As we seem to be caught up in a bonfire of vanities (in Savonarola sense rather than the Tom Wolfe novel) where anything that might lead people to ‘sin’ (in the eyes of the modern fanatic, of the new ‘religion’) must be destroyed, I’m wondering how long before they come for books, and the authors. The authors who are part of the Woke cult are already much under its sway, but that’s because the esteem of their co-religionists is so important to them, and to be ostracized from the cult is worst of possible of possible punishments. This is why ‘Requires Hate’ and her little coterie of nasty camp-followers and disciples – an irrelevant group with no influence outside their little circle of fellow believers, were able to wreck careers and lives… inside their circle. They tried on those outside… and found their accusations and demands laughed at by people who placed no value on their or their cult’s regard. So they used their power where they were powerful.
We – on the outside – did nothing. Left the new piagnoni to eat themselves. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
They still remain fairly powerless, in that increasing numbers of people now regard being held in esteem by these cults as a badge of shame, and being publicly attacked and hated by them… making one into ‘a good cause’ to be supported, at least in secret (and buying books is secret, at the moment anyway. The wallet is still a secret ballot). BUT… their pattern is to infiltrate and take over once-respected groups, businesses, and institutions. And the new piagnoni are doing now – through these businesses and institutions, wielding power, just as old piagnoni did for Savonarola.
It’s unlikely to end on a burning cross in whatever the modern equivalent of the Piazza della Signoria is, this time around. We’ve rather moved away from burning people after public crucifixion. (I’m opposed to burning anyone alive – no matter how appropriate it seems. I’ve cared for burns patients.) It could still happen, but then history doesn’t so much repeat as rhyme. Knowing what it is, stops you adding extra stanzas. (So burning and destroying history is kind of asking for a repeat, and one you don’t know is coming.)
That aside: my interest – and I suspect yours as well, is not getting included in the next stanza or two, either in person or through having my work burned (in the modern sense ‘cancelled’) or my livelihood and means to earn it destroyed. I fully expect the modern Savonarolas to try to gain control over the internet – at least over major retail outlets (including Amazon) and certainly over means of payment. So your wallet-ballot may become far less secret, and they may well try to stop banking facilities handling your business.
I’m hoping they follow their historical pattern of pushing too hard and too fast, and it all ends up as it did in Florence, hopefully before the Woke-cult destroys too much. Of course, they’re eating their own (to the point where woke-sf is beginning to resemble what has happened poetry – where there are far more poets and critics, than readers. If it wasn’t for patrons, inherited wealth, and second jobs, poetry would be dead. We’d be poorer as a species for that, because it is a great and powerful, and very old human medium). There is a sort of odd humor in the situation with authors in the woke-cult. Either your own side will eat you if the cult doesn’t fail – or if it does, they’ve made sure that backlash will have the same joys as the followers of Savonarola did. I don’t see much of a way out, there. Full Kafka… which is sort of poetic justice.
But for those of us outside: set up your newsletter. Work towards setting up alternate sales channels to Amazon: even if you sell first to your subscribers and then take that down. I’m looking into ways to sell audio privately first too. In the meanwhile use Amazon as much as possible – always building your own brand.
On a separate tack – I was listening to some Steeleye Span – One Misty Moisty Morning
‘I said that we should married be and she should be my bride
And a-long we should not tarry and twenty things beside
‘I’ll plough and sow, reap and mow and you shall sit and spin’
Singing, How do you do, how do you do and how do you do again?
Her parents then consented, all parties were agreed
Her portion thirty shillings, we married were with speed’
The world HAS changed. I wonder if that will rhyme again?
Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay
Mad Genius Club 
70 responses to “A Bonfire of Vanities”
Tuomas hit today’s society pretty hard on point with the video for Noise off the latest Nighwish album.
The portion it should start at (3:07 or so if it doesn’t) especially covers a lot of what you say here asKai and Empuu are in with the crowd, busy ignoring the beauty of the Mona Lisa to scroll on their phones, until Empuu hits a wrong-thought, and his phone lights up red. The crowd then turns on him and beats him while his good friend (the band’s drummer Kai) takes selfies of himself with the beating in the background.
