Sad Puppies, Hugos, Entryism, and Social Cliques

So, yeah, it's stupid season in the land of sci-fi.

A relatively minor kerfuffle in fandom has blown up out of all reasonable proportion. Let me sum up one side: Oh, noes! People are voting in the Hugo awards in a fashion we don't like! And they're people we don't like! This is awful! They must be ! We should do somethings!

Wait. I think I summed up both sides. I tend to agree more with one side than the other, but I'm not entirely sure how much I care. Honestly, the last time I cared that someone had won a Hugo was when Ursala Vernon won for Digger. I can say truthfully at this late stage of my existence, I don't generally notice who wins the Hugos. Of the awards/nominations handed out this millennium, I read the ones I did completely irrespective of the awards.

Let's back up for a moment and talk about the Hugos. I'm going to talk about the Best Novel awards from here out, because it's the marquee award. Yeah, there's those other categories, but the novel is the big enchilada. What's there to say about it? A fandom popularity contest! Most prestigious award in sic-fi! Determined by very few people! Long and storied history! Not representative of the genre at any given time! Only award that affects sales! A list of sci-fi's great works! All of these things are, to a greater or lesser extent, true.

It's always been run by fans. Fans vote on it, fans run it, and ultimately fans are what make the Hugos possible. But only those fans that attend or pay money to Worldcon. It's not open to the rest of the vastly larger community of people who are sci-fi fans. The number of nominating ballots last year (2014, since the web is forever and the most recent data available, btw) was 1923 with 3587 ballots cast in the final voting. This is a tiny, tiny subset of the body of people who can be called sf/f fans.

Let's take me as an example. I've read, from a quick count, at least 123 of the novels that won or were nominated for the Hugos. Hell, I've got most of those on the bookshelf, including some Hugo winners I haven't read yet. But, despite my having been raised on and reading science fiction since I was knee high to a duck, I've never been to Worldcon, nor do I plan to go. That would involve leaving the house and interacting with large numbers of people, neither of which are on my shortlist of fun things to do. In the minds of a certain group of people, my not going to cons makes me a lesser fan than them. I don't support the community*. I should keep my mouth shut and let real fans, who go to cons and stuff, decide what the best works of sci fi are. In short I am not of the clique, so how dare I have an opinion on what the clique does. This attitude is a large part of the current problem, along with the idea that the 'real' con-going fans are the true arbiters of good sci-fi. It doesn't bother me, because who the fuck are these people and why should I care? There are, however, apparently a lot of people out there who resent this attitude.

But seriously, it's cliquish popularity contest all the way down, and more importantly, always has been. Look at the past Best Novel nomination lists: 64 years of nominations, usually 5 nominations per year, and a grand total of 136 authors. Either some of these people just happen to write one of the 5 best books each year they publish, or it's got more to do with popularity. Some people are a lot more popular with the fanbase than others, it appears. Bob Heinlein could have crapped on a ream of paper and they'd have nominated it for something. More recently, look at Short Form Dramatic Presentation awards where Dr. Who episodes written by Moffat take the award entirely too many times for the quality of his work. But hey, the fans liked Heinlein and they like Moffat, so that's great sci fi! Seriously, ask yourself if there's another industry where the fanboys & girls hand out the most prestigious award. I'm unaware of it.

Now let's shift gears and talk about entryism. There's some larger background you can go research, but in general, the left in America has been on a decades long crusade to infiltrate every organization in America and shift the paradigm to one more favorable to their worldview. This can be seen most notably in academia and journalism. Apparently, at some point when I wasn't paying attention, this process started in the sf/f fandom world. The 'personal is political' crowd crept in while nobody was looking. These are the people who think everything is an extension of your politics. Did you write an entertaining story? You might think that should be important for sf/f, that doesn't matter to them. What matters more are your views on everything else under the sun. The perceived politics of a work and its author are now critical, and this has bled over into the fans as well. You need to slavishly conform to the dominant progressive groupthink of the day or you are, again, not a real fan and generally an unperson. Certain people who have a long and storied pedigree in the industry were exempted from this, mainly because you can't kick out somebody like Jerry Pournelle. But new authors and incoming fans? Fuck 'em. Conform or die, bitches.

