Reply to letter about the Ng/Campbell scandal (the letter answered last):
Thanks for a reply, even if it took two months...
But the reply isn't very satisfying. I'll explain. A basic principle for
acceptable ethics is it applies equally to all. If not, it's unethical,
immoral. In 2016 Dave Truesdale was ousted from the Worldcon for talking about
"snowflakes" - a rather mild expression - not pointing to anyone in particular.
But in 2019 it's perfectly OK to accuse a named person for following of one of
history's most evil ideologies, on the worldcon's biggest stage.
It's clear that this doesn't apply equally to all. We even get an even openly
admission that not being applied equally was what "Our Code of Conduct
was...designed to ensure".
Thus the CoC loses its legitimacy. It's made-up private laws allowing
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 and the contents
of sf literature appeals more to some than others. It's not "exclusionary" but
how reality works. No one, certainly not John W Campbell, has been actively
excluding this or that group. This means that even the rationale behind
inventing CoC is wrong.
Perhaps the rules of the World SF Society should be amended to ban "Codes of
Conduct". (Cons are still of course subject to the Law of the Land.)
As for Ng's racist slurs, you simply ignore them, "whites" being "sterile"
and "haunting" the genre. You falsely claim it's "no issue" - but it is. You
can't even read your own instructions that "We do not tolerate harassment of
convention attendees in ANY FORM". Bu tyou do tolerate harassment if in the
form certain people like. People have reason to feel attacked! Some walked out
in disgust from the awards because of Ng's vile vomits.
Everything points to that she and many others totally misinterpret Campbell.
In a recent letter to Locus I point to Harry Harrison's Collected Editorials
from Analog (https://archive.org/details/collectededitori01camp ;). Campbell had
a certain 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. /...his
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 was intentionally provoking. Ng is clueless about the real John W Campbell,
who she BTW thought edited Amazing Stories. Worth seeing is also the
documentary "The Golden Age of Science Fiction", about Campbell and authors he
worked with:
https://vimeo.com/70831667
Harry Harrison is interviewed but denies Campbell was "right wing...He was a
technocrat", He says. "Science would solve everything." Harry Harrison was BTW
a left-winger and liked Campbell,
You have no idea of if his "viewpoints were problematic", because you don't
know them. 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 more
new writers than any other, led to him being stripped of his own New Writer
award. Your CoC is ill-founded, biased, immoral private laws looking the way at
the "right" kind of intimidation.
How dare you!
--Ahrvid Engholm
* Ask me if you need the password.
-----
This was an answer to:
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
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