Tuomas is a big greenie and yet sees the hypocracy of even his own stances (he plays a tree hugger in this and then takes a bath in “crude”), such as in “To Nightwish, With Love” he is telling fans at a meet-up his bafflement at why people see him as a hero and hold him and his works in such high esteem. And as he is telling fans that (and you see some disappointment on their faces) he then admits he then almost fainted when meeting Richard Dawkins earlier that day, so he knows exactly how they feel and he seems to sort of get it, I think.
Too many refuse to get it.
why did spell check wait until I hit Post Comment to underline my poor typing?
damned work pc
It had been so long, I thought they weren’t going to produce a new album. Thanks!
Taking 2017 off and then doing Decades with some reworks to tilt it to using Floor’s range and Troy’s many instruments on the old tunes ate a bit of time.
The first cd is all band, second cd is great symphony.
Music, and Shoemaker are my top faves.
There’s an acoustic version of How’s The Heart that is glorious (Troy on guitar and backing vocals and Floor only)
Um…
In my accent, it still rhymes.
But the rhythm of the first two line no longer scans.
Second line, first beat “long”. You have to hurry through “And”. Then leave an empty beat after “tarry” which is funny because you are tarrying and it comes out right.
I believe it’s a nursery rhyme, which means it has staying power in rhythm and rhyme 🙂
go and listen to it, Luke. It’s on Youtube 🙂
Heh, I came across a tweet yesterday that found its way into my feed around a dozen corners, by someome who is disappointed that good Cortney Milan now supports evil Required Hate. After a satisfied grin of schadenfreude (since I followed that Milan-gate some months ago and don’t think she’s a saint) I felt a tiny bit of hope that the Woke Revolution will eventually eat its children. 😉
Admittedly everything I know about the two is secondhand, but it seems like a perfect match to me. Milan went through Davis’s book looking to be offended, and surprisingly, she succeeded. “Going through books looking to be offended and then call the authors racist” seems to be more or less Requires Hate’s MO. Why would anyone be surprised that these two would get along like a house on fire?
I’m not surprised, either. But obviously RH ended up in the Evil People drawer some time ago (and with good reason, as far as I can tell) while Milan was firmly put in the Good People drawer (with much less reason, as far as I can tell). And now the drawers got mixed up and some unwashed socks ended up among the clean T-shirts. 😀
http://laurajmixon.com/2014/11/a-report-on-damage-done-by-one-individual-under-several-names/
The internet is forever.
Courtney Milan supports Benjanun Sriduangkaew, the fruitloop Requires Hate troll? Of course she does.
She has to, really. Because RH is a POC, a gender/orientation minority and an SJW. That she is also a frothing lunatic is unimportant from Milan’s perspective.
This is why selecting authors for approval based on skin tone, personal plumbing and so forth is a bad idea.
If Milan is a lunatic that hides the froth, where’s the substantial difference?
Calculated evil vs. mere insanity.
*snaps fingers*
THAT is what has been bugging me.
K, you know karens, right– folks have been trying to mash it so it means “white woman saying something I don’t like.” That’s wrong, but besides the stupid racism angle, couldn’t figure why.
The calculation.
A karen is a self-styled upper class woman, generally of a certain age, who picks easy and generally unjust fights in which she fights like a girl. (IE, “nuke it from orbit.” I can go on for some time on this vein. 😀 )
And when the fight isn’t an easy one, she doesn’t pick it.
A karen will always “punch down.”
Meanwhile, there are folks who may be wrong, but they are confident in their views, and they will punch up, down, sideways, and “even Marines are saying these odds are a bit off.”
(My mom, and most of her family.)
I’d go with “malice” rather than “evil,” for what it’s worth– “desire to inflict harm, pain or suffering” rather than simply “immoral.”
What does that mean “even Marines are saying these odds are a bit off”?
“The enemy is on our left, on our right, and on either side– THE B****DS CAN’T ESCAPE NOW!”
