Well, it’s not every day that Mike Glyer uses his File 770 fanzine to insult me, so I guess I should be honored. I’ve been criticized for being an attention hog (look who’s talking) and for not knowing the various names of SF/F authors involved in the Baen Books forum debate (oh the horror…I didn’t kiss someone’s arse or something).
Anyway, here’s the link to the relevant Pixel Scroll. Scroll down for item 6.
Now here’s the screenshot since things sometimes go “poof” on the internet (keep on scrolling).
Actually, though I doubt Glyer would understand, I’ve been more curious than anything, and like my previous commentaries on WorldCon and the Hugos, I’m looking at all this from an outsider’s point of view (unlike him and all the various “names” cited who seem to have an intimate connection to this community and all the unsavory politics involved).
Speaking of which, maybe he or someone can help me with another mystery (at the risk of being accused of being an attention hog, I was going to write this next part anyway).
Someone commented on one of my blog posts that all this “he said, she said” about Sanford, Baen, Weisskopf, DisCon III and the like was just so much apish chest thumping (my term, not her’s) or smoke and thunder, but with no real purpose. She suggested that finding a solution that would be satisfactory to all parties would be the best outcome.
Then she even told me what should happen. This won’t be an exact quote, but close enough:
[Jason Sanford] issues an apology to Baen and Toni, saying something along the lines of: I should’ve have consulted with them first, and that I fully support Toni’s shuttering of the forum for her investigation.
Then add something to the effect it was not my desire/intention to have Toni dis-invited, and ask that the WorldCon comittee reverse their decision as an act of good faith etc., etc.
Of course, Hell will freeze over [first].
I thought it was terrific advice so I posted it on twitter.
Oh, you’ll notice I took a shot at WorldCon as well, not that it will matter (and yes, I originally thought my comment would take only 2 tweets, but it took 3, which is why the numbering doesn’t match).
Lo and behold, someone named Gayathri popped in and had her say. She’s followed by Jeannette Ng among others, so I guess she’s a big deal. However, while her twitter bio says “SFF, Mystery and Western writer; Social Junkie, she/her; all opinions my own!” and she lives in the SF Bay Area (which I did as well many years ago), she didn’t provide links to anything she’s had published.
In spite of Glyer’s jab at me, I have been taking a look at the names and works of the folks I’ve encountered during this whole snark hunt (or has it become a witch hunt, and if so, who is the witch?), so I’d like to find out more about Gayathri as well (a quick Google search didn’t turn up anything definitive).
Oh, thanks for the free publicity, Mike. I know you meant it in a negative manner, but as they say in marketing, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
I forgot. The comments. Let’s see if any of Glyer’s fans said something specific about little ol’ me:
Apparently, I’m such a disappointment, especially to Paul Weimer. Oh, well. I guess I’ll never live up to the expectations of this crew. Not sure if I want to, though. As a guy who just reads science fiction, it never occurs to them that they might be the disappointment by bringing in all this “smoke and thunder.”
poweredbyrobots.com 
Interesting.
Questioning a state news agency about the journalistic malpractice of their top communications employee is now “harassment”?
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by anything the Lord of the House of 770 Vile Aromas does these days. He did, after all, impersonate my next door neighbor’s e-mail address a few years back in a silly attempt to get a comment posted on my blog. So I guess he’s perfectly fine with Sanford’s violations of journalistic standards and ethics.
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Wow! I mean it’s one thing to disagree with someone’s opinion (and social media was made for that) but email address spoofing is another thing entirely. What’s next? Phishing? Social Engineering? Website defacement? I kind of figured I’d be beneath Glyer’s notice, so this is a bit of a surprise. Now that I’ve permanently blacklisted/blocked a couple of real nudniks (Yiddish for “pests”), I thought about taking the restrictions off of comments here, but I guess I’d better leave them in place for a while.
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Wise move.
I do find the hypocrisy interesting though. They’re all for deplatforming and taking away someone’s job (Gina Carano being the most recent example) by complaining to someone’s employer about non-work related actions.
But boy do they squeal like pigs when the same rules are applied to them.
My only response to them would be this:
If you are going to play at journalism, then you will be held to the standards and ethics of the field. The Golden Child and his supporters are finding that out now.
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Actually, given how much mileage I’ve seen out of this, I’m thinking of taking on the Muppets next and how they have now earned a “content warning” by Disney for offensive and stereotyping behavior. I recently read how the once beloved characters, and Jim Henson himself, are severely dated, their humor grounded in the 1970s. Now even benign (I mean the Muppets, really? Are they going to cancel Sesame Street next?) shows and characters are maligned because they weren’t created in the last ten years (or the last ten seconds), and thus aren’t “sensitive” enough to “modern” values and mores.
For your consideration and appreciation, Kermit and Piggy. If they are offensive, then our world is lost and whoever thinks so has exactly zero credibility.
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Eventually they will run out of things to cancel and all they will have left to them is their hate. That hatred will consume them all and they will be gone.
Then the rest of us can go on about our business enjoying life to the fullest.
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If they run out of things to cancel, it will mean they’re in total control of the entertainment business (and probably just about everything else). If Baen is a publisher that will publish books by moderate and conservative authors, then maybe anyone even slightly right of center will have to develop their/our own platforms. It’s certain that the so-called mainstream insists on an exceptionally high degree of bias that excludes about half the population of westernized nations.
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NOTE: In all fairness (although there doesn’t seem anyway to truly know what’s “fair” in this rather messy affair), I’m posting a screenshot of a comment made here last night by Mike Glyer. I chose not to approve it, reasoning that a rather passionate argument would result between Glyer and at least one of my readers. I emailed Glyer in the most polite manner possible explaining why I was not going to approve the comment. His reply was less than pleasant. As a result, all comments for all of my blog posts mentioning this most recent political event are now closed. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. Anyone wishing to continue to negatively comment against me, Baen Books, Jason Sanford or associated matters may do so without my involvement. I’m wiping the bad taste of SF/F fandom, politics, and social “justice” (such as it is) from my mouth and moving on.
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