A letter to Popular Science

Dear Editor,

I am writing to demand a retraction and apology for the libelous article posted Apr 17th, 2015 at 3:00pm by Mike VanHelder. Mr. VanHelder wrote:

“Big winner Vox Day is an outspoken white supremacist and campaigner
against women’s education and suffrage, who is on the record as
supporting the Taliban’s attempt to assassinate Nobel Peace Prize winner
Malala Yousifazi, finding it “scientifically justifiable.””

  1. I am not a white supremacist. This is flat-out false. Also, I am a Native American with Mexican heritage.
  2. I am not a campaigner against women’s education. I am not an activist. I have never campaigned against it.
  3. I am not a campaigner against suffrage. I am not an activist. I have never campaigned against it.
  4. I am not against women’s suffrage. I support direct democracy for all, including women.
  5. I am not on the record supporting the Taliban’s attempt to assassinate Nobel Peace Prize winner
    Malala Yousifazi. This is an absolutely outrageous accusation and utterly false.

All of these statements are false, provably and demonstrably false,
and appear to be malicious. Therefore, I am requesting an immediate
retraction of this error-ridden article as
well as a published apology to me. Some of these additional errors include:

  1. Gamergate is not anti-feminist.
  2. Neither Sad Puppies nor Rabid Puppies courted any assistance from GamerGate.
  3. The extent of the collaboration between the THREE groups, (not
    two, as in the article) is not difficult to quantify. There are
    precisely two GamerGaters who are also Rabid Puppies, myself and Daddy
    Warpig.
  4. It is false to claim “No nominated author has ever before
    withdrawn their work after making it onto the Hugo ballot.” It is
    actually not uncommon for an author to withdraw one of his works after
    getting more than one nominated in a category. To give a few examples, Harlan
    Ellison withdrew his Hugo nomination in 1968. Jack Gaughan withdrew his
    nomination in 1968. Fritz Leiber withdrew his nomination in 1971, as did
    Robert Silverberg in 1972.
  5. Therefore, the action of withdrawing a nomination is not “unprecedented”.

I will appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

NB: If you would like to add your voice to this call for a retraction and apology, this is the editor’s email: letters@popsci.com