Allan Davis informs libertarians about the Hugo Awards:
Larry Correia, Brad Torgerson, Vox Day, and all of the other “Puppies” supporters set out to demonstrate that the Hugo process was politicized and broken. They said that if authors were nominated who didn’t “fit the mold,” who weren’t approved by the ruling faction, they would be blacklisted, ostracized, insulted, and deliberately voted dead last, regardless of what they had written or how well it was done. Their predictions have come true, and they have proven their point admirably.
Libertarians, and especially science fiction fans with libertarian leanings, should pay particular attention to the Puppies campaigns. Like last year’s Gamersgate controversy, the Puppies drew a line in the sand–a stopping point in the ongoing culture war between individualists and statists, between the people who believe in freedom of expression and the mindless drones who believe in political correctness.
Brad Torgerson makes the point perfectly:
Folks, until or unless political correctness is given the boot, this kind of stuff isn’t going to stop. It won’t be just me getting the torch. It will be you too. You other authors, and you other fans. Political correctness has a bottomless stomach, and is red in tooth and claw. Even if you try to appease the beast, it will eat you eventually anyway.
The rage of the Left is considerable, but it is to be expected. And celebrated, because they are only smiling when the Right is going down to its customary Noble Defeat.
They will point-and-shriek, they will bluff and bully, and they will play divide-and-conquer. They’ve been trying to isolate me, a Sigma, for ten years now. (Oh no, a briar patch!) Now they’re back at it again, little realizing that giving me more freedom of movement is not exactly something I regard as a problem. We are so far ahead of them in the OODA loop that it will likely astonish you once the next stages become apparent.
The most important thing to keep in mind is this: if they’re not shrieking, we’re not winning. And speaking of Brad, he has an excellent post up highlighting what both Larry and I have already said. He is not me. He is not responsible for me. He does not answer for me. And I can only smile to see the cowards of the other side desperately trying to get them to take me on because they are afraid to do it themselves.
The Sad Puppies are not Rabid. We are. And of course, as this comment shows, the other side has very good reason to be afraid:
After seeing last nights events I really started losing heart. I feel a little better today, but it’s just too much pain to deal with over the last month to really put any effort into looking far enough ahead to the possibility of light somewhere, someday. It was bad enough when it was Damien Walter, the HuffPo and Daily Kos spreading the disinformation, lies and character assassination, but when Davidson, Willis, GRRM, and others that are supposed to be some of the TOP PROFESSIONALS OF THEIR FIELD do it I have a hard time seeing the hope. All I can see right now is that Vox wins, no matter what. His slate of nominees win: he wins. The SJWs get enough votes together to burn it down this year with No Award and Vox wins. Worse, if that happens, Vox gets enough followers together next year, and possibly decades afterwards and No Award takes all the categories going forward.
Imagine that. A professional game designer, an elite wargamer who specializes in one of the most complex wargames ever developed, a student and editor of two of the finest strategic minds on the planet, might be able to construct a Xanatos Gambit? You don’t say.
Let them lie. Let them disinform. Let them assassinate my character for, what is it now, the 7,436th time? After all, are we not reliably informed that what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger. And again. And again.
It will take a long time, but trust me, if you thought this exploit was even remotely amusing, you’re going to love what is coming down the pike in the 2017 timeframe. There are some pieces that still need to come together – the execution is always in the details – but if it works as designed, it will be beyond epic.
And if you’re not part of the Rabid Puppy pack yet, join Sasquan before July. Whether Jim Butcher or John Wright or Noah Ward walks off with the plastic rockets, you’ll want to say that you were there for Rabid Puppy 2015: the Ravening.