– Marine
That’s funny.
It depends. Your “talk to your manager” Karen will pick her fights — until the point where she stops trying to be smart, and she truly loses it. Karen in a real rage will pick a fight with the police, brawny men, and other raging Karens. That’s how Karens get themselves arrested, fired, etc.
True, once committed, they don’t tend to backdown– which is honestly part of why I was having trouble figuring out the difference I could sense, and spent a lot of time trying to figure out if it was “if they agree with me” type logic.
Karen is the bitch who punches down under the mantle of authority. Karen is the one who sees something, says “There oughta be a law!” then gets a law made, then comes for you with that law clutched in her meaty little hand.
There is no “free country” where Karen is concerned. You will Obey!
This is why I don’t think its -malicious-, necessarily. I mean, Karen thinks she’s right. All this is for your own good, you know.
But it is calculated. Karen’s got the authority, yep you betcha. She picked a fight she thinks she can win, uh huh.
But its all about her, and how RIGHT she is, and how WRONG you are. That’s what makes it evil. Of a particularly pernicious type too. Evil done in the guise of good.
My favorite Karen takedown of the week is the one who was refused service by some kid at Starbucks because she refused to wear a mask. She posted her little “I demand to speak to your manager!” tirade on Twitter, and got a shirtstorm of people telling her to cram it.
https://www.sandiegoville.com/2020/06/san-diego-karen-goes-viral-after.html
According to the web, the kid has amassed $81K in virtual tips by now. Because nobody likes you, Karen.
*shakes head* Nah, there’s “this is important, and I will FIX it”– and that takes a lot more time and broader support built from nothing than most can muster.
The part about it being all about how right she is, and how wrong you are, sounds right– it needs a public/authority figure presentation, though. It MUST be public. And it’s hard to identify motivation accurately with folks you agree with, much less who are opposed.
Now I’m wondering how many of the “karen” stories are a variation on the same impulse; I know I’ve run into several that were very obviously motivate affirmation against those who made them feel bad.
So a karen is basically a Dolores Umbridge?
Kind of? But much less upper-class refinement. I can’t think of a good example in SF of a karen as a memorable character.
Corona Karen is on display lately. She’s the one getting up in your face because you are not wearing an approved mask these days, when masks are mandated. Or conversely she’s getting in your face because you -are- wearing one, and that’s wrong!
Or, as in the San Diego Karen Incident, she’s in the poor Starbucks kid’s face because she won’t wear a mask because she’s got HEALTH ISSUES DAMN YOU!!!! How dare you!
Not quite Dolores.
I’ve seen Corona Karen on the internet a lot. She’s less active in Germany where masks are not a religion but just an inconvenience since they’re mandatory in busses and shops – and come off the moment people leave either. :p There’s an increasing amount of grumbling about the suckers, but little yelling for wearing / not wearing a mask.
I would prefer if only those with actual risks (elderly people and those with health problems) were recommended to wear the high quality masks that protect the WEARER. Those wet handknitted thingies that end up in the pocket most of the time do scrap to protect anyone. I got my father – he’s 89, after all – some FFP3 masks in case he must take the bus or see a doctor. For myself, well if Corona wants to tackle my immune system, I wish it much fun. 😀 (Actually, I’m pretty sure I got it back in February when everyone in the office got sick after a colleague came back from Bergamo in Italy – a then still undetected hot spot. By the time Italy came into focus, we were over and done with our annual rould of influenza.)
Good thing RWA let Milan turn their organization into her own personal fiefdom, eh?
This is why I don’t understand people. Had it been -me- running that thing, I would have run out the guns and broadsided Little Courtney like the Battle of Gibraltar. Because death before dishonor! And also because F— YOUUUU!!!! is the Scottish martial art. ~:D
But then if it had been me running it, the association wouldn’t have been playing stupid SJW games in the first place. Associations are meant to kick people out for stuff like that.
RH is being rehabilitiated. I doubt if there is any change in the nature of the beast, but her sycophants remained in places of power and influence after the purge and are working tirelessly to bring her back. In time, she and Milan will continue with what they do, and destroy their respective genres in their quest for more power for them.
