aka Summa Rabid Puppies: A Casuistry of the Hugo Controversy
In today’s roundup are Pat Cadigan, Max Florschutz, Craig R., Kevin J. Maroney, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Vox Day, Peter Grant, Camestros Felapton, Russell Blackford, Nicholas Whyte, Lis Carey, and Spacefaring Kitten. (Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editors of the day Dex and sveinung.)
"I think it matters that some people decided to conspire and steal a ballot" @Cadigan at @BSFA on #SadPuppies @TheHugoAwards
— SCI FI LONDON Film Festival (@scifilondon) June 6, 2015
Max Florschutz on Unusual Things
“The Coming of the Ent March” – June 6
And that’s what the insulars are truly afraid of, and why this year isn’t really the big year for an asterisk. Next year will be that year. Right now, the insulars are shouting as loud as they can, trying to drown out the barking puppies. And you know what? To most Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans, it’s just noise.
But it’s noise that’s waking them up. Making them look around and say “What’s going on here?” It’s noise that’s drawing attention to the Hugos, alerting the silent readers who before, like the reader of my other blog, never even knew that they were allowed to participate. And regardless of who they agree with … a lot of them are going to say “Oh, cool,” and get in line for the chance to support their favorite works.
That‘s what the insulars are afraid of. The Hugos have been a large award for a long time, but they’ve also been voted on by a phenomenally small group of people for an award that’s suppose to represent Sci-Fi/Fantasy as a whole.
Craig R. on The Boston Progressive
“Where Are My Nutty Nuggets? I Want My Nuggy Nuggets!” – June 6
“They told me there would be Nutty Nuggets!”
Sad Puppy Central seem to have given up on their first justification, that there was some Super Double-Sekret Social Justice Progressive Cabal that was blocking the Manly Man Rocket Adventure Stories that they Like So Well from making either the nomination lists or the winning slots. Except for Freer, who, I guess, didn’t get the memo.
This is because they actually swamped the nomination choices. Now, this has got to be embarrassing, if you’re all fired up to crow about having Proof, I tell you! Proof! That it’s all a fraud and that we couldn’t get on the ballot ’cause there is no way that we could succeed in gaming the system. There’s no way that simple a cheat can get us on the ballot….
Uhh, why does the ballot look like this?
The latest reason put forth for poor prior puppy performance in the ballot is that there has been this long-running con, where each year the convention committee for the WorldCon is purposely making it hard for people to find out how to nominate and vote!
Yeah, that’s it! Well, lets look at the websites for the past 4 world cons:….
Kevin J. Maroney in a comment on “The Puppies of Terror” at New York Review of Science Fiction – May 30
The only substantial regret I have about my editorial is that it moved too seamlessly from discussion of the *Puppy movement to discussion of Panzergroup Asshole, making it seem as if I thought they were the same people. I don’t.
Let me elaborate on Panzergroup Asshole and online harassment. PGA is a real thing–probably 400-500 people who participate in systematic online harassment*, a weapon waiting for a target. There’s a larger body of casual trolls among whom PGA hide–sometimes PGA follow the other trolls and sometimes PGA’s activities attract the other trolls.
*This can run the gamut from purely online attacks like verbal abuse, tweet flooding, sealioning, comment spam, account takeover, and DDOS attack to offline dangers such as publishing personal information, leaking nude pictures, elaborate death threats, bomb threats, credit card fraud, and SWATting. I’ve had multiple friends say to me that they won’t mention certain names online for fear of attracting the attention of GG and the abuse it brings. Using the fear to silence one’s opponents has a name: “terrorism”.
I do not believe the *Puppies–the leaders and most of their supporters–are themselves members of Panzergroup Asshole. However, the Puppy leaders (Correia, Torgersen, and Day) deliberately and repeatedly invited an alliance with GamerGate, a movement inseparable from Panzergroup Asshole.
Asking people to block-vote for the Hugos (as the Puppies did) was a dick move, taking advantage of the good will assumptions inherent in the Hugo process. This is not significantly different in kind from the outright ballot-box stuffing that got Black Genesis and The Guardsman onto the nominee lists in 1987 and 1989. It’s shameful and nasty, and if they had stopped there, the second half of the editorial wouldn’t have been present. But by deliberately positioning themselves as part of GamerGate-writ-large was a step beyond.