Not being entirely dim, certain people within the community noticed how things were going. So, they decided to game the system. They called themselves Sad Puppies and mounted a successful insurrectionist campaign against the Hugos, completely according to the rules. The Sad Puppies did a demonstration/proof of concept last year, and got a few things nominated. This year they went for broke and, along with another group called Rabid Puppies, swept the nominations. Somewhat predictably, the world went nuts. The old-line fandom cliques are totally distraught while the newer progressive wing is just calling everybody racist. Strangely enough, the main instigator of the Sad Puppies called the reaction before it happened. As always with progressives, dissenting voices must be silenced. So the campaign against these horrible people who dared interfere is in full swing. Too bad they paid their money and get to vote now, huh?

I don't really have to take a side, but if I do, I'll come down on the side that doesn't contain a mendacious racist and a fascist censor. See, this insulting people thing is so easy anyone can play! Of course, now most of you have no idea which side that is because of all the mud being slung about. For the uninitiated, that means I'm more philosophically inclined to agree with the Sad Puppies because of some shitty past ( and continuing!) behavior by people on the opposite side.

What's it all mean? I dunno. Not my circus, not my monkeys. Most of my reading recommendations come from reading things by people who are known to me from previous work and actual humans I know, not a bunch of random con attendees. There's lots of talk about how the system is broken and we shouldn't tolerate this sort of behavior and blah blah blah. One thing the Puppies have going for them is that they did the whole thing out in the open for everybody to watch. They're more than happy to tell you why they did it. The other side? No real coherent point, just insults and whining.

Some random closing thoughts, in no particular order:
Democracy is what it is. You let people pay $40 bucks and vote, you get what they decide. Sucks for you if you don't like it.

The implicit assumption that all of the people who voted for the Sad Puppies slate aren't 'real' fans is hilariously broken from the get go. Would people who didn't give a shit pay the $40 bucks to vote?

Valid nominating ballots this year as opposed to last year? 2122 vs. 1923. If 200 people are enough to break your election as thoroughly as some claim, your election was weak to begin with. There are a lot of things going on here somebody with more time than me could unpack.

I have little or no sentimental attachment to the Hugos. If they die, they die. Times change, the world moves on. Adapt or die.

*I figure I'm supporting the community by buying books new at retail. By my doing so, authors get paid, which means they keep authoring. Going to cons doesn't get authors paid.

Resolute

It's the beginning of a shiny new year, filled with unanticipated disappointments and your old familiar regrets. I know many people make resolutions to do something, anything, to improve their life situation. I, on the other hand, am pretty damn wonderful the way I am and don't need to change except to possibly get more betterer. Anyhow, in the spirit of change and hope that permeates the very fabric of America, (smells like bullshit, incidentally), I have some suggestions for New Year's resolutions because frankly, some of y'all need to tighten the hell up, mmkay? These are ideal if you've already blown off the resolutions you made while drunk and/or hungover earlier this year. 

• Eat more beets. 
• Work less, procrastinate more. (I may have this one backwards. Check with a reputable advice columnist.) 
• Keep a dream diary to realize how disturbed your subconscious really is. 
• Stop feeding Ex Lax to toddlers, especially the ones that aren't yours. 
• Finish things, preferably with a cool Mortal Kombat style finishing move. 
• Quit accidentally stapling yourself to things. The company can't afford the staples. 
• Drink more or less caffeine, depending on how much you vibrate while at rest. 
• Stop selling used underwear on eBay to finance your buying-used-underwear habit. It's a vicious cycle that benefits no one. 
• Soap is not optional this year, bathdodger. 
• While you've probably given up on it already this year, lose some weight, lardo. 
• Practice a skill. Masturbation, by the way, is not a skill, despite what some of you seem to think. 
• Stop commenting on YouTube. 
• Get more tattoos. 
• Only be rude to people who deserve it.
• Quit shouting "Hey, cocksucker!" to get people's attention. While often accurate, it's still somewhat gauche. 
• Stay out of the left hand lane if you're not exceeding the speed limit.
• Don't refer to your genitalia in the third person. It's creepy and off-putting. 
• Pay your liquor store bill. Distillers and brewers have families, too, you know. 

While I am pretty near perfect, I admit I am planning on a few of these for the year. Which ones, I leave it up you to decipher.

 As long as we're on the subject, you might find this article from Cracked of some use if you really want to change for the better.

Behold The Power Of Cheese

I'd point and laugh at all the people who are currently deeply disappointed in the election results, but I am preparing for travel. I depart later today to the frozen North, where I shall venture behind the Cheese Curtain in search of equipment.

So when you run across people wailing and crying about the election, just pretend I said something appropriately snide. I'm sure someone will come out and say something jaw-droppingly, gob-smackingly retarded about the election soon enough, if they haven't already.

