Part of my problem with blogging right now is I simply don’t know what to write about. Sure, there are big, pressing issues, like what has been happing in the SF convention world with John Ringo, Larry Correia, and a couple of years ago, Uncle Timmy. I’m honored to know all three men and have spent time with them. That they were smeared and dragged through the mud is horrifying, and sobering. It could be any of us. It’s easier to go after small targets, and they were no small targets (no, Larry, I’m not referring to your size! Even if you are more than a foot taller than I). I’ve stated before that I will likely not consider attending many cons as a guest, and this is why. The internet mob rules, and cons don’t seem interested in looking at reality when the twitters start throbbing with indignation. It’s an interesting psychological phenomenon, and one that deserves more time than I have to give it now. Let’s say simply that mobs are never a good thing. Not the ones on ‘their’ side, nor the ones on ‘our’ side. Restraint, legality, and professionalism are the best methods to take if we want to stay on the high road. Someone in the last few days coined the term ‘get woke, go broke.’ That’s the path to take. When this all broke, I was literally searching for the Origins con registration page, because I would love to go see Larry without having to travel. And ten minutes later I was pulling my wallet our while my jaw dropped at the sheer idiocy and display of unprofessionalism. Put the wallet away. Give our time, our money, and our energy to deserving causes, and let the idiots wither and die among the cheers of their mob. We know all too well that the mob will turn and rend them for no good reason. We know this, because we are students of history, and the history of the mob is a red and bloody one. From the Senate floor of Rome, to the Krystallnacht of Germany.
But this is a small, small microcosm when we step back and regard the world with unblinkered eyes. Geeky entertainment, be it in the form of books, games, or films, is small business comparatively. What we are seeing play out here has been going on for decades elsewhere. On college campuses, in political lobbying and campaigning. There’s a reason I’m apolitical. I don’t want to get that sh*t on me. For me, ethics, morals, duty and honor are important and it’s apparent you can’t have any of those and be in politics. Human nature. It’s not about games, it’s about the game of life, and the pursuit of ideals. The conventions are attempting to play by choosing a side to back, when there was no need for them to pick a side at all. Ever see a bear break into a beehive? The bear is covered in thick fur, and the bees have short, single-use stingers. The only place the bear is vulnerable is his nose, which is leading the way toward the honey and grubs he needs for sustenance. He can safely ignore the bees. If he does, he’ll waddle away shortly fat and happy. The bees may sting, but they can’t do much damage and they’ll fall back and regroup when he’s gone. The beekeeper might not be happy, but… It’s not a perfect analogy, I know. So… how do we actually hurt the bear? We fence in the beehive, and we prevent him from getting his food. The cons that allow the wasps of twitter to drive them away from the hive of attendees? They are going to have to find someone else to give them honey, because everyone knows wasps don’t make honey. They are just rage-filled stinging machines (ok, I don’t actually hate wasps in real life. Twits, on the other hand? Or those we can safely call social justice bullies? I’ll treat them like I would a wasp).
My working life is about a pursuit of truth through analysis. I work hard at being as accurate as humanly possible with instrumentation support. It revolts me to see no attempt at all to determine the validity of attacks made on the reputations of good men. I know the truth, because these three in particular I know personally, and have known them and of their work for years. But when an attacker with personal motives for revenge on a writer uses a convention to achieve her ends? It’s not hard to discover that. It’s not hard to verify that the slander is baseless. But there was no effort made at all. It’s sickening to see seemingly grown, responsible adults behave like playground bullies and their toadies.
What’s worse is that the whole thing is indicative of the direction our society at large seems to be taking. When it all makes my head swim and I want to scream in frustration and rage at the injustice, I come back into the lab and conduct a few assays and remind myself of two things. One, science is still science, no matter how hard attempts are made to politicize it. When you follow the steps carefully, you get the expected results and replicate the original result. Two: I’m lucky enough to work with quite a number of solid, rational people who both posses senses of humor and the willingness to knuckle down and work hard to get the job done.
Why wasn’t I part of the internet outrage brigade? Well, I was working. I have a job, and a family, and those are priority. Am I completely out of it? Far from it. Like a lot of other workers, I watch, I listen, I lurk, and when the time comes for me to spend my ‘fun money’ and indulge in entertainment options, I don’t patronize the conventions who practice political adhesions. I don’t buy games from companies who espouse diversity from one side of their mouth, and slander men ‘of tan’ and women out of the other side. I frankly don’t care what color shape or sex you might be. If you can make me laugh, entertain me, divert me, that’s enough. I don’t need to consult the thought police to know what I’m allowed to buy and support. I’ll talk to friends, read reviews, and make selections based on quality, not on the stamp of ‘diverse’ or ‘politically correct.’
