Author: VD

A theory of mediocrity

Sarah Hoyt ties the ongoing series of SF/F debacles to the coddling of the Millennials:

Anyway – the most important influx of these writers, who got doors thrown open for them because they were the right age/gender/upbringing – most of whom were very young and female – was about ten years ago.  Young women just out of college were getting huge offers for books that were what young women just out of college and with no life experience would write (and no, I’m not committing the error above.  This wave of what I call “red carpet acceptances” was targeted at young, just out of college and parroting the right “truths” – no life experience or rational thought wanted, or, in fact, accepted.) – very derivative, with a lot of sex and, in mystery, a lot of shoe and fashion shopping.  (I read Manolo shoe blogger, but look, there are limits to how much I care about shoes.)

Which brings us to now.  These young people, often very protected, were taken in and told they were the next best thing.  Not because of what they did, but because of what they WERE.  Success was their right and inevitable.  Like the poor kid who wrote the essay I linked, they were told they were so smart and brave and stuff for exactly parroting what they’d been taught.  And by and large – with a couple of exceptions – their stuff didn’t sell all that well, though they’ve won awards and been fetted and told how wonderfulglittery they are.

And even the ones who were successful are now shaky, because all they ever did was enter into traditional publishing and be massively supported and do fairly well within that framework.

I don’t even know if the smartest ones know all the breaks they got.  I doubt it.  First of all, because in publishing this stuff is all hidden and it’s hard to realize how much support you had, or even that other people didn’t get it.  (Unless you don’t get it, in which case you start wondering how the process broke down, then find out this is standard.)   Second because it’s human to take credit for our own success, no matter how helped.

So, you see, in their eyes, they think everyone else got this sort of magic carpet ride.

I think this may be a factor, but I think a more important one is the ideological element. As Tom Kratman and others have observed, leftist infiltrators always make a priority of bringing more of their own kind into an organization with the aim of taking it over. Talent and performance are tertiary at best, as both ideological correctness and “diversity” are deemed more important.

Add onto this the intense discomfort that the mediocre have when forced to compare themselves with their superiors and it is only a matter of time before an infiltrated organization is filled with soft, nasty, small-minded and petty mediocrities.

For illustrative purposes, compare John Campbell with Patrick Nielsen Hayden. Or contrast Louis L’Amour with John Scalzi. One doesn’t even need to read a single word, simply looking at pictures of the two individuals being compared is enough to tell you what sort of fiction they are going to publish and write.

The mediocrities brought in the clueless young women because they were the only sort of writers around whom they felt comfortable. Men writing masculine tales of technological competence and bravery? That not only made them feel uncomfortable and inferior, it wasn’t something to which they could even understand, let alone relate.

35-year employment low

The average annual labor force participation rate hit a 35-year-low of 63.2 percent in the United States in 2013, according to data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The last time the average annual labor force participation rate was
that low was in in 1978, when it was also 63.2 percent. Jimmy Carter was
president then.

What is often forgotten in the reporting of the economic statistics is that the statistics are merely an approximation of the economic situation; they are the map and not the territory. GDP doesn’t actually exist, and the “growth” that it represents was designed as a way to provide planners a means of determining how best to intervene in the economy. The decline in the labor force participation rate gives the lie to both the false GDP and false U3 unemployment statistics, both of which are heavily manipulated in a misguided attempt to provide a falsely positive perspective.

The contractionary effect of the increasing lack of participation in the labor force is compounded by the fact that the doubling of the female labor force means that many of the younger women now in it are considerably less productive than the older men they have replaced. Throw in the subsequent consequence of delayed marriage and fewer children, and it is readily apparent that the US economy cannot recover in the next 20 years.

False flag in Ukraine

It appears the neocons are elbows deep into it again with their ongoing campaign for global revolution:

Earlier today an even more shocking recording has been “leaked” this time one between the always concerned about human rights EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet, in which it is revealed on tape that all those photos of horrifying deaths of Ukrainians by snipers during the last days of the Median stand off, were in fact caused not by Snipers controlled by Yanukovich, but that the snipers shot at both protesters and police in Kiev were allegedly hired by Maidan leaders!

