So the Sad Puppies campaign is in the news again. Well, the SF community news at least, which is kinda like being in the local paper on page 6 as far as the rest of the world is concerned, but it still counts.
Honest.
Anyway, Irene Gallo, the Creative Director at Tor said something untrue and stupid that fit the narrative and this time it was arguably a step too far, because it garnered enough of a reaction that Tom Doherty, the president/founder of Tor had to step in and disavow her.
Needless to say, this action caused a storm of outrage from the other side of the aisle.
Someday the world will figure out how to tap the potential energy there, and then we won’t need silly things like wind farms and solar panels. We can just leads up to Twitter/Tumblr/etc and let massive waves of emotion drive our turbines.
Anyway.
To be honest, I probably shouldn’t be too hard on Irene Gallo; what she attributed to the Sad Puppies is at least partially applicable to Vox Day’s Rabid Puppies campaign, the evil-goatee-wearing version of the SPs. I mean, racist (yep), homophobic (pretty much), misogynist (most likely), those are things I would probably apply to Vox Day at least, if not everyone that he nominated.
“Extreme right wing” and “neo-nazi” are two that I’m not entirely sure apply, but that’s in part because the two things aren’t really equivalent, or even closely related, largely because as most grown-ups realize, the political spectrum is a bit more complicated than left or right. Or even up/down/left/right.
But I digress.
So why are people so upset about Tom Doherty, as they put it, “condemning” Irene Gallo?
A lot of reasons, most of them rather silly in my opinion.
For one, there’s the complaint that she was only thrown to the wolves because she was a woman and therefore didn’t matter. Given Tor’s history, and Tom Doherty’s history in particular, I have a hard time believing this. They bring up the example of John Scalzi, who’s been pretty scathing towards the Puppies in general since their inception, but has never been censured for it.
Let’s be frank: Irene Gallo is not John Scalzi. Tor could replace Irene Gallo tomorrow; the loss of John Scalzi would hurt. Hell, given that Tor just gave him a 13 book, $3.4 million dollar deal, I reckon that he could do just about anything to them short of insisting that the entire staff of Tor books don furry costumes and tow him across Alaska in the next Iditarod.
And even Scalzi is keeping himself out of this one.
For another, there are the delusional types who have so thoroughly swallowed the narrative that they accuse Brad Torgerson of marrying an African-American woman and having children with her as a way to disguise his racism and misogyny.
Like I said, they’re delusional. It’s bizarre to me, how people can get so invested in a position, or an ideology, to the point where not only are they incapable of objectivity, they will actively deny or attempt to distort reality in an effort to make it fit their narrative.
And when that doesn’t work, of course, you just ignore anyone who doesn’t agree with you and retreat to the echo chamber of your choice.
I suppose the most tragic thing to me, in the ongoing Saga of the Sad Puppies, is that the people opposed to said Puppies seem to be going out of their way to prove a lot of the accusations that led to the creation of the Puppies in the first place. Because the inevitable response, once you filter out the snark and hyperbole, is as follows:
“There is no conspiracy, no liberal cabal stopping conservative authors from winning, so stop trying to take our award away from us.”
“Us”, of course, is just code for “people who think like me”.
It’s disheartening to see established, award-winning authors decrying anyone who doesn’t agree with them as “no true fan”. And Worldcon isn’t even in Scotland this year…
Alexandra erin said:
Weird how often I see these accusations, that authors on “the other side” have said in so many words that anyone who disagrees with them is not a true fan, or that people have accused Brad Torgersen of getting married to insulate himself from charges of racism, and yet I’ve never actually seen these things happen… I’ve only seen Brad Torgersen say they’re happening and others pick them up, unquestioned, and repeat them verbatim without a shred of evidence.
Now, people—including me—have said that Brad Torgersen took his wife of so many years and threw her out there as a human shield, thinking that her existence would protect him from any accusations of not just racism but sexism (because no misogynist ever married a woman, I guess?), because that’s true. He did exactly that.
No one thought that’s why he married her, though. No one thought he had the least little bit of a cunning plan or agenda in mind when he married her, much less when he used her so shamelessly rather than engaging with the substance of what was being said.
If you have links to people saying the things you’re saying they’re saying, please include them in your post. Otherwise, let’s stick with provable reality, not Brad Torgersen’s manufactured narrative, okay?
Chris Van Trump said:
Argh. That moment when you spot a typo in your own post, go to correct it, and realize moments later that you just accidentally erased the reply you were working on.
/sigh
Anyhoo.
I’ve not seen anyone of note making outrageous claims regarding the reasons why Brad Torgersen got married, though I’ve seen at least a little insinuation that despite any evidence to the contrary he’s probably still a racist.
The delusional stuff is typically restricted to the comments section (Yes, I read the comments. Even on YouTube.), which is pretty much par for the course as “Where the Assoles Are” regardless of ideology.
And no, I’m not gonna be bothered to track them down. Because that’s a lot of work at this point, trying to remember what I was reading, what page that comment was on, whether or not it’ll have been deleted by the time I get there, and ultimately the fact that if even if I did find them, it wouldn’t really MATTER, since any rational person would just disavow them as the ravings of a lunatic, and rightfully so.
Personally, I find it difficult to fault Torgersen for raising the topic of who he married, in light of the fact that the opposing manufactured narrative was, and is, busy tarring the Sad Puppies with a brush best applied solely to people like Vox Day, or John C Wright.
And yes, him posting that picture isn’t “proof” of anything, but it’s respectably solid evidence that backs up his version of “Who Is Brad Torgersen?”, rather than the one being written by people who, y’know, aren’t Brad Torgerson.
RAH said:
Alexandra Erin,
To imply that someone is a misogynist on no evidence is not right either. The implication that Brad is a misogynist and racist when he is married to a black woman is absurd and beyond logic. I l know that you did imply that and I think you should be ashamed. I am not your keeper so you can be as nasty as you please.
LostSailor said:
If you have links to people saying the things you’re saying they’re saying, please include them in your post. Otherwise, let’s stick with provable reality, not Brad Torgersen’s manufactured narrative, okay?
Classic Sealioning. Stop Sealioning Alexandra!
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