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UPDATE: The Downloadable Content podcast is here if you would like to listen to it and were unable to do so live:

LIVE WEDNESDAY 9PM EST: Tune in at 9PM EST for our special guest, Vox Day! We’re going to be discussing #SadPuppies, #RabidPuppies, Entertainment Weekly, gaming, SJWs/CHORFs and more!  Vox Day, Larry Correia, and Brad R. Torgersen had tremendous success with their Rabid Puppies and Sad Puppies nomination slates and swept the Hugo awards with their recommendations.  We’re looking forward to hearing Day’s unique perspective on the sci-fi/fantasy community’s battle for creative and intellectual freedom!

I spoke with both vox.com and the American Spectator today, so it’s good to see that some media outlets are more responsible than Entertainment Weekly and Slate, which responded to the astonishing Sad Puppies revolution by running to John Scalzi, of all people. In fairness to Mr. Scalzi, what he said was, for once, entirely true.

As Will Shetterly points out on his blog, people have been manipulating the Hugo nomination processes for decades. (Shetterly recalls watching Orson Scott Card glad-handing his way through various gatherings, penning glowing reviews of fellow sci-fi travelers for his column, and otherwise using his superior resources to mount an effective awards campaign.) And it’s true that, in the past, authors and fans often ignited individual crusades around books they wrote or liked. Writer John Scalzi in particular was famous for opening the threads on his blog to sci-fi and fantasy scribes who wanted to remind the community that their work was Hugo-eligible. But, Scalzi told me on the phone, explicitly anointing and championing a full group of titles, while not illegal, violates convention. It is unprecedented.

Anyhow, tune into 405 Media if you’re interested. Today was hilarious, though, due to this epic clash of SJW vs Sad Puppy. It was like watch a kitten fight a riding lawnmower.

John Scalzi ‏@scalzi
I wish Larry Corriea had the balls to admit the reason he started the Sad Puppies campaign was that he just wanted a Hugo so fucking bad.

Larry Correia ‏@monsterhunter45
I turned down my Hugo nomination and you still didn’t make the ballot. @scalzi

The caged bird’s stolen song

I think the obvious lesson here is that we need to turn more responsibility for the arts over to government employees:

The United States Postal Service is set to honor Maya Angelou today in a dedication ceremony for a new postage stamp depicting the legendary author, poet and singer. But there’s one problem: The quotation that accompanies Angelou’s picture on the stamp was apparently not originally written by her.

The text on the new “forever” stamp reads: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” It appears to be a reference to Angelou’s best-known book, her 1969 memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

But the Washington Post reported yesterday that the quotation can also be found in “A Cup of Sun,” a 1967 poetry collection by children’s author Joan Walsh Anglund. A Postal Service spokesman told the newspaper that the line, which has been widely attributed to Angelou by people including President Obama, was approved for use on the stamp by Angelou’s family.

In a follow-up story, the Post talked to Anglund, who said the words on the stamp were hers. The newspaper notes that “Only the pronouns and punctuation are changed, from ‘he’ in Anglund’s original to ‘it’ on the stamp.”

Sometimes, it is painful to realize that for decades, we have been losing to these incompetents. How is it even possible? But, you see, when you don’t show up and play, even the most incompetent opponent will defeat you.

To pretend and to shoot

It’s time to take away the police excuse of “feeling threatened” for shooting someone or cutting them any slack when they kill someone. It should take a genius to know that basing law upon feelings is not the best idea, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the so-called “good cops” are perfectly willing to cover for the supposedly few “bad apples”:

Patrolman Michael Slager, 33, opened fire on father-of-four Walter Scott, 50, in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday morning after reportedly stopping him over a broken tail light.

Slager was arrested, jailed and charged with murder yesterday afternoon after the incendiary footage emerged. An outraged representative of Scott’s family said: ‘This was a cop who felt like he could get away with just shooting anybody that many times in the back.’

The killing comes at a time of mounting unrest over police use of force – particularly against black men – after violent protests erupted over the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson last summer.  Slager had previously defended his actions as being in line with procedure, saying he ‘felt threatened’ by the Coast Guard veteran.