I suspect that there are a lot of people like me. We don’t have a lot of time to spend fighting off the twits. But we have long memories. And we have the money, because unlike the twits with no jobs and enough time on their hands to join the mobs, we’re working and paying taxes and raising families. The future? Belongs to us, suckers. Parasites that kill their hosts always lose.
Comments
16 responses to “Bullies and Toadies”
Cedar, there won’t be any host-killing, but they ain’t figured that out yet. (Maybe if you consider cons as hosts) I’d wager Larry will see a substantial boost in his book sales. For self-styled geniuses, how have they not heard of the Streisand Effect? SURELY they know about a certain chicken sandwich brand?
Well said, Cedar.
I am honestly unaware of how someone who is smaller fish than Larry or John would go about the litigation, if they chose to. From what I know it’s expensive, and even if you’re in the right, you might not win. I understand the feeling of wishing that Larry and/or John will sue because we can’t, to fight back… but I think sometimes it’ll just make them go after the people who couldn’t afford to sue. I do note that Larry kind of addressed that in his statement post.
Sometimes though I do wonder if the socjus zealots would have gotten so bold if they hadn’t been smashed down before, with the same ‘target their careers, their families, their work, the everything’ tactics that the bullies use… because it sometimes looks like that the bullies get away with their crap with very little lasting consequences – the ones who start the screech, not the ones who bow down to the cryscreechbullying. The ones that bow down may or may not feel financial consequences. The virtue-signallers, on the other hand…
Larry is tall, eh? ~:D
Legal action is “Let’s you and him fight.” Small authors, small companies, we don’t have money for that. Also, I expect the legal game is rigged to keep it that way. Not much help there.
Larry does not appear to be taking any damage from the Origins business, quite the reverse if anything. He’s got a new book coming out, I bet it takes a nice sales jump just on the strength of fans being pissed at Origins.
Personally, I like it when guys like John Ward self-identify. It makes it much easier for me to boycott them and their organizations. You give your word to an author and then break it the next day for mere convenience? I’m not going to do business with you or with anyone dumb enough to employ you.
Maybe some day I’ll be a big enough author that my business will mean something. Maybe I’ll remain a little nobody, among the sea of little nobodies that make up Society. Either way, they’re not getting my money. Multiply me times Larry’s whole readership, our business means something.
Let’s face it: money talks. Like most of us, I keep a mental list of who is doing and saying what. If I don’t like it, my money goes elsewhere. It’s as simple as that.
Problem is this keeps continuing and the list keeps getting longer. I’m gonna need a spread sheet soon.
I’m pretty sure we could cut Larry in half and make two perfectly good authors of him…
Yeah, my 2nd thought (after “That was dumb”) was “I’ll consider myself warned”.
And my 3rd was “Next time, the ConCom buys the plane tickets.”
I do like the idea (Larry’s? I forget) that the one who should be pitched out on their ear is…. the complainer. Do that a few times and the problem would, if not disappear, at least mutate into something more obviously toxic and therefore more evidently to be avoided.
That was Mad Mike’s take: When You Should Ban Someone From Your Convention
Larry said: “The saddest person in all of this is my son, who was my plus one. He was looking forward to playing a bunch of games, and then we were going to go to the zoo on Sunday. (they have manatees there!).”
Did the person who instigated this REALLY think they were going to cause harm to LARRY, the winner of the Just-bought-a-mountain-and-is-fixing-it-up Award? Piffle.
No, what they did was prove to the universe, and to Larry’s son in particular, how mean-spirited they are. And Noah’s brother John also demonstrated how not to respond to an unsubstantiated AT BEST allegation.
Those aren’t raindrops falling on your heads, O Ye People Who Do Such Things. Those drops are Karmic Effluvia of various nasty sorts.
Did you say Senate floor?
Or by the Theater… https://amp.livescience.com/23900-julius-caesar-assassination-place-discovered.html
Ouch
But does opposition to the insanity we’re seeing from some of these cons yet constitute a quorum of the senate?
Thank you for saying it so well.
Honestly this was off the top of my head. It’s been on my mind a lot these past days, and I want to do a full research article on the mentality, but time 🙁
These people have no honor. As such, they have no business being in business. I know Larry said don’t go after the vendors, but some of the vendors have already stated they approve of LC’s dis-inviting. In my opinion, that makes them fair game for any boycott/ignoble press. Same with any vendors that attend such cons (ConCarolinas and Worldcon I’m looking at you) in the future. Whenever you do business with dishonorable people all you get is covered in fecal matter.