And if it’s “assholery” to point out that someone is allying themselves with terrorists–I think I can live with that charge.
https://twitter.com/pnh/status/607380791224619010
https://twitter.com/pnh/status/607380796987555841
https://twitter.com/pnh/status/607380803950112768
https://twitter.com/pnh/status/607380808756797440
Vox Day on Vox Popoli
“Turbo-charging the award pimpage” – June 6
As it happens, I’d been contemplating following the International Lord of Hate’s lead and recusing myself from the ballot in the future, since I didn’t want to end up with more Hugo nominations than the likes of Heinlein, Clarke, and Asimov. That would be ridiculous. However, now that I know the SJWs are preemptively planning to No Award me, I think I would be remiss if I did not consider award pimpage for every single Hugo Award for which I am even remotely eligible for in 2016. Let’s see. In addition to the professional categories, there is Best Fan Writer, Best Related Work, and perhaps I can throw a few doodles together for Best Fan Artist while I’m at it.
https://twitter.com/voxday/status/607225621475958784
https://twitter.com/voxday/status/607247420699865089
Peter Grant on Bayou Renaissance Man
“Is it time to call for a boycott of a mainstream SF publisher?” – June 6
I’ve remained silent about many previous slanders and libels about this situation, but this is just about the last straw. I would very much like to know whether Tor shares and/or espouses the false, slanderous and libelous views expressed by Ms. Gallo. If that company doesn’t take a stand against such lies, or even chooses to remain silent about them (despite their being propagated by one of their editors), then I will have to assume that the time has come to openly call for a boycott of Tor by all objective, non-partisan, independent fans of science fiction and fantasy. I’ll be discussing this option with other SF/F authors (and individuals involved in this controversy) during the coming days, to see whether we can co-ordinate a suitable response.
Camestros Felapton
“A short post about Aristotle and syllogisms” – June 6
So Chris Hensley is right. It isn’t that the system of syllogistic reasoning that Aristotle proposed was wrong but it genuinely has been superseded. The fact that we are using computers to discuss this is partly as a consequence of that. In the 19th and 20th century logic went through a revolution that took it far beyond the simple syllogism. Liebniz, Boole, Frege, Whitehead, Russell, Tarski, Godel made giant leaps and these leaps were not just freaky abstract navel gazing.
Consider this chain: Russel and Whitehead’s Principia inspired Kurt Godel’s incompleteness theorem. Alonzo Church and Alan Turing developed a related theorem that examined incompleteness from the position of an abstract mechanical device. John Von Neumann at around the same time was also looking at logical foundations of mathematics. The jump from freaky-abstract-navel gazing to birth-of-the-modern-electronic computer is almost a direct one.
So what is wrong with syllogisms? Well nothing as far as they go. They adequately describe one form of logical reasoning but it is essentially self limiting. Later Stoic philosophers made significant headway in developing Proportional Logic. Propositional Logic itself has limitations but it allows for more complex arguments to be modeled and to deal with the notion of implication. The basic difference between the syllogistic logic and propositional was the kinds of units that were being used. In syllogisms terms are important. For example take this Syllogism:
- All SJW’s lie
- Camestros is a SJW
- Camestros lies….
Russell Blackford on Metamagician and The Hellfire Club
“Concluding comments on “Best Short Story” – Hugo Awards voting 2015” – June 6
The problem will keep recurring this year: how much stronger might this list (each list) of nominees have been without blatantly political block voting delivered care of the “Puppies” campaigns? We’ll never know. Meanwhile … none of the stories really blew me away, but one came closer than the others. In this company, the standout, for me, was “Totaled”, by Kary English : for its skill and innovation, it will receive my vote. I doubt that any of the others merit such an important international award.
