setting a tone of science fiction that still haunts the genre to this day. Sterile. Male. White. Exalting in the ambitions of imperialists and colonisers, settlers and industrialists.
John Campbell was the editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (the name was later changed to Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact) from 1937 until his death in 1971. He had enormous influence over science fiction in his time, and published many of the most famous science fiction writers, such as Arthur C. Clark, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. The award was named in his honor. After Ng’s diatribe, the award was immediately renamed the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Prominent writers released statements in support of Ng’s speech. Arguments were made that Campbell might not be appropriate to represent contemporary writers, but no one addressed whether we should want a community where we call each other “fascist,” or why it was reasonable to treat being male and white (or, oddly, exalting in industry) as deplorable.
And then at wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_fascism
George Orwell wrote in 1944:
...the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else ... Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathisers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.[50]
Ray BRadbury called out the book banners on the Left in his own lifetime
It’s not the Hugo (which is now ALSO ‘problematic’) or the Nebula, , ,
Me, I just worry about the Dragons . ..
“I have a large collection of old sf paper books.”
I do too, not really sure what to do with them all.
My kids and grandkids aren’t interested. I might have time to read many of them one more time, and then what?
ANd BTW, I’ve noticed significant changes in text between paperback and hardcover editions of more recent books, guessing that might have been going on for a long time.
Maybe my wife’s back breaking collection of books might be valuable after all.
Or the PKD or the Stoker (OK that’s for Horror but we all know how the genres blur). There’s a million of them, but only a few that matter.
This is part of the leftists long march through all institutions.
I call them the leftist zombies—science fiction used to be a wonderful world of incredible ideas of all different kinds—it has now been degraded into a pathetic propaganda and brain-washing exercise.
Click on my name and check out the amazing Philip K. Dick quote.
Some of the vintage Dimension X and X-1 is better taking into account when that was made.
Gender 101
XX
XY
The End.
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