The officer claimed Scott ran away after being pulled over at which point he tried to Taser him. But he claimed Scott managed to wrest the stun gun away, prompting him to draw his pistol. At no point in the video, which does not show the initial contact between the men, does Scott appear to be armed.

In the footage, Scott gets a few yards away before Slager opens fire – seven shots in quick succession followed by an eighth, with three of them missing. Scott collapses face-down on a patch of grass. Slager then walks over, shouts at him to put his hands behind his back, then handcuffs him.

Footage then appears to show Slager jogging back to the point where the Taser fell to the ground, bringing it over to Scott’s body around 30 feet away and dropping it next to him.

According to police reports, officers performed CPR on the victim. But video shows that Scott remained face down on the floor for several minutes without being given any medical attention. It is only after two-and-a-half minutes that Slager is seen placing his hand on Scott’s neck in an apparent attempt to check his pulse.

The police are not, contra their all-too-common assumptions, above the law. And if they are not held accountable by the justice system, it is entirely predictable that they will be brought to rough justice by vigilantes and family members seeking revenge. It is stupid and short-sighted for police officers to think they can continue to get away with dirty business as usual; the ever-present eyes of the Panopticon are watching them just like everyone else.

Remember the idea that with great power comes great responsibility? That means that those given badges and guns by the state or local government must be held MORE accountable than the average untrained citizen. Not less.

The Toad of Toar bears false witness

Or rather, The Toad of (formerly) Tor, TNH, calls out Sad Puppies. It doesn’t go well for her:

tnielsenhayden @tnielsenhayden 7 Apr 2015
Larry Correia is a lying liar who lies. So is Brad Torgesen. So’s Vox Day. You either believe facts matter, or you don’t. #sadpuppies

Obscurica @Obscurica
There’s no way to get Vox Day DQ’d based on conduct unbecoming, is there?

University Watch @UniversityWatc1
@tnielsenhayden You are the vicious slandering liar, Teresa. YOU caused ALL of this. Your time is OVER. #GamerGate #hugoawards #SadPuppies

Hong Hu Shi @Hong_Hu_Shi
@tnielsenhayden Incessant croaking. You’re a playground crybaby upset that someone else gets a turn at the public swings you’ve been hogging

Mike Q @MikeQ42
Bold claims. Since facts matter, would you happen to have any substantiation for those accusations?

Dude @OUtoast
It will be funny when the lawyers find out she was involved with the @EW smear #SadPuppies

Dr Steven @Riddle1965
That’s Hugo award winning writing #sadpuppies

University Watch @UniversityWatc1
@OUtoast @tnielsenhayden @EW Yeah, about time she paid for all the damage she has done to innocent people.

Dude @OUtoast
Writing approved by @torbooks #SadPuppies

Peter Ingemi @DaTechGuyblog
By your standard Entertainment Weekly is appparently a liar as well for retracting their piece & charges #sadpupies @tnielsenhayden

LT @ThropeLycan
Well said, @UniversityWatc1 ! @tnielsenhayden is just flailing around her anger that #sadpuppies has exposed her back room politiking

Popehat @Popehat
.@tnielsenhayden But are they lying liars who lie when telling lies about their lying lies about being lying liars who lie about their lies?

Bavarian Creampuff @BavCreampuff
@Popehat @tnielsenhayden Too many lies!

neontaster @neontaster
.@tnielsenhayden Nanotechnology has enabled me to create the galaxy’s smallest violin and I’m playing it for you right now. #SadPuppies

JamesSteve2K @SteveKJames
@neontaster @tnielsenhayden he’s pretty good on that strat-nano.

tarsolya @tarsolya
@tnielsenhayden Nothing beside remains.Round the decay of that colossal wreck,boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.

Terez @Terez27
@tnielsenhayden I am just catching up on this drama. I see you made Breitbart. Congrats?

STFU Total 9Volt @9voltmonster
.@tnielsenhayden What was the benefit of politicization of the Hugo awards? What was the benefit of forced politicization of sci fi fandom?