Nicholas Whyte on From the Heart of Europe
“My vote for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form), Best Fan Writer, John W. Campbell Award” – June 6
I usually enjoy tracking down the various entries in this category (I rarely have time to watch the movies nominated for the Long Form equivalent). But unfortunately three of the finalists in this category were helped to get onto the ballot by a campaign led by a misogynist racist whose declared intention was to destroy the Hugos. I am not going to vote for them, and am not going to any great lengths to watch The Flash: Pilot or Grimm: Once We Were Gods…..
1: Doctor Who: Listen. In a Doctor Who season with one very low point (Kill The Moon) this was very much a high point, Moffat with some of his best lines – Clara in particular getting some good ones (“People don’t need to be scared by a big gray-haired stick insect but here you are” balanced by “If you’re very wise and very strong fear doesn’t have to make you cruel or cowardly – fear can make you kind”) in a story that actually makes sense and taps into some deep human fears. Gets my vote without any hesitation or special pleading, and I suspect it will win.
Also, just to record a couple of items here which are not worth separate posts: I’m voting No Award for Best Fan Writer, and giving Laura J. Mixon my second preference. I take very seriously Matt Foster’s argument that a ballot with only one non-slate finalist does not offer enough choice to make the award meaningful….
Lis Carey on Lis Carey’s Library
“Dungeon Crawlers Radio” – June 6
http://www.dungeoncrawlersradio.com/
Another Best Fancast Hugo nominee.
This is also an interview podcast, in this case focused on gaming and related subjects. As such, it doesn’t really speak much to me, as this is not an area of interest for me. However, it is fairly cleanly and professionally produced, even managing an effective interview presentation in the midst of the chaos of Salt Lake Comic Con. I would expect this to be at least very interesting for viewers more into gaming. The knowledge of the interviewers I can’t seriously assess, but they at least seemed knowledgeable and reasonable to me.
If gaming is your thing, you should at least give this a try, if you haven’t seen it yet.
Lis Carey on Lis Carey’s Library
“Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2), by Ann Leckie (author), Adjoa Andoh (narrator)” – June 6
There’s a lot going on here, in character development, revealing more about the history and culture of the Radch, and action as the conflict between the Mianaais and even older tensions in the Radch empire play out.
I’m looking forward to the third volume, Ancillary Mercy.
Recommended.
Most of the #HugoAwards novelette stuff is of 1 of 2 types: great start to a novel w/ abrupt ending or something best left unpublished.
— Milton Friedman Stan Account (@AndIllWhisperNo) June 7, 2015
Spacefaring Kitten on Spacefaring, Extradimensional Happy Kittens
“’The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale’ by Rajnar Vajra” – June 6
Slates: Rabid Puppies & Sad Puppies
“The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale” is a lightweight adventure story that — according to its subtitle — tries to take us back to the Golden Age of science fiction. There are space cadets who get into trouble because of a fight and have to make it up for it by going on an expedition to an alien world, the inhabitants of which the Earth scientists have a hard time understanding.
Will McLean on A Commonplace Book
“Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword” – June 6
It requires the usual suspension of disbelief required for interstellar empires, FTL, artificial gravity and decanting extensions of machine intellects into human bodies; in short, what is normally required for space operas.
Camestros Felapton
“A warning from the future” – June 6
[A satire that lists future Hugo slates.]
“Dear traveler from the future” I cried “You are in need of medical care! I would take you inside but I’m afraid that Timothy has a thing abut people he doesn’t know arriving unannounced. Let me fetch you a pillow and a glass of water.”
“No…” she gasped “it is too late for me…I have come to bring you a warning”.
She was briefly consumed by a coughing fit, after which she spat out a green mess of mucus and fundamental void particles.
“They didn’t realize…they tried to tinker with the Hugo rules…but instead…” she paused again
“Yes? The rules? Is this the WorldCon 15 rules you mean?” I inquired as gently as I could despite my ankle pain and a croquet hoop digging into my thigh unpleasantly.
“The horror of Spokane they called it. The rule changes…they went wrong…a memetic virus was introduced…it spread through blog posts…the world became consumed by puppy-slates”
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aeou: “Because it is a civil suit, you dolt.”
