Write Every Day: 20 August 02019
Aug. 20th, 2019 10:51 pmGreetings! This is the Write Every Day Check-in post for 20 August 02019.
Okay, so Jeannette Ng lit up the Hugo Awards with an acceptance speech that said, pretty clearly, that the person the award she received was named for was not the kind of person that needs to have an award named after them, and the community that grew out of the skeleton of those people is weird and wonderful, but still hews far too much to the old racist, sexist, and other -ist ideas set down by people like Campbell.
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beatrice_otter, thankfully, pulled together several of the best reactions to the speech, in addition to the traanscript of the speech itself (minus a few swears), and they all supported Ms. Ng. Because, as one expects at this point, taking well-deserved shots at founding figures that were profoundly -ist brings the faction that aligned itself with the Puppies out of the woodwork where they have always been, trying to demand that their playground not be sullied by all these other people. That many of them are hyper-focused on "she said the wrong magazine, so she can't possibly have said anything of consequence" and deliberately not engaging with the point of the speech (John W. Campbell is unfit to have his name embalazoned on awards) says a lot about how they probably can't win the case on the merits, and also suggests that they're the sorts of fans who score points with their friends by being able to recite lists perfectly, rather than engage in deep and thoughtful discussions where they might be wrong, or at least have to seriously consider it. Expect to hear a lot, again, about how SJWs are ruining science fiction and fantasy literature again.
Because, for once in my lifetime, I can say that public libraries are ahead of the genre curve. We went through this discussion ourselves in deciding that we didn't want to give out the Laura Ingalls Wilder award for a career's contribution to children's literature, and a lot of what I'm hearing and seeing now coming out of Ms. Ng's remarks reminds me greatly of what was said about changing to the Children's Literature Legacy Award, and the arguments being made that the Geisel Award probably shouldn't have that name attached to it, either, given Theodor Geisel's propaganda works and continued presence of stereotypes in illustrations and minstrel-type portrayals of Black characters. Public Librarians managed once to look past "but they've been a mainstay of children's lit for forever!" once, and I'd like to believe we can do it again. And I think the SF/F communnity, the kind that want the genre to be inclusive and to continue honoring all the people who contribute to its richness, can do it, too, but it's going to be a hard lift. There are going to be people who complain, who want to know why you're making trouble when it isn't necessary, and people who will deflect the central issue or try to explain it away as somehow being acceptable for the time, but not for now, and can't we just leave it be?
For people who are used to fighting structural oppression, this will all be familiar. For people who have been here before, and have seen and know, this will not be new. But we still need you to fight to make your fandom inclusive, your genre inclusive, your lives inclusive. Because it's not hard to see the forces arrayed against this idea in these times, and these places. It will be hard. But it will be worth it.
As for writing, today I continued to work on a draft of my latest assignment. I've figured out the general pace of the plot and the escalation involved in it, but I haven't figured out the part where we break the pattern and then go to the ending. I'm kind of hoping something appears, even as I'm sure there's a kernel of an idea working its way through my head now that will blossom effectively when I get to that point. (A lot of today, though, was spent enjoyably at a baseball game. I'm still 0-for-Local-Sports-Team in seeing them win in person, which is kind of aggravating, honestly.)
( It's tally time! )
Okay, so Jeannette Ng lit up the Hugo Awards with an acceptance speech that said, pretty clearly, that the person the award she received was named for was not the kind of person that needs to have an award named after them, and the community that grew out of the skeleton of those people is weird and wonderful, but still hews far too much to the old racist, sexist, and other -ist ideas set down by people like Campbell.
beatrice_otter, thankfully, pulled together several of the best reactions to the speech, in addition to the traanscript of the speech itself (minus a few swears), and they all supported Ms. Ng. Because, as one expects at this point, taking well-deserved shots at founding figures that were profoundly -ist brings the faction that aligned itself with the Puppies out of the woodwork where they have always been, trying to demand that their playground not be sullied by all these other people. That many of them are hyper-focused on "she said the wrong magazine, so she can't possibly have said anything of consequence" and deliberately not engaging with the point of the speech (John W. Campbell is unfit to have his name embalazoned on awards) says a lot about how they probably can't win the case on the merits, and also suggests that they're the sorts of fans who score points with their friends by being able to recite lists perfectly, rather than engage in deep and thoughtful discussions where they might be wrong, or at least have to seriously consider it. Expect to hear a lot, again, about how SJWs are ruining science fiction and fantasy literature again. Because, for once in my lifetime, I can say that public libraries are ahead of the genre curve. We went through this discussion ourselves in deciding that we didn't want to give out the Laura Ingalls Wilder award for a career's contribution to children's literature, and a lot of what I'm hearing and seeing now coming out of Ms. Ng's remarks reminds me greatly of what was said about changing to the Children's Literature Legacy Award, and the arguments being made that the Geisel Award probably shouldn't have that name attached to it, either, given Theodor Geisel's propaganda works and continued presence of stereotypes in illustrations and minstrel-type portrayals of Black characters. Public Librarians managed once to look past "but they've been a mainstay of children's lit for forever!" once, and I'd like to believe we can do it again. And I think the SF/F communnity, the kind that want the genre to be inclusive and to continue honoring all the people who contribute to its richness, can do it, too, but it's going to be a hard lift. There are going to be people who complain, who want to know why you're making trouble when it isn't necessary, and people who will deflect the central issue or try to explain it away as somehow being acceptable for the time, but not for now, and can't we just leave it be?
For people who are used to fighting structural oppression, this will all be familiar. For people who have been here before, and have seen and know, this will not be new. But we still need you to fight to make your fandom inclusive, your genre inclusive, your lives inclusive. Because it's not hard to see the forces arrayed against this idea in these times, and these places. It will be hard. But it will be worth it.
As for writing, today I continued to work on a draft of my latest assignment. I've figured out the general pace of the plot and the escalation involved in it, but I haven't figured out the part where we break the pattern and then go to the ending. I'm kind of hoping something appears, even as I'm sure there's a kernel of an idea working its way through my head now that will blossom effectively when I get to that point. (A lot of today, though, was spent enjoyably at a baseball game. I'm still 0-for-Local-Sports-Team in seeing them win in person, which is kind of aggravating, honestly.)
( It's tally time! )