Here is the key exchange, just after 8 minutes into the conversation :

Paet: “All the evidence shows that people who were killed by snipers from both sides, policemen and people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides. … Some photos that showed it is the same handwriting, the same type of bullets, and it is really disturbing that now the new coalition they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened. So there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”

Ashton: “I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick that up, that’s interesting. Gosh.”

Paet: “It already discreditates (sic) this new coalition.”

So first US orchestrates the Kiev overthrow, and now the new “leaders” of Ukraine are allegedly found to have fired against their own people – the same provocation they subsequently used to run Yanukovich out of the country and install a pro-Western puppet government. Of course, said pro-Western coalition has not been discreditated (sic) because Ms. Ashton has sternly refused to investigate, knowing quite well how horribly this would reflect on the new Ukraine “leadership” –  a government which shot its own people to fabricate the pretext under which it rose to power.

Still confident that it was Osama bin Laden’s terrorists who orchestrated the attacks on the Twin Towers?

To sign or not to sign

This new petition of Amazon is interesting and relates to some problems to which I’ve pointed before:

Protect Amazon.com Users and Indie Publishing Authors from Bullying and Harassment by Removing Anonymity and Requiring Identity Verification for Reviewing and Forum Participation

For the consideration of Mr. Jeff Bezos and Mr. Jon P. Fine:

The purpose of this petition is to bring to the attention of Mr. Bezos, Mr. Fine, and anyone else employed by Amazon or its subsidiaries, the lack of oversight and or control in the Amazon system regarding product reviewing—in particular book reviewing—and in the participation of the many forums on Amazon.

It is known the world over that Amazon changed the face of self publishing by implementing their Kindle Direct Publishing platform as well as their CreateSpace platform. Anyone can now quickly and easily publish a book using the tools freely provided by Amazon. Whether or not everyone who publishes through KPD and CreateSpace should is not at issue here. What is at issue is the fact that there is an incredible amount of bullying and harassment of some of these self publishing authors taking place on the Amazon platform/system.

I believe, as do countless others—many who will have signed this petition—that the reason this bullying and harassment is able to take place is because of the allowance of anonymity on Amazon. People have found ways to exploit this flaw in the system and are using it to bully, harass, and generally make life miserable for certain authors on Amazon. These people are able to create multiple accounts and then use those accounts to viciously attack and go after any author or person that they feel doesn’t belong on Amazon or who shouldn’t have published a book, made a comment on a forum post, etc. With the current system, if one anonymous account gets deactivated because it was reported for these things, it is easy for the bully or harasser to simply create another anonymous account and continue on with their shenanigans.

What I—we—would like to see happen is for Amazon to revise their policies regarding anonymity when it comes to writing product/book reviews and for participation in the forums. Reviewers and forum participants should not be anonymous. By removing their anonymity and forcing them to display their real, verified identities, I believe that much of the harassment and bullying will cease. It may continue elsewhere on the web, but not on Amazon, the largest online retail marketplace in the world, where it really counts. Buyers of products on Amazon must have their identities verified, so it should be an easy transition to implement a policy whereby reviewers and forum participants must also have their identities verified.

While I could do without the appeals to bullying and so forth, the problem of fake reviews is definitely a real one. And while I am completely opposed to the law mandating real identities, this is simply one private corporation’s policy. So, my inclination is towards signing the petition, but I’m curious to know what the other authors and readers here have to say about it.

I think I’d sign it without question if it was limited to reviews. As much as I dislike restricted forums, I dislike even more the idea that the self-published authors, who are much less accustomed to trolls and socio-sadists working out their psychological issues online than I am, are forced to put up with this sort of nonsense from the very start, especially since they can’t control the forum comments the way I can here. Here it’s no trouble to ban the likes of the usual suspects, or put the short-term kibosh on someone getting out of line, but that’s simply not possible on Amazon.