Eyanosa @vouteralex
.@tnielsenhayden So you claim. Maybe some evidence is in order when calling someone a liar in a public forum.

AliRadicali @AliRadicali
You do realise the Hugos are for GOOD fiction right, @tnielsenhayden ? Not kindergarten level slander.

W. Ian Blanton @wraithe
@Popehat @tnielsenhayden based on what I’ve read of the SP/Vox Day crowd, they’re not a pony I’d want to be supporting.

Popehat @Popehat
@wraithe @tnielsenhayden YOU LIE!

Rolling Stone Ethics @codemonkey1972
@tnielsenhayden You’re a thoroughly disgusting creature, Theresa.

W. Ian Blanton @wraithe
@Popehat @tnielsenhayden Mind you, I read a story (not nom.) by one of their nominees, wasn’t even Yugo award quality, much less Hugo award.

Popehat @Popehat
@wraithe @tnielsenhayden “Chicks Dig Time Lords” won a Hugo.

W. Ian Blanton @wraithe
@Popehat @tnielsenhayden indeed I do! But which lie is the illusion, and which one is real??? HaHAAAhahaHA

Rolling Stone Ethics @codemonkey1972
Is there a term for someone who slanders so their husband’s employer can gain monetary advantage? Oh, right. “@tnielsenhayden.” Thanks.

J. Tuttle @jasonfixit 8h8 hours ago
@tnielsenhayden Wow. Troll much?

W. Ian Blanton @wraithe
@Popehat or were they LIES?!?

Joseph Capdepon II @BeardedTexan
@tnielsenhayden The only liars are you and yours. You want war? You’ve got it. #sadpuppies4 #hugoawards

Pooch Nasty @DasPooch77
@tnielsenhayden Lady, EVERYONE can see the authors on the #SadPuppies list. Claiming racism/sexism is the blatant lie, @EW had to correct.

vernon rene daley @DaleyRene
@tnielsenhayden Do you have a link to a post identifying Correia’s lies? Thx @monsterhunter45 #SadPuppies

synonymous_dreams @synonymous_drea 5h5 hours ago
I believe facts matter; have you got any facts that either one of those people lied about?

Matthew Lawliss @MistahOso
@tnielsenhayden then where is your evidence? because i’ve got mine. also Feelings aren’t facts unlike what your professors teach you.

Casey North @northofdoom
i call your bluff: link to proof, show your work.

Rolling Stone Ethics @codemonkey1972
Yes. I’m not a leftist, so I don’t accuse ppl of lying without getting the facts first.

Casey North @northofdoom
i call your bluff, link to proof, show your work #sadpuppies

synonymous_dreams @synonymous_drea
So, Larry and Brad are both liars? What did they lie about?

Rolling Stone Ethics @codemonkey1972
Um… I think you have it backwards. Read again.

synonymous_dreams @synonymous_drea
haha, twitter’s reply fuckage; I was asking @tnielsenhayden for clarification, not you 😛

AliRadicali @AliRadicali
The proof is the accusation itself. Any more scrutiny = victim blaming.

John Cobalt @JohnCobalt
Are we back in kindergarden now? You are a disgrace.

Casey North @northofdoom
@tnielsenhayden says desperately: “must…control…narrative…deploy…flying…strawpeople!” Can i has hugo now plz? #sadpuppies

Protest Manager @ProtestManager
If you want us to believe your “fact” @tnielsenhayden first you have to give us some. Did Brad lie about his wife? #SadPuppies

Protest Manager @ProtestManager
Oh, and @tnielsenhayden why did EW issue such a correction if it’s Larry and Brad who are the liars? #SadPuppies

Jorge Tanaka @Grimrin 5h5 hours ago
@tnielsenhayden Is the liar you called a racist? Who’s lying?

Jacques Cuze @JacquesCuze
My reading says otherwise @tnielsenhayden @monsterhunter45’s read of the situation fits Occam’s Razor and experience #sadpuppies #SJWssuck

Woelf Dietrich @Woelf20
@tnielsenhayden Given that you’re so free with your accusations, I trust you have evidence? Or will you fall back on opinion?