But-but-but… what about the New Rules, Dave?
If I can be retroactively blocked on Twitter for something I posted in 2010 (and I can), so can poor innocent little Benajun who never did nuttin’ to nobody. Every time she lifts her head we post Laura Mixon’s tour-de-force, and -poof- she’s toast again.
I could make a hobby out of something like that.
It’s been eating its children all along. The question is whether it’s the Moscow Show Trials, or Thermidor. I regret to say that it does not appear to be Thermidor yet.
I’m wondering how long before they come for books, and the authors.
Uncle Hugo’s wasn’t an isolated event:
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3750#m48694
I’m less than convinced that the bookstores were the victims of a deliberate plot. It’s much more likely that your average rioter/looter/arsonist sees no reason to spare them from the same treatment they mete out to other businesses.
More like, “there’s nothing here that I care about stealing, burn it.”
Plus the guys who know burning books is bad, so of course they do it at the first chance.
Black Identitarians who see reading as white might resent local inventories, especially with some of the prices. The volume of economic activity is ‘the man’ keeping one down.
Poetry is still around– it just, to quote the first example that came to mind, is hard to see from the road.
Less poetically, it’s enriching those places that are still DOING things, like Range magazine, and direct-selling at fairs and farming supply stores. (Yeah I’m focusing on Baxter Black, I enjoy his stuff. ^.^)
It’s “hiding” in music, too, same way that the great composers moved into doing movie music.
Cowboy poetry sprang to mind. I have three of the books Gibbs-Smith press put together of poetry from Elko and other cowboy poetry events. It’s fun stuff.
Or television. I discovered Bear McCreary through Battlestar Galactica.
It’s around, but almost never as financially self-supporting entity – which limits it to a hobby or something only done by those with other means of support. This is where the woke-cult is sending sf/fantasy.
Rappers support themselves nicely, at least in the upper echelons of their profession.
A fair point, Suburbanbanshee. I hope there are some other choices, as that’s not one I like much.
Couple of things that occurred to me. The first is that the Sad Puppies campaign was marketing genius. The only reason I know about MGC and According to Hoyt is Sad Puppies.
What’s genius about it is that the people running the campaign didn’t have to do any marketing. The fruit-loops did all that for us. The first few campaigns that Larry Correia ran consisted of a few posts on his blog. Later, Sarah and company put up a web site. As marketing goes, that’s not a lot of work and its no expense at all. (This is not to belittle everyone’s efforts, I hasten to add. I’m comparing those efforts to an international ad campaign. One is small compared to the other.)
So for not much trouble and a few hundred bucks at most, Sad Puppies became an international sensation. It still is, the Lefties haven’t shut up about it even now. All you have to do is put “puppy” in a sentence and a squadron of flying monkeys will buzz your position. I think they have bots looking for it.
That’s a useful thing to know. You want a lot of attention, just say “puppy”. Example, there’s 52 reference articles on the Sad Puppies Wikipedia article, and they’re still editing it all the time.
The other thing was that we’re quite a bit farther into the Purity Spiral than we were back in 2013. Back then it took a machine gun salesman who writes books about redneck monster hunters to get their attention. These days all you have to do is say there are two genders and they’ll go insane.
No need to take a controversial stance on anything, just write a book where Adventure Guy gets his Adventure Girl and they get married at the end and have three kids in a nice suburban house. That’ll do it.
Those two pieces of information feel like something important to me.
There are a very few, very loud activists who seem to have a bunch of money to promote their #57gendersLivesMatter whackadoodle religion. They’re -really- not making new friends at this point. Being hated by them gets you approval from normal people.
Why not let them spend some of that money proclaiming how unacceptably cishetPatriarchyColonial the latest offering from [author] is? Look at the free advertising J.K. Rowling is getting for her new kid’s book. Clearly not planned as such by her, but free advertising all the same. I’ll be tempted to buy it just because they’ll scream.