Stop embarrassing yourself by insulting people about answers you don’t understand either. Scott Frazer’s question already had criminal/civil implicit in its premise.
The reason libel is more difficult to prove from one jurisdiction to the next has to do with the applicable laws in each country.
@Will R. –
But, but, that’s different, Because!
Just, Because!
Stevie:Since I have yet to come across anything which VD is good at
Certainly not making good videogames!
http://www.somethingawful.com/game-reviews/war-heaven/1/
On reflection, I think Talk Like a Radchai Day is better thought about than done. At bottom, on account of this not being the Radch. In practice, it amounts to selective misgendering of
Cis dudes
Trans men
Asexuals
The first group is the one we most want to convince that misgendering is wrong, and the next two groups get it the other 364 days of the year already. So I’d have to give myself a bunch of What Were You Thinking points if we actually tried to carry it out.
Hélas!
Mike Glyer: Until someone comes up with a better idea, we could try making it the 19th day of a month — referencing One Esk Nineteen.
Rev. Bob: Maybe September, being the month after the Hugo awards are announced
Belay that, matey, the 19th of September is “Talk Like A Pirate Day”. Arrrr.
snowcrash: So on the ginning up outrage front, the wonderful people over at MadGEnius have put up the following post by one Jonathan LaForce, calling for a total boycott of Tor
Jonathan LaForce: I ask that those of you whom trust my opinion cease to buy their products ever again… When their sales drop like rocks in a planetary gravity well
Bless their little hearts. They do seem to have a greatly inflated perception of their numbers and their own importance, don’t they?
Andrew P – you can always start deconstructing the first video from the upcoming movie version of “The Martian”
Looks like they’re nailing the tone of the book. I’ve high hopes for it and nothing about that gives me any reason to doubt it so far.
URL??
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzIe1aMAzzU
Reading the Martian now…. fantastic book. The bit with Liquid Crystal Display made me laugh out loud.
Thanks!
Jim Henley: “At bottom, on account of this not being the Radch. In practice, it amounts to selective misgendering….”
Well, I guess it does, doesn’t it?
I have to say I never for a moment considered “Talk Like a Radchai Day” to have a social justice component. One might as well complain that we’d be asking people to speak like a culture that is based on perpetual warfare, enslavement, pillaging and vandalism. Or is that “Talk Like a Pirate Day”? (Or is that the English language….I’m really confused now.)
JJ: “They do seem to have a greatly inflated perception of their numbers and their own importance, don’t they?”
And a greatly inflated sense of how important a publisher is to the average reader. If I’m buying in the m/m genre, I pay attention to that because the epublishers are all big noises in a small genre, the publishers are often authors themselves, and a few of them have shit the bed fairly spectacularly. (Think a lot of Castalia Houses, with marginally fewer sociopaths behind them.)
But in SFF? With huge corporations being the main publishers? Oh sure, I’m going to give a damn who put out the book by the author I’m really keen to read. I can’t tell you who published Terry Pratchett, and you can’t make me care either.
@Mike: Oh, lack of a social-justice component isn’t a concern. Much of my life lacks a social-justice component. It’s presence of a social injustice component that would concern me.
Just ordered a bunch of books. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly thanks to conversations here that they included, among a number of others:
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Saturn’s Children
Primary Inversion
Biting the Sun
Century Rain
The Girl With All The Gifts
So, thanks, all! Looking forward to them!
I don’t think such a day would be hugely problematic, so long as it didn’t spill out of fannish circles and/or it was explained, apologised for and dropped if someone did get upset.
@Jim Henley
I think you mean agender rather than asexual. 🙂
I just thought it was an excuse to talk silly in a way that might make people who are authoritarian and intolerant about gender uncomfortable.
Mike, the difference is that Talk like a Pirate day – which I’ve never found the least amusing – is based on an interpretation of a hollywood vision of pirates from history, and therefore can’t really be said to offend the actual, numerous pirates plying their trade around the world. But even if it did offend, we’re not talking about innocent parties.
Talking like a Radch and misgendering trans people is going to hurt people who are (a) innocent (b) around now and ( c ) real (and very likely to be regular commenters on your blog.