Lars W Schmidt and n @LarsWSchmidt 1h1 hour ago
Your post is on the level of a bum pulling on his dick on a subway between stations. We’re all ashamed on your behalf. @tnielsenhayden

Vox Day @voxday
.@tnielsenhayden The only one lying is you, Toad of (formerly) Tor. Larry, Brad, and I all speak the truth. Ruthlessly.

So, what facts supposedly matter? The only thing she’s mentioned so far is on Charles Stross’s site, claiming that I am too expelled from SFWA:

Vox Day is lying. He was kicked out of SFWA with all due legalities observed. It was a meticulous and labor-intensive process. Not only is he clearly expelled, he’s really most sincerely expelled.

However:

  1. SFWA has never informed me that I was expelled.
  2. SFWA has never announced that I was expelled.
  3. SFWA never held a vote of the full membership to expel me as required by Massachusetts state law for all non-profits incorporated there.

It is true that the SFWA Board voted to expel me. The Board voted and duly informed me of the result of the vote. But that vote was only the first step in the expulsion process as per the state law and the SFWA bylaws that were relevant at the time in August 2013, which was quite clearly prior to SFWA’s 2014 reincorporation in California. There is no need to take my word for it. Read it for yourself.

Title XXII, Chapter 180, Section 18: No member of such corporation shall be expelled by vote of less than a majority of all the members thereof, nor by vote of less than three quarters of the members present and voting upon such expulsion. 

Someone else is quite clearly lying, however. Charles Stross said:

Castalia House is basically a Vox Day-managed trojan horse for trashing the Hugos and I didn’t see anything published by them that didn’t have the smell of Bad Crazy hanging over it; I’m open to being corrected, but I don’t think it’s likely.

Speaking of crazy… just how obsessed with the Hugo Awards does Mr. 15 Hugo Nominations think we are? How does publishing homeschool curricula and non-fiction by leading experts make any sense if that’s the raison d’etre for Castalia House? If he thinks Sarah Salviander and William S. Lind and Martin van Creveld are Bad Crazy, he is utterly and absolutely delusional.

I am sensing a considerable amount of psychological projection here.

Brad Torgersen confronts the beast

It’s a little ironic that Brad Torgersen is being accused of racism, which you’ll understand if you click on the link:

What disturbs me more is that the field of SF/F is stooping this low.
That some of my colleagues — and no, contrary to my impression of the
field 20 years ago, not everyone likes or gets along with each other —
have decided to make the nerd argument over the Hugos into a decidedly
personal grudge match. Where the objective is to not just win the
argument, but to destroy the arguer. Professionally. In the
marketplace. On the big stage of public opinion. This is the kind of
stuff you ordinarily find in cut-throat national political elections,
but then it’s been clear for years that cut-throat politics have drifted
down into nerd circles of all kinds: comic book circles, movie and
television circles, video game circles, etc. There’s simply no escaping
it. And there are people for whom winning is more important than
ethics, more important than integrity, and more important than the
truth.

And the truth is, I’m not the dastardly guy Biedenharn’s piece makes me out to be. And neither is Larry Correia.

Am I concerned with the infestation of political correctness which
has invaded SF/F over the last 15 years? You bet. Today’s ride on the
media dunking machine was just another iteration in the near-endless
attempts by the politically correct to enforce their views, with slander
and falsehoods when it comes down to it. Our field is diseased. It
has been struck by the same mental virus that has been permeating other
sectors of our culture. As one astute and recovered victim put it, the
new zealots are a cult who dwell in depression and anger, seeking the slightest excuses to lash out and make other people suffer:

There is something dark and vaguely cultish about this
particular brand of politics. I’ve thought a lot about what exactly that
is. I’ve pinned down four core features that make it so disturbing:
dogmatism, groupthink, a crusader mentality, and anti-intellectualism.

Today, the crusader mentality decided to defame and slander Brad R.
Torgersen the evil demonic racist and hateful sick bigoted misognynist. As my friend Larry often quips, if I was half the bastard some of these crusaders say I am, I’d probably hate me too….