Excuses

So, apparently, the donks are going with the evil influence of undisclosed money and the pernicious influence of Citizens United as the reasons they're gonna get pasted come Tuesday. Frankly, that's a bunch of horseshit. If money was the be-all end-all of political influence, Michael Huffington would be a Senator from California, Jon Corzine would still be running New Jersey, and Meg Whitman will get elected Governor out in California on Tuesday. (I may still get surprised on that last one, but I bet not.) In fact, since the donks have outspent the efenants this cycle, they'd win. Keep this in mind the next time someone calls for campaign finance reform, please.

Since we've disposed of at least one canard the donks are trying to use, I'd like to be helpful and offer some other excuses they might make. They'll all be about as valid as the current line of crap they're peddling. So, for any donk politicians reading, here are some possible answers to the inevitable question: Why did you lose the election?

• My campaign staff was unfocused due to a constant barrage of chicken attacks.
• I suffered from food poisoning.
• I would have gotten away with it except for those meddling kids!
• I have a genetic disposition towards sub-optimal performance.
• In retrospect, I shouldn't have used monkeys with darts instead of conducting actual polls.
  
• The sun was in my eyes.
• Rabbits hacked my laptop.
• I accidentally channeled the spirit of Ronald Reagan instead of FDR during my campaign appearances.
• The Large Hadron Collider has rewritten the causality of the universe, causing my defeat.
• I've angered the gods of Olympus.
• Ninjas and/or pirates stole my votes.
• I've been drunk the entire campaign.
• I apparently did not specify which election I would win when I made my pact with Satan.
• The voters were too stupid/lazy/drunk/misinformed/apathetic/stoned to realize my opponent is actually an extra-terrestrial.
• Hamsters.
• The election board refused to put my nickname, "Stud Muffin", on the ballot.
• An evil scientist controlled the minds of the electorate with his Votinator device.
• Sunspots destroyed the integrity of the electronic voting machines.
• I sacrificed chiclets to the loa when I should have been sacrificing chickens.
• I misread my horoscope.

All I ask is that if you use one of my excuses, you drop me an email with a link to a transcript or video of the press conference. Thanks.

Facebook Related Filler

I'm going to claim heat exhaustion as my excuse for no posts for 3 weeks. It's totally plausible, right? Houston, summertime, heat. I can't see why anyone would doubt me.

Anyhow, in lieu of posting substantive, or even interesting, content I give you a link to a discussion of people having Facebook accounts for their pets.

I bring this up because J made a Facebook account for Dog V2.0. (Dogs V2.5, V3.0, V3.1 and V3.2 have no accounts as of yet) At last check, Dog V2.0 has more friends on Facebook than I do. Feel free to draw your own conclusions about the grander meaning of this fact. I would probably include the phrase "anti-social bastard" in there somewhere, but do what you like.

Metric Football Finale

You may have noticed a distinct lack of World Cup blogging around here. That's because no one at YPS can be bothered to pay any attention to metric football. Neither can LabRat, but she's funnier than us on the subject:

World Cup: world’s most boring sport being totally ruined by world’s most irritating local tradition. World’s tallest midget protests.

We also give big props to anyone who uses the phrase "world's tallest midget", a frequently used idiom around the Manor. Let this be the final word on the subject until the World Cup rolls around again.

Unless, of course, the US manages to win the damn thing, in which case we will feel obligated to post something about Team America in between paroxysms of laughter.

It's Not News, It's Research!

In a ground-breaking piece of research from my alma mater, we learn that people, even if you give them complete information, often make shitty choices that benefit them short-term but screw them over the long run.

For examples, I suggest the whole of human history. Or any entitlement program of the US, if you're looking for something closer to home.

Quotopia

In lieu of actual content, I give you two quotes on Utopia. Our first comes from Jean-Francois Revel:

Utopia is not under the slightest obligation to provide results: its sole function is to allow its devotees to condemn what exists in the name of what does not.

Our second is from the always charming James Lileks:

I'm interested in keeping other people from building Utopia, because the more you believe you can create heaven on earth, the more likely you are to set up guillotines in the public square to hasten the process.

Two different thoughts expressing an underlying scepticism towards the dreamers of Utopia. I'd offer you a larger lesson, but I'm fresh out of big ideas.

Good Week

So to add to my week, Air America has finally given up the ghost and filed for bankruptcy. I guess running a business is harder than it looks. The comments are hilarious, too. The sky is falling because a radio network no one listened too and that was never financially solvent is finally closing down. Too many people are too stupid! Oh no!