Do you really want to do that, just for a bit of fun?
@Meredith:
Sure enough. Thanks for the catch.
I would think 19/1 should work.
Though it’s a while away.
@Ann Somerville:
Nope. Nope nope nope. In’t worth a cheap joke.
I’m still pleased about the song parody, tho’.
@Ann Somerville:
And even if we restrict it to misgendering my own cohort – cis guys with tons of privilege – we’re handing them an excuse to say, “Hey, people did it to me so there.” I don’t buy the excuse, but if I can foresee it, I need to take it into account.
We are, on reflection, quite enjoying expressing ourselves in Ethuverazhin, though.
Alas, our spouse Merrem Kyraran as of yet still refuses to address us as “Serenity”.
Ann Somerville: “Do you really want to do that, just for a bit of fun?”
Not if it was really going to have those consequences, but I will ask some people I know what they think to find out whether they react that way.
As one who was active in running Hogu Ranquets for many years I am accustomed to doing humor that offends some people, however, I like to confine that reaction to the people I intend to offend….
>> Belay that, matey, the 19th of September is “Talk Like A Pirate Day”. Arrrr. >>
Combine the two: Talk Like A Radchaai Pirate Day!
Isn’t that all the Radchaai already?
@Kyra
We are still deciding whether we prefer Meredan or Meredisu (which is, incidentally, the usual way “Meredith” is pronounced in Japanese) for our Ethuverazhin name.
Jim Henley, I can’t see any non-obnoxious reason for real-world misgendering of anyone. Whether it’s Vowel Movement’s assumption ‘Doctor Science’ is male because of the title (she’s not a doctor or male, BTW) or MRAs calling male supporters of feminism, ‘manginas’, ultimately the root is misogny (if not transphobia).
So we don’t do that, because we try to be the good guys.
@JJ: “Belay that, matey, the 19th of September is “Talk Like A Pirate Day”. Arrrr.”
Kinda my point, since the “Talk Like a Radchaai Day” ballad is a straight rip of the TLAPD theme song… 🙂
well we could use the Finnish personal pronouns instead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_grammar#Personal_pronouns
Thus also demonstrating their are no personal hard feelings from the Hugo-packet reading community towards Finland.
We may need a Suomi speaker to gives us some help 🙂
Guilty.
That would be Tuomas Vainio, I am presuming. :/
If it was opt-in – say, clearly marked blog posts/comment threads – I don’t see the issue. If not..? More problematic. Still, I think (although I could be wrong!) we’re currently a bunch of cis people debating whether trans people would be upset, which seems a bit iffy in and of itself.
CP: “Thus also demonstrating their are no personal hard feelings from the Hugo-packet reading community towards Finland.”
I am not a Hugo-packet reader but I have considerable goodwill towards the Finns, among whom I count friends, and whose country is exceedingly lovely. I hope WorldCon is held in Helsinki because Helsinki is beautiful and fun and the trains there are named after authors and their characters!
Finnish is a bastard of a language though 😉
@Neil W “They should look into this Tom Doherty and boycott any businesses he has an interest in. That’ll get someone’s attention.”
What you did there, I see it.
Didn’t the RP/SP already use the “trust me” instructions already ?
Ann Somerville: “So we don’t do that, because we try to be the good guys.”
You seem to be on quite a roll here, yet like everyone else you seem to have overlooked that the use of “she” in Leckie’s universe does that already, so if there’s anything wrong with it why is the first-ever complaint about it here in a thread where the thought merely was to parody the pirate meme by emulating the usage in the book? Are we supposed to assume the readers of this blog are suddenly incapable of making distinctions they’re making in reading the book?
Here’s a little story about someone you have met
He’s a right famous fellow by the name of Owen Pitt
I was working at a pub
He was smoking at the bar
That’s a crime as all you know in California
I sidled up the rail, right to where he stood,
I said I’m sorry Mr. Pitt, as nicely as I could
You’ll have to put that out now,
Throw it on the floor,
Or I’ll have to kick you out and show you to the door
The closest I’ve come to ending up dead
was the night that I punched Owen Pitt
“The Monster Hunter”
In the head
He squared right up to me somewhat in surprise
Then he narrowed up his gaze, shot me daggers with his eyes.