I’m not suggesting a re-start of Sad Puppies, mostly because no one cares about the Hugos anymore. The fix is obviously in, and the log-rolling is self-evident at this point.
Maybe something like an imprint. Authors can apply for and get a Mad Genius Club seal of approval if their book contains a positive mention of some self-evident truth that’s a trigger for the Lefties. “Water is Wet” might be sufficient, or maybe “semper ubi sububi”.
So you’re saying that when I when I finish and self-pub my fantasy novel that has a slave sale, these people will make it a best-seller?
Well, my current WIP has an 1840s Boston abolitionist heroine observing an auction of slaves in the slave-markets of Richmond, with a lot of interesting detail (gleaned from contemporary accounts of such sales) – so I certainly hope so.
Rubs hands, in anticipation of the outraged interest…
They’re whimsical, don’t count on it.
Best seller? No, probably not.
But you will get -noticed- in a positive way by a lot of people if the fruitloops start in screaming about your book. Getting noticed at all in the vast sea of books is more than half the battle, assuming your book is a fun read.
I’m just suggesting that being hated by the right people could be advantageous. ~:D
Hey, if you look up the word “fun” in the dictionary, my picture is there. No, wait, that’s “burnout”.
My picture is next to “What?”
Case in point, I see that some SF authors have recently gained the attention of Cancel Command. John Scalzi singles out four to be in the ducking seat on his blog. The only one I’ve ever heard of before is Myke Cole. Another one was a founding member of Cards Against Humanity, heard of the card game but not the guy.
I vaguely recall Cole from the Puppy Wars as having gone over to the Dark Side, and that’s all. Never read anything he wrote, never paid much attention to the news about him. I know nothing.
But here’s the thing. Now that Scalzi is all up in arms about this guy, now I’ve heard of him again. And knowing that Scalzi is an SJW-suckup, maybe it might be worth a two second google to look at Cole again. Or not, but all I have to lose is two seconds of google time.
That’s something we could think about leveraging.
I’ve read Cole. Two books and a blog post.
I think he had issues that bled into the storytelling. Other hand, he got me past one book.
I’d guess that he transgressed against the norm of ‘police are white supremacist’. Totally for sure, I buy that Myke Cole is a white supremacist.
(Shrug) It’s just the loony left eating their own. The RH syndrome – power exerted on their own side because that’s who it works on. Irrelevant, expected. They’ll come for Scalzi too, one day. The more their influence wanes, the tighter the purity spiral. Anyway, as Weinstein displayed the louder the woke, the more probable the abuse.
Scalzi’s post had that air of desperation about it, like he can hear the wolves howling and they’re getting closer.
I mean, he’s distancing himself from the Cards Against Humanity guy on the basis of a proposed card that read “Say the N-Word.” As in, that was a direct quote of the card. It says “N-Word” on it, not the actual n-word. It doesn’t even say ni**ardly. ~:D
Apparently the hipsters in the CAH office were all a-flutter and taking to their fainting couches, so the guy took his millions and said “Sayonara suckers!” Now he’s enjoying his money at home. I’m sure he’s heartbroken he doesn’t have to go into that office and deal with those snowflakes every day.
At the end of the day, Scalzi’s a white dude. He can’t bow low enough to survive the pogrom, and he knows it. Sooner or later, the shirtstorm will come, even if they have to make something up from whole cloth. “John Scalzi looked at my t**s at a convention!!!! Abuse!!!! Patriachy!!!11!”
I wonder if his book contract has one of those “good behavior” clauses in it, where they can cancel you if there’s a “controversy.” One shirtstorm and you’re done. F- sakes, what a way to go through life, praying to be eaten last.
Where has the old rule of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ gone. Those witch hunts are scary.
I can’t find much about the recent accusations except vague finger pointing that they Have Done Evil, lots of retweets of said pointed fingers, and some tweets by a disgruntled ex – not the sort I’d call an unbiased witness. So what the heck _have_ those guys done? I mean, accusations that would hold up at court, not tweets and a blogpost by a third party.