But really, when SF/F sinks to this depth, you know we’ve jumped a
certain kind of unfortunate shark. Political correctness has gone to a
place of destructive take-no-prisoners soul tyranny that could very well
and permanently wreck this field; unless good men and women of
conscience decide to stand up. I made the decision a long time ago that
I wasn’t going to be one of those professionals who diplomatically
skulks around the field, obsequiously trying to avoid controversy and
not upset the bigger fish. Again, I’ve seen too much of the elephant.
My career isn’t so important to me that I am willing to become an
ideological chameleon, or cipher. Perhaps this has angered some people
to the point they believe it’s time to “end” Torgersen once and for all?
If so, I think that’s a very sad statement — about the vindictiveness
that has overtaken the genre, among men and women who should probably be
working hard to be friends.

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.

Needless to say, I’m a little less surprised. I was openly warned about my sinful nature in the eyes of science fiction’s thought police more than 10 years ago, and attacked by a few of those self-appointed thought police for my thought crimes. They know perfectly well that I don’t care what they call me, so they’re going in search of what they think is easier prey, of people more inclined to give in.

Aren’t they in for a surprise!

Closing the work gap

Be careful what you wish for. The top ten countries with the lowest male-female labor force participation gaps:

  1. Togo
  2. Rwanda
  3. Burundi
  4. Tanzania
  5. Congo
  6. Laos
  7. Myanmar
  8. Sierra Leone
  9. Malawi
  10. Uganda

This suggests advocates might like to do well to reconsider whether closing the wage gap is truly an objective worth pursuing.

“Gee, Jane, isn’t it swell that we both make exactly the same wages now?”

“Well, Bob, as you know, it’s tough to make it on five cents per day.”

“But we have this lovely mud hut! And each other!”

“Yeah, about that, Bob. Human Resources told me that all monoracial heterosex is rape. So I’m going to need you to move out. Shaneeqwa from Marketing is moving in, and, by the way, Payroll is going to send three cents of your daily wages to me starting tomorrow.

Mailvox: constructing Xanatos

NH asks about setting up a Xanatos Gambit:

With some of your recent posts, I realized before you had pointed it out you were forcing the SJWs to make a choice, one that could lead to them nuking their own awards. The moment I realized this, I thought, that bastard! What a genius! It was simple, yet I wouldn’t have thought of it.

Recently, I had been considering similar ideas… all roads leading your enemy to defeat, as you quoted. Yet I struggle to see those moves because those moves can be so deceptive in their simplicity, so hidden in plain view.

How did you get better over time at seeing those strategic moves? I’m not a stupid guy, but I’m looking for mental exercises if you will. What is the difference between being Machiavellian (which I score high in on tests) and being manipulative?

The difference between being Machiavellian and being manipulative is little more than the amount of foresight involved. Those who are manipulative are usually reactive, their goals are short term, and they often contradict themselves and get in their own way. Those who are Machiavellian usually have a long term goal in mind and their every move is designed to move them closer to that objective. There are two famous military dictums that I like to keep in mind at all times, the former credited to Sun Tzu, the latter to Napoleon.

  • If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
  • When your enemy is executing a false movement, never interrupt him.

The reason you must know yourself is so that you can know your strong points, your weak points, and your capabilities. Few battles are won through overwhelming strength, they are won by breaking the enemy’s weak points before he can break your strong points. The reason you must know your enemy is so you can know his strong points to avoid them, his weak points to target them, and his capabilities so you can defend yourself against them.

[NB: This is why I HATE the term schwerpunkt in military theory, because it is an offensive term meaning focal point of effort, not a defensive term indicating a hardened resistance point as would make more sense in the above context.]

Where win-win situations, or Xanatos Gambits, are created is by taking advantage of the enemy’s illusions. Informational friction is absolutely key, and in situations like the present struggle for the Hugo Awards, it is compounded by people seeing what they want to see. So, applying Sun Tzu, you must first do two things:

  • Ensure that you are seeing an accurate picture of yourself and your enemy.
  • Identify what their illusions are concerning themselves and you.