“If you think you’re man enough, go ahead,” he said
I was scared for my life so I dalked him in the head
The closest I’ve come to ending up dead
was the night that I punched Owen Pitt
“The Monster Hunter”
In the head
He lifted up his hands, put them to his nose,
Blood was running through his fingers, dripping on his kit
His bodyguards ran up, “Get’em!” shouted Pitt
“Run,” cried Julie, “Run, and don’t stop until you get to Mexico!”
You can’t hit me, I’m a Libertarian
Master hand-to-hand combatant and expert marksman
You can’t hit me, don’t you know I shoot 3-gun?
I’ve got a dead Jew in my head,
I’M THE CHOSEN ONE!
The War Journal
#ITEM:
Two Months In > Emotional Check:
Still Pissed.
Bugger and damn all the moderates and any actual examples of writerly chops: No Award all the bastards. Look at the numbers. All the Hardliners have already voted anyway, so it just doesn’t matter anymore.
Fucking American-Centric Political Assholes. Just had to screw everyone else worldwide because All Must Suffer Equally in The Great American Culture War. Friendly fire incidents are, of course, regrettable. Not that anyone involved gave that particular thought any consideration whatsoever to begin with. After all the mutual bullshit I no longer care whether the Puppies were Offside, or whether they were Drawn Off. Bugger you both.
How does JCW put it? Ah..
“I believe, profess, and unambiguously support the view that”
The Art is not the Artist.
Yep, if I’m going to pick a literary issue to defend to the death, this is the Hill I’ll gallantly expire on.
I will concede that Tom Kratman is not making this any easier.
Silver Lining: however, quality will still out. The Nebula (The New Big One), now rests on JeffV’s noble brow.
Waiting on Neil. They say there is no one person with the prestige to end this stupidity.
I beg to disagree.
Mike: “the use of “she” in Leckie’s universe”
You overlooked my “I can’t see any non-obnoxious reason for real-world misgendering of anyone.”
We’re not talking about the population of a non-existent planet. We’re talking about people right here and right now, for whom misgendering is a very painful, very real issue.
“Are we supposed to assume the readers of this blog are suddenly incapable of making distinctions they’re making in reading the book?”
No, we’re supposed to assume that if you carry over a fictional theme into the real world, we should give some thought to any real world harm would result.
You can do what you like on your blog – no one will stop you. But you can’t say you weren’t warned if you end up pissing off or hurting people when you didn’t mean to.
Jonathan K. Stephens: “Fucking American-Centric Political Assholes”
Your business manager just called. He says your emotional check bounced. Says you’re overdrawn at the drama bank.
Mike, re: “Talk Like a [Whatever],” I think the problem being outlined in this discussion might be related to differing perceptions of the audience. Most people are familiar enough with “Hollywood Pirates” to get the joke almost immediately, even if they don’t know what “Day” it is; for “Talk Like a Raadchai Day,” the participants would have to be very careful that their listeners had read the books . . . and, despite the fact that it’s a very well-known series in certain circles, the circles are still pretty small relative to the population as a whole. If you postulate a large or largish group of participants (as I suspect you aren’t, but other people might be), then some of the people listening who hadn’t read the books might be confused, or–because they are confused–even hurt.
Does that sense? Sorry to butt in, but I haven’t read either AJ or AS yet, and that’s kind of the way the discussion looks from an outsider’s perspective. It does sound like a fun thing to do–maybe consider Instead, consider picking a day at a convention, or some sort of relatively enclosed space where people could wear buttons saying, “Hi, it’s talk like a Raadchai Day!” or something like that?
@ Kyra —
We find ourself amused that our name when rendered in the manner of our father’s homeland — Nasanieru — comports quite elegantly with Ethuverazhin naming conventions for individuals of either gender. Our sister, Rin, flatly refuses to be Rinu or Rino, greatly preferring Rinan on the grounds not sounding like the beginning of a nasty sinus infection.