And oh my, if I’d got my dander up every time a man looked at my boobs when I was younger …. I took it as a compliment, albeit a bit of a clumsy one. 😉 (Sometimes a guy will look even now. Since I’m closer to 60 than to 50, I still take it as compliment.)
Same here … and if I had the vapors every damn time that an old-fashioned Texas gentleman called me ‘darlin’ ‘ … better that I should have had a nickle into my retirement account, every time that happened.
I cured many a male of being unduly familiar while on active duty who called me ‘darlin’ ‘ by replying, ‘sure, sugar-buns’ but in Texas, alas, they thought I was being flirtatious …
That sounds like Texas, allright. 😀 So it’s not a German’s prejudcied outsider view. 😉
Speaking up often solves minor hassles. I usually got good results by simply telling the man he was overstepping boundaries (like physical contact, rape jokes, whatever). If done calmly and politely, most men will accept. No need to create a stir in those cases. And the booby grabbers … well, ‘take your dirty paws off, you filthy perv’ spoken loud enough for the rest of the passengers in the bus to hear, drove the sucker out at the next stop. 😛
I’m glad my parents, esp.my father, taught me how to speak up and step up, so I developed a Don’t Mess With Me-vibe that may have reduced the amount of unwanted attention to begin with.
“So what the heck _have_ those guys done?”
Nothing actionable, is the short answer. Nothing that there’s any evidence for, certainly. But as Limbaugh has been fond of saying for many years now, “it’s not the nature of the evidence that’s important, it’s the seriousness of the charge.”
One (1) accusation sexual misconduct from college with zero (0) evidence presented plus vague finger pointing and retweets of same got Max Temkin kicked out of his very own company. Just think about that for a moment.
Myke Cole was accused of [mumble mumble] by some woman from a convention. Less than zero evidence there, even the accusation is vague.
Best part? Scalzi, who is supposed to be friends with these guys, is right there throwing wood on the fire they’re going to burn them with. “Evidence? We don’t need no stinking evidence! BURN THE WITCH!!!”
It’s good to have friends, right?
I suspected something like that. Punish first, ask questions later. And ruin the life of people – even if they’re later proven innocent, the ostracism will continue. We had a few cases in Germany as well.
That’s not to say that sexual harrassment and rape don’t happen, but the place to go is the police and the courts, not Twitter. (Though if one of the parties is prominent, ugly stuff will unfortunately leak to the media, which doesn’t help anyone.)
Yes, those things certainly happen. Which is why I’m a very big supporter of the notion that women should learn self defense and carry weapons.
Because no one is going to be there when it happens. Rapists are not stupid, they pick a target and a time when they think they can get away with it. Having a weapon and some training gives a woman the -chance- at least to escape. No weapon, no training, no chance at all.
Unfortunately we have to spell these things out for the outrage mobs who read until offended. Like certain people who I know lurk this blog looking for something to be offended by. Hi Bonnie.
In the spirit of spelling things out for idiots, I do not -know-, as in I have no concrete evidence or documented testimony, that the four men mentioned above are innocent of any wrongdoing or misbehavior.
However the type of campaign being waged against them is an indication that if they did do anything, it certainly wasn’t much. “Mr. X touched my butt at a party!” type of thing. Or maybe “I was in a relationship with Mr. X in college and he cheated on me with Janey! That bastard! So now, twenty years later, I’m going to accuse him of… touching my butt at a party!!!”
Oh the humanity. How will you survive with such trauma? Poor things.
Spelling it out again for the outrage mob: Yes, it is rude to grab women’s butts at a party. No, it is not rape.
Here’s a question for the mob: Is there a single man or woman in the entire world who was so pure and so perfect that nobody could be convinced to “remember” a sexual assault from 20 years ago if there was a million dollars on the table?
Meanwhile, full-blown pedophiles and rapists (the Rape-rape kind as defined by Whoopie Goldberg) are still running Hollywood and NY publishing. One of them is Democrat Party presidential nominee. I hope y’all will forgive me if I question your resolve in this matter.
