Ang Rickards inlägg.
Håller iofs med om det Rickard skriver om NG/Campbell, men en del ordval är nog
litet väl hårda...
--Ahrvid
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________________________________________
Från: skriva-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <skriva-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> för Aleph
<info@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Skickat: den 18 oktober 2019 16:18:32
Till: skriva
Ämne: [SKRIVA] Re: Ng/Campell & CoC
Ja, vad fan förväntar du dig för respons? Varenda människa begriper att
Jeannette Ng har rätt i sak; att försöka omtolka verkligheten på ett barnsligt
sätt fungerar inte. Att Ng däremot av korttänkta politiska och aktivistiska
skäl skapar hysteri kring en skitsak som alla redan vet och erkänner är fel och
förkastligt -- det är DÄR hon ska sparkas i röven, och sparkas rejält. Hon är
den sortens idiot-aktivist som vänstern överflödar av: de som låtsas vara
godheten personifierad, men i själva verket bara är ute efter att sabotera och
sedan kunna glänsa med sitt ego i det kaos man skapat.
Dessutom är du säkert inte ens medveten om att personerna i kommittén bakom
Worldcon är skiträdda för den PK- och SJW-hysteri som dessa idiot-aktivister
ständigt åstadkommer i dagens samhällsklimat, gärna tillsammans med
våldsverkarna i Antifa, och lika gärna i maskopi med aktivistiska journalister
i stormedia. Världen har blivit sinnessjuk, och det beror på en radikaliserad
vänster som i brist på verkliga hot måste inbilla sig och överdriva hot
istället. Resultatet är paranoia, och känslorna är hysteri.
/ Rickard
---- On Fri, 18 Oct 2019 15:09:13 +0200 Ahrvid <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote ----
Below the reply from the Dublin 2019 Worldcon regarding my Code of ConductIDÉ- & SKÖNLITTERATUR
complaint, as Jeannetter Ng branded legendary editor John W Campbell a
"fascist". And below that a draft of what I intend to reply (not finished
yet - comments welcome!) --AE
-----
Hi Ahrvid,
Thank you again for reaching out, and apologies for the time it took to get
this response to you.
We do not consider Jeannette Ng's speech to be a breach of our Code of
Conduct.
From our perspective Ng was speaking to Campbell's part in shaping the
sci-fi landscape, which was notably exclusionary of minorities, people of
colour and women at the time during which he was a part of it and which has
had knock on effects to this day. Our Code of Conduct was, in a large part,
designed to ensure people who have previously been excluded from fandom were
safe and included at our convention - not to punish people who speak out
against its exclusionary past.
We do not believe her words were targeted at anyone other than Campbell and
his actions. There is no issue with being male or white, and unless a person
also identified with Campbell's more problematic beliefs and actions, they
have no reason to feel attacked. Additionally, being a fan of Campbell's
work does not mean you need to stand by his beliefs; it is possible to
appreciate his contribution to the community whilst also understanding some
of his viewpoints were problematic.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us with your concerns - I
hope this helps clarify our position on the situation.
Kind regards,
Sarah Brennan
Listener and Code of Conduct Area Head
Dublin 2019
-----
Thanks for a reply, even if it took two months...
But the reply is not very satisfying, and I'll explain why. A basic
principle for acceptable ethics is that it applies equally to all. If not,
it's unethical, immoral - in crass terms, evil
In 2016 Dave Truesdale was kicked out from the Worldcon for talking about
"snowflakes" - a rather mild expression - not pointing to any person or
ethnic or social group. But in 2019 it seems perfectly OK to accuse a named
person for being a follower of one of history's most evil ideologies, on the
worldcon's biggest stage.
It becomes clear that this does not apply equally to all. You - ie all
responisble for the CoC - even openly admit that not being applied equally
was what "Our Code of Conduct was...designed to ensure".
Thus the CoC loses its legitimacy. It's a set of made-up private laws that
allows the intimidation it pretends to protect from.
The flawed historical notions in the reply is also unsatisfying. The
"sci-fi" - the abbreviation "sf" is preferable, BTW - landscape has NOT
been "exclusionary of minorities, people of colour and women". There's no
natural law that says all groups appear equally in all circumstances. Nature
has instead, for instance, made men tending to be more interested in
science, gadgets, technology and the other things sf literature overflows
with. Other factors explain other group's connections to the sf field.