@Kyra “Dach’osmer Miket Glyerar”
*polite applause*
Ann Somerville: Finnish is a bastard of a language though 😉
In some ways, Hungarian is worse. Korean is also brain-bustingly difficult. And have you ever seen an Arabic verb-conjugation diagram?
And Navajo beats them all, because pretty much every verb in Navajo is irregular. I’ll stop language-nerding now.
@aeou
“Scott Frazer: “Soooo…. If libel isn’t criminal, why would it be harder to prove under one jursidiction than another?”
Because it is a civil suit, you dolt.”
May I suggest that before insulting someone’s intelligence, you consider knowing what you are talking about?
The correct answer, as noted upthread by an actual lawyer, is that different jurisdictions have different standards. Being a civil matter doesn’t ordinarily mean a higher standard of proof.
Yeah, I pretty much have to agree with Ann on the misgendering issue and I was one of those that actually indulged in Radchai speak.
Apologies for that.
Mike:
“Your business manager just called. He says your emotional check bounced. Says you’re overdrawn at the drama bank.”
Better than being Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, yet, Absolutely! I’m overwrought, it was, after all, merely an indulgence. 🙂
I will now exit: Stage Left, with apologies…
Light dawns; Jonathan Laforce has had one novel published by Baen, which has accumulated the princely total of one rating on Goodreads, and he used to be a Marine. And for extra difficulty points I can tie this to piracy, since a couple of years ago I ran pirates alley on a cruise ship heading from Mumbai, across the Indian Ocean, tootling around the Emirates, en route for the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
We ran in convoy, of course, and once outside Indian waters took on a private security team plus the usual bog standard weaponry; the team were all former British marines, headed by a guy who’d put in 20 years. Once we had established that my father had put in 35 years in the RAF, I was promoted to honorary non-civilian status so they could cut me some slack on getting the best views of the bit of the Egyptian desert where I’d been born whilst the other passengers were banned from the decks.
In fairness I should say that the vast majority of the passengers wished to be banned so they could make up stories of how they would have reacted to a suspicious fishing boat, which suggested that they hadn’t a clue about maritime law, the reasons why fishermen fish, and the likelihood of ending up in court with a singularly unsympathetic judge should they have followed their instincts.
Naturally, I passed all of this along to the team leader; reliable data is at a premium, and the one thing which terrifies the military is the possibility of civilians thinking they know how to fight. This is because they don’t know how to fight and usually end up killing the military, and themselves, by mistake; British marines will die if they have to but greatly prefer winning.
Which brings me back to Jonathon LaForce; I don’t know long he served, but the pictures suggest that it was a lot shorter than the 20 years put in by the Team Leader, and a great deal less than my father. I am sorry to have to explain to Laforce that career military do, in fact, automatically expect someone to provide details about their service; saying ‘I was a Marine’ suggests that LaForce doesn’t want to talk about his service…
Morning all. I took off last night when Brad arrived, but I wanted to follow up my remarks about being worried for the women involved with the Puppies and clarify a bit. Beale’s remark about rape and murder is nauseous, but I wasn’t imagining one of his female allies ending up under someone’s new patio. Rather, my concern it this:
Men who sexually victimise women are more likely to believe rape myths – a spectrum of false (and convenient) ideas about men, women, and sex. They are strengthened in these beliefs when other men espouse those myths. They also believe, incorrectly, that most men share their views. (Googling this research is trivial and left as an exercise for the reader.) As extreme (and trolly) as Beale’s latest remark is, it’s a version of the rape myth that women are aroused by and secretly desire rape.
What worries me is that the women involved with the Puppies are going to encounter men, perhaps at a meetup or convention, who are so steeped in these false beliefs that they see their female allies as fair game. If the women complain, they may encounter a backlash not just from inside Puppydom – I’m thinking of the GamerGaters here – but also from outside. It would be very typical victim-blaming if they were told they should have known what would happen if they put themselves into that dangerous situation, etc etc.
I hope this all remains as hypothetical and vague as it sounds now. What I really wanted to say is that if a Puppy woman is ever victimised, this feminist will support her.