Then present them with options where they will predictably react by choosing the one that works to your advantage. Soon enough, they will find themselves in a position where they are choosing between options that are equally beneficial to you. More or less. In some cases, you may well find that you don’t even care which option they choose.

Let me give an actual example of what underlay the Hugo situation. The SJWs in science fiction are constantly making ridiculously stupid mistakes because they violate Sun Tzu’s dictum by a) wrongly believing themselves to be more influential than they are and b) wrongly considering me and the Sad Puppies to be less influential than we are. The former is not their fault; John Scalzi has relentlessly misled them for years. “The biggest blog in SF” that they had on their side was literally 15 percent of the size they were told it was and erroneously believed it to be in August 2010. And yet, even 18 months after being exposed, there are still some SJWs who will tell you in all seriousness that Scalzi is “huge”.

Blame for the latter, on the other hand, is entirely theirs As recently as last year, there were SJWs who quite literally believed this:

My website averages well over 600 visits a day. Based on comments from other fanzine people, I’m guessing that’s more readers than VD’s blog would get even when he provokes a shit storm. Let’s deprive him of the traffic.

At the time she posted that, the site traffic was 46,456 Google pageviews per day. Yesterday it was 68,539. Last month’s average was 51,068. The ludicrous aspect of this is that the Sitemeter widget has always been publicly available, and though it’s considerably stingier than Google or WordPress, about ten seconds of research would have provided whatever ratio is required to compare apples to apples.

The immediate consequence is that the other side imagines that the Dread Ilk cannot possibly account for the numbers that are overwhelming their core strength. Ergo #GamerGate must be involved and a whole host of other delusions that the rational observer knows are not even possible, thereby leading to a series of mistakes that will likely lead to the very situation they erroneously believe is already taking place. And their failure to know their enemy means they do not know what our objectives are, so they never know if their attempts to counter our actions are thwarting us or playing into our hands.

These two comments by Alexander are apt:

  • So how long until the rabbits put 2 and 2 together and realize that they have waaaaaaaay more than just 300 sad puppies to deal with. The voters were the tip of the spear, we are now seeing the obvious signs that we have magnitudes of support behind us.
  • They’ve already gotten Breitbart, Instapundit, Twitchy, Ace, and Gamergate involved. At this rate, Finland will have declared war on SJWs by Friday.

By the time they do recalibrate their thinking, it will be far too late. It is already too late, which is why I don’t mind spelling it out. As for how I learned to see these things, part of it is a natural propensity for pattern recognition, part of it is playing a lot of wargames like Advanced Squad Leader. Nothing teaches harsh lessons in actions and consequences, or demonstrates the importance of accurate information, like wargaming.

The most important thing is this: do not underestimate your enemy or ignore his strengths out of a foolish desire to believe yourself his superior. If you want to learn more about this sort of strategic thinking, I very highly recommend reading Martin van Creveld’s A History of Strategy: From Sun Tzu to William S. Lind, which Castalia House just published last month.

Of course, sometimes it is very hard to take your enemy seriously when they are dumb enough to do things like post this caption:

Annie Bellet, one of the writers on the nominees list who was not included in the Sad Puppies or Rabbid Puppies campaign.

“Goodnight Stars” by Annie Bellet, The Apocalypse Triptych in fact appears on both the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies lists of recommendations.

Entertainment Weekly libels Sad Puppies

I suspect Isbella Biedenharn is going to be hearing from her superiors shortly:

Hugo Award nominations fall victim to misogynistic, racist voting campaign
by Isabella Biedenharn

The Hugo Awards have fallen victim to a campaign in which misogynist groups lobbied to nominate only white males for the science fiction book awards. These groups, Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies (both of which are affiliated with last year’s GamerGate scandal), urged sci-fi fans to become members of the Hugo Awards’ voting body, World Science Fiction Convention, in order to cast votes against female writers and writers of color. Membership only costs $40, and allows members to vote for the 2016 nominations as well as the 2015 nominations, which were just released.

Sad Puppies broadcast their selection on Feb. 1, writing: “If you agree with our slate below—and we suspect you might—this is YOUR chance to make sure YOUR voice is heard.” Brad Torgerson, who runs Sad Puppies along with Larry Correia, complains that the Hugo Awards have lately skewed toward “literary” works, as opposed to “entertainment.”