And Ghislaine Maxwell did not kill herself, just to get ahead of that curve.
No weapons allowed in Germany. But I learned a few nasty tricks, plus my father told me, “you must _mean_ it. Don’t be afraid to hurt the guy, or kill him, if needs be.” A lesson that should be taught more widely.
I was attacked once. The police dealt with what I left over 😛 none too gently when they hauled him into the ambulance. “Stop being such a crybaby, you deserve what you got,” they told the wannabe rapist. The judge later told him a few more things. 😉
“No weapons allowed in Germany.”
There is always a way. Roll of dimes in a sock. Tactical hairbrush.
https://www.selfdefenseproducts.com/stealth-defense-brush-knife/
Canada is the same as Germany. Umbrella is what I carry in winter, walking stick in summer. Goes with the knee brace, you know. Very discrete. ~:D
I prophesy that over the next few years there will be a new fashion for gentleman’s walking sticks and sword canes in Europe.
Keys spread between the fingers can make for a good Roman-style caestus. I often carry a walking stick as well, because I love hiking. But I didn’t need any weapons besides my body and a VERY pissed mood to deal with that wannabe rapist. 😀
I just finished reading a story between 600k and 700k words, where I noticed very many usages of discrete where discreet was intended. 🙂
Autocorrupt delenda est.
The UK is what I’m familiar with– they started punishing effective use of improvised weapons against a guy attacking you with a knife or gun at least a decade ago.
Yeah, the twitter lynch mobs are venue shopping.
The correct answer when someone brings a serious charge to an inappropriate venue is referring it to an appropriate one, or telling that someone to shove off.
Suppose Phantom is the head of the Fraternal Society for the Advancement of Human Wave Fiction, and Merrick Garland is a member. I come to Phantom with some story about Garland being a serial killer, and pedophile, demanding some trivial concession. The ethical thing for him to do is a) sanction me b) report the allegation to the police. I’m obviously abusing the organization, and the police are the right people to sort out whether there is any basis to my claim. Phantom is not a criminal investigator, and doesn’t magically become competent to do the work just because he is leader of some random organization.
Right now, nobody is really stopping this stuff, because it is easier to go along than call out. Tragedy of the commons, in a way. But there is some correct principle to right selection of venue, and that is what makes any peace at all possible.
The prior status quo, the formal legal system, is unjust to disadvantaged groups? Disadvantaged groups will really not like replacing that with an ad hoc collection of whoever will still listen to the bullshit accusation.
https://twitter.com/FiresOfAnarchy1/status/1276369227616788482
There is so much wrong with this. Summary: “If you don’t trust in a statement given to a third person in private, you’re on of _them_”. 🙄
I also have no idea how Mark Lawrence ended up on that list. He has a severly disabled daughter who needs constant care and rarely attends any public events.
Hm, that link doesn’t cover the entire thread. No idea how to link that – maybe someone here is more tech savvy.
I’m not sure what the guy says on twitter really matters that much.
I’m also a little irritated by the RWA stuff, and the MWA’s decision to sanction a writer for something that would be, if worth acting on, unprofessional conduct for a lawyer.
She was a prosecutor, and the evidence cited was that the convictions were later overturned. I did not see any evidence presented that she had behaved unethically as a prosecutor, nor that the Bar had sanctioned her for ethical misconduct. If there was ethical misconduct, the Bar and the court system would be appropriate venues for that complaint and evidence. MWA cannot assess the professional conduct of a lawyer, or whether a crime was committed in persecuting that case. Bringing that case to MWA is as valid as bringing the overturned conviction on appeal to Stormfront. If Stormfront concluded that the convictions were originally valid, what is that even supposed to mean? The sanction of private organizations is meaningless where serious crimes are concerned.
Sure, what people say on Twitter may not matter that much, but the attitude of such remarks as the above goes far beyond Twitter, and that’s scary.
Some people want proof instead of believing? Burn them on the stake as heretics. That’s no longer a discussion, that’s religion.
Yeah, I’m sure some of these people actually did something wrong, others are just payback for some slight, real or imagined.