I think the author of the petition’s assumption that sunlight will deter the trolls is generally correct. I noticed that the number of fake reviews of my books on Amazon declined considerably after I tracked down the woman from Minnesota and posted her address on this blog. Even the Greatest Pensman in All Karatonitus significantly reduced his activities here after I called his place of volunteer work and made it evident that I was in possession of the email addresses of his friends and extended family members. There are few trolls so shameless that they are willing to have those around them know what they are doing and how they are behaving.

UPDATE: Upon reading the discussion and engaging in further reflection, I have decided not to sign the petition. There are more effective ways to deal with the problem and anonymity can be a vital and necessary state for people in certain circumstances.

Divide, divide

It is precisely as Prechter predicted. Economic downturns are accompanied by political division and separation:

If you mention the word “secession” most people think of the South during the Civil War. But today, a new movement is gaining steam because of frustration over a growing, out-of-control federal government.

A number of conservative, rural Americans are taking about seceding and creating their own states, meaning a new map of the United States of America could include the following:

    A 51st state called Jefferson, made up of Northern California and Southern Oregon
    A new state called Western Maryland
    A new state called North Colorado

These are real movements gaining traction with voters across the country. Jeffrey Hare runs the 51st State Initiative in Colorado, an effort to fight an out-of-control legislature trying to ram big government policies down the throats of voters.

The smaller and less centralized the political entity, the more power the individual and the local people have. This is why it is resisted by the government bureaucracies and the progressives in the media and elsewhere.

But the economic downturn is barely beginning, and that’s why we’re only seeing the peaceful and political pursuit of self-determination. By the time we’re at the economic nadir, the European Union, the United States of America, and even the United Kingdom will all be in pieces.

This is one of the silver linings in the ongoing decline and fall of the USA. Secession, separation, and segregation are all part of a cyclical process; we have survived the swing of the pendulum on the backs of the greatest debt expansion in history. Don’t be surprised when it swings back to an equally impressive extent. Remember, Aristocracy is the next stage in the Ciceronian political cycle.

Why doesn’t Putin fear the US military?

This is an example of one of the likely reasons:

On Saturday, six gay and straight service members applied some of their finest makeup and lip synced to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” in what is believed to be first drag queen and king show on an American military base. The show was thrown in support for the base’s recently formed OutServe-SLDN chapter, a nonprofit advocacy group for the army’s LGBT community.

Navy Lt. Marissa Greene told Stars and Stripes she only expected to sell 75 tickets for the variety show, but ended up selling more than 400 in ten days. The event went through the same approval process as other on-base fundraisers go through, with the only caveat being that it was not allowed to be labeled a “drag show” in its publicity materials. The show was warmly received by spectators, who rocked out to performances by the likes of Manny Nuff and Chocolate Sunrise (“a crowd favorite,” the website notes.)

Just a few years ago, performances like these would have been grounds for a possible discharge. The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has made it possible for events like this to occur.

This is the Club Play Dance Edition of the US Armed Forces, right up to the closeted Commander-in-Chief. Why on Earth would Putin take seriously a military that has decided to put gays and women on the front lines and gutted its capabilities in favor of foolish imperial adventures and social progress?

Putin may have seized the Crimea, but he had better watch himself carefully now or Obama will pose at him a second time. Oh, SNAP!

And for the Christian conservatives who cling to the belief that America is particularly favored by God, the fact that the military has been literally Sodomized should suffice to indicate otherwise.

Portrait of a badass

“The picture does amuse me because based on that picture, many people imagine me as a 6-foot-4 ex-Marine badass, rather than the 5-foot-8 goofball I am in real life.”
– John Scalzi

I find that to be a hilarious quote, not so much because it is hard to believe that anyone has ever imagined McRapey to be an ex-Marine, (and of course, if he knew anything about the Corps he would know there is no such thing as an ex-Marine), but because it is hard to believe anyone would buy the notion that Mr. Scalzi is 5’8″.