Torgerson also writes that he disagrees with Hugos being awarded for affirmative action-like purposes, as many women and writers of color went home with awards in 2014: ”Likewise, we’ve seen the Hugo voting skew ideological, as Worldcon and fandom alike have tended to use the Hugos as an affirmative action award: giving Hugos because a writer or artist is (insert underrepresented minority or victim group here) or because a given work features (insert underrepresented minority or victim group here) characters.”

The other lobbying group, Rabid Puppies, is run by Theodore Beale (who goes by the name Vox Day). As The Telegraph reports, “Members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have called for Beale’s exclusion from the group after he has written against women’s suffrage and posted racist views towards black writer NK Jemisin.”

Fortunately, some sane voters allowed well-deserving writers to pull through. Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword and Listen was nominated for Dramatic Presentation, and Annie Bellet’s Goodnight Stars was nominated, despite having a non-white, female protagonist.

Plenty of members of the science fiction community have voiced their disgust with both sects of “Puppies.” Writer Philip Sandifer wrote on his blog Sunday, “The Hugo Awards have just been successfully hijacked by neofascists.” Sandifer’s post, which is worth reading in full, addresses what this disaster means for the sci-fi world:

    To be frank, it means that traditional sci-fi/fantasy fandom does not have any legitimacy right now. Period. A community that can be this effectively controlled by someone who thinks black people are subhuman and who has called for acid attacks on feminists is not one whose awards have any sort of cultural validity. That sort of thing doesn’t happen to functional communities. And the fact that it has just happened to the oldest and most venerable award in the sci-fi/fantasy community makes it unambiguously clear that traditional sci-fi/fantasy fandom is not fit for purpose.

As writer Joe Abercrombie put it:

    The Hugo Awards have never looked less like the future of anything.

    — Joe Abercrombie (@LordGrimdark) April 4, 2015

It should be amusing to see the back-pedaling from this malicious hit piece. It’s like they have one tactic: call the media and lie. How fortunate that #GamerGate has demonstrated the complete impotence of the tactic.

UPDATE: They’re scrubbing the article and title, but Daddy Warpig provides the archived original.

CORRECTION: After misinterpreting reports in other news
publications, EW published an unfair and inaccurate depiction of the Sad
Puppies voting slate, which does, in fact, include many women and
writers of color. As Sad Puppies’ Brad Torgerson explained to EW, the
slate includes both women and non-caucasian writers, including Rajnar
Vajra, Larry Correia, Annie Bellet, Kary English, Toni Weisskopf, Ann
Sowards, Megan Gray, Sheila Gilbert, Jennifer Brozek, Cedar Sanderson,
and Amanda Green.
This story has been updated to more accurately reflect this. EW regrets the error.

They left out the only Native American. WHY DO THEY HATE INDIANS?

The crime of failing to cower

This sounds like sheer comedy in the academic thought gulag:

Members of the Virginia Tech football team have been accused of acting disrespectfully at a campus sexual assault awareness event. Players were required to attend a Take Back the Night event on March 26. The event was organized by a campus female activism group and featured sexual assault survivors speaking about their experiences as victims. Multiple attendees accused the players of infringing upon the “safe space” the event is intended to foster, according to The Roanoke Times.

Take Back the Night is a national organization that seeks “to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence.”

Several attendees wrote letters to the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, complaining about the players’ behavior. The players arrived late, said they did not know why they were attending the event and spent much of the time looking at their phones, the letters said.

“[T]heir judgmental remarks made it very hard to feel safe,” one wrote. “When survivors took the stage, there was nothing respectful in the way the football team took it, especially in reference to transgender survivors. I am deeply offended and horrified by the disrespectful nature that the players displayed.”

I would suggest that dragging the most aggressive and athletic young men on campus into a place they observably don’t want to be and then flaunting “transgender survivors” in their faces is almost the exact opposite of a “safe space”.

Some things merit disrespect. Maoist consciousness-raising sessions are most certainly one of them.