That's not "exclusionary" but the way reality works. No one, and certainly
not John W Campbell, has been involved in actively excluding this or that
group.
This means that even the rationale for constructing the unethical Code of
Conduct is wrong.
An initiative to amend the rules of the World SF Society to ban Worldcons
from inventing "Codes of Conduct" would be welcome. (Any activity by people
are still of course subject to the Law of the Land.)
As for Ng's racist slurs, you seem to simply ignore them, the charges
about "whites" being "sterile" and "haunt" the genre. You just falsely claim
it's "no issue" - but it is. You can't even follow your own instructions
that "We do not tolerate harassment of convention attendees in ANY FORM".
That's what it says, but obviously you do tolerate harassment if it is in
the form certain people like. People have reason to feel attacked!
"I certainly did. As a white male writer who goes back to the Campbell era I
felt directly under attack, as well as being angered by the inaccurate
slander being directed at Campbell, and I was so upset by her statements and
the obvious audience approval of them that I left the ceremony as soon as I
could appropriately get out the door "
That was a a testimony from a well-known long-time sf professional whom I
shall not name.
You talk about Campbell's "beliefs and actions" as if Ms Ng's description
of him being a "fascist" was relevant. But everything points to that both
she and many others have totally misinterpreted John W Campbell. In a recent
letter to the sf news journal Locus I pointed to Harry Harrison's Collected
editorials from Analog (available here
https://archive.org/details/collectededitori01camp ;). Campbell had a special
inquisitory method, which Harrison describes as:
"John W. Campbell is a born trouble-maker. The mere fact that something
exists and that millions believe in it does not convince Campbell of its
validity. Quite the opposite, this seems to be the point where he begins to
doubt... he had mastered the technique of the Campbell editorial
inquisition, or writer's conference. This has been likened, by writers who
have experienced it, to being fed through a buzz saw or a man-sized
meatgrinder. It is a painful process...No one really likes to be forced to
think. Campbell forces you. /..Campbell's editorials were/ idiosyncratic,
personal, prejudiced, far-reaching, annoying, and sabotaging. All of these
terms have been applied by readers - and far stronger ones as well...
Campbell is always happiest when far out on a limb."
He had an intentionally provoking intellectual style. Ng is clueless about
the real John W Campbell, who she BTW thought edited Amazing Stories. I
would also like to recommend the documentary "The Golden Age of Science
Fiction", dealing with Campbell and the authors he worked with,
and.available here: *
https://vimeo.com/70831667
Harry Harrison is among those interviewed and he denies that Campbell was
even "right wing...He was a technocrat", Harrison says. "Science would solve
everything." Harry Harrison was BTW a left-winger and liked Campbell,
You have no idea of if any of his "viewpoints were problematic", as you
phrase it, because you don't know his viewpoints. But you still think it's
in order to brand him a fascist.
As you should be aware of this attack on Campbell has had wide
consequences. Though it under your own rules shouldn't be be "tolerated in
any form" the assault on John W Campbell, the magazine editor responsible
for finding and encouraging more new writers than any other, led to him
being stripped of his own New Writer award.
And that essentially because you have invented ill-founded, biased,
immoral private laws that look the other way at the "right" kind of
intimidation.
How dare you!
--Ahrvid Engholm
* I think you need a password. Go to a Rot13-decryptor and try "tbyq".
--
ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx/Follow @SFJournalen on Twitter for latest skiffy news/Gå
med i SKRIVA för författande, sf, fantasy, kultur
(skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx subj: subscribe) & Fantastiknovelltävingen
http://ahrvid.bravejournal.com/ AEs novellsamling Mord på månen nu som ;
ljudbok: http://elib.se C Fuglesang: "stor förnöjelse...jättebra historier i ;
mycket sannolik framtidsmiljö"/Läs även i Novellmästar-antologier som Alla
tiders brott & fancyclopedin Fandboken/YXSKAFTBUD GE VÅR WCZONMÖ IQ-HJÄLP!
(DN NoN 00.02.07)
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