The Churchian elevation of sin

Leave it to the Female Imperative-worshipping feminists to not only turn Biblical doctrine on its head, but actually find a sacred and holy purpose to female sin:

  1. A poor excuse for a man and husband does something (often something mysterious) to make his wife unhaaappy.
  2. As a result, the wife lashes out, very often in a way that threatens the family.
  3. Her sinful actions, while of course not sanctioned, turn out to be just the ticket required to shake her complacent husband into attention and get him to seek out God.
  4. His seeking out God, (triggered by her lack of submission), fixes their marriage, makes him a better man, and brings them both to God.

I’m pretty relaxed about women who are unwilling to submit to their husbands, for much the same reason I’m relaxed about atheists who are unwilling to submit to God. First, because they will inevitably reap the consequences of their foolishness. Second, because they don’t have to answer to me concerning their stubbornness, they have to answer to God.

That being said, actively teaching women that being rebellious in marriage is a good and divinely sanctioned act is downright evil. Stay well away from any church or wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing who perverts the Bible in this manner.

The answer to the purported dilemma often raised is absolutely simple. Christian women not infrequently to ask: “Do I have to submit to a husband who [insert various moral failing or perceived flaw here].” Yes. Next question.

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
– 1 Peter 3: 1-2 

I understand many, perhaps most, women don’t like that. I don’t like the fact that I can’t split the skull of everyone who annoys me either. But I don’t make the rules. If you don’t like them, then follow the example of Lucifer and take it up with the Rulegiver.

CH requests

Three things. First of all, I’d like to find ten volunteers who would like to review my forthcoming short story collection: The Altar of Hate. It’s a 40k-word collection that consists of 10 shorts, including stories from the old EW site, the two stories published in Stupefying Stories,
and a new story that is a Maupassant-flavored one set in the QM universe. The collection will be published
later this month. If interested, email me with ALTAR in the subject. [We have the 10 volunteers, thanks.]

Second,
and more important, I’d like to hear from five homeschooling mothers
who would be willing to beta test our forthcoming Astronomy curricula. [We’re good on the beta testers too, thanks to all who volunteered. Expect the files in about a month or so.] We
sent it to one Very Important homeschooling figure, who informed us that
we had “put together a top-notch astronomy curriculum”, liked how we
“start out with the basics like algebra and metrics”, and recommended
that we “emphasize the large amount of hands-on lab work” involved.

We
also have other curricula in the works, including Newtonian Physics and
Economics. We hope to publish two of them before the start of school
this fall, but we will definitely get the Astronomy curriculum out this summer,
so keep it in mind as you are putting together your plans for the next
school year. We plan to price the curricula at $49.99 in ebook form. If
you’re interested, please email me with ASTRONOMY in the subject.

And
finally, there are no shortage of History curricula available, but I’d like to find someone with either a PhD in a relevant subject or
O5+ rank to help me put together a high-quality Military History
curriculum. [And we’re good here too, thank you.]

Vaccine propaganda backfires

The faster they talk, the more readily apparent it is that they are lying:

Vaccines are doing their jobs preventing disease and death, and even bringing down societal costs, according to a new study in Pediatrics. But another study, published in the same journal issue, found that public health campaigns touting vaccines’ effectiveness and debunking the links between autism and other health risks might actually be backfiring, and convincing parents to skip the shots for their kids.

“Corrections of misperceptions about controversial issues like vaccines
may be counterproductive in some populations,” wrote the researchers
behind one of the studies, led by Dr. Brendan Nyhan, a health care
researcher at Dartmouth College in Hanover N.H. “The best response to
false beliefs is not necessarily providing correct information.”

It would help if the “corrections of misperceptions” weren’t so easily demonstrated to be false by anyone who is paying even a moderate amount of attention.