The idea that other intelligent people might disagree with you is completely incomprehensible to the left.

Pattern Recognition

So, anybody remember Scott Ritter? Used to be a Marine... oh, wait, I'm sorry. He used to be on active duty in the Marine Corps, because there's no such thing as a former Marine. He's the guy that decided maybe Saddam didn't have any WMD after all. Coincidentally, he got $400K to make a movie that, curiously, never got released. He parleyed his celebrity into a couple of books and faded into obscurity.

Well, he's back, again, for a little issue that just seems to keep cropping up for him. Maybe he should be hanging out with this guy.

Nuke Geneva

It's the only way to be sure we stop them in their tracks.

I Have None

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but Regretsy is my new favorite website.

Sticker Dissonance

Driving in to work this morning, I saw a car with two bumper stickers that don't quite match up. One was an Obama-Biden campaign sticker. The other said "I'm A Constitution Voter".

Umm. Yeah.

Unless those stickers were applied by two different people, the level of cognitive dissonance required to hold both of those thoughts at the same time verges perilously close to madness.

Hah Hah!

Bashing British machinery never gets old. Especially since the bike has been in the shop since late May.

Open Letter To Fellow Residents

If you're going to go forth and place yourself out in front of everybody and try to demand change, you have to be prepared for a little blowback. Not everybody will agree with what you're trying to do, no matter how clear the case may seem to you. If you can't handle the blowback, perhaps you shouldn't be placing yourself in front of everybody. Criticism comes with the territory. If what you're trying to do is really important, you should be able to shrug off a little criticism to reach your goals. If you can't handle criticism or opposition, than either you and your fragile little psyche shouldn't be out there, or it's not really worth it to you to suffer through the process.

Furthermore, spending all your time complaining about how people treated you does nothing to advance the goal you're ostensibly working towards. To be blunt, it also makes you look like a thin-skinned whiny little bitch. Presumably you have some coping resources that don't involve putting your pity party on open display on the internet. You might try using those in private.

In short: Man up, nancy. People aren't always nice. Fucking deal with it.

Sincerely,
Adulthood

All Atwitter

Add another item to the list of things Twitter is good for.

Late Breaking News

So, in an attempt to distract myself from the horror show of politics and the economy, I present you with news you can use. This is opposed to what I've recently been subjected to, aka "news you'll get screwed by".

Anyhow, a comparison on blanket product alternatives. I'd just like to point out to the pinheads over at Gizmodo that perhaps the time to do this is in September or October, not the end of freakin' March. Up here in the Northern Hemisphere, spring has arrived. Unless you live in some godforsaken hellhole like, I dunno, Canadia, blanket season is pretty much over. Thanks for the review. Maybe I'll even remember it when fall rolls around.

Fiat Lux, Bitches

I'll be out taking my lovely wife to dinner, but I'm tempted to turn on every light in my house while we're gone.

Grandstanding, attention-grabbing, hair-shirt, idiotic nonsense that accomplishes nothing but making a bunch of over-privileged whiners feel good about themselves. And really, isn't that what's important?

Lunacy, with Bonuses!

So, the n00b woke up and realized that he looked like a fool and decided to speechify and remove all doubt.

Let me sum up the current AIG mess in my own inimitable fashion. We have here a collection of ignuts who managed to take one of the largest insurance companies in the world and drive it into the ground like a fucking tent peg. The head ignut was swapped out twice within the past year because of said contact with the earth. In an attempt to forestall the cascade of poo that would have resulted from AIG going tits up, your federal government handed them a staggering amount of money. Because the Congress (of whom the n00b was a member at the time) didn't want to engage in some sober, considered reflection on how to disburse $150 billion dollars, they basically gave it to the ignuts and said "Don't go broke again!" Strangely, this did not result in the kind of results Congress expected. Instead, the ignuts in charge of AIG handed out bonuses. Congress, in a valiant and so-far successful attempt to distract the public from their complicity in the bonus payments, pitched a wobbler.

Now, I neither know or care whether these guys deserve their bonuses. I do know it is not the business of the Congress to intervene in my relationship with my employer because a bunch of ignuts in DC do not like my pay structure. By extension, they shouldn't be doing it to AIG. Some on the idiot side of the debate have been squalling and screaming that it's the taxpayer's money and shouldn't be going to bonuses. News flash: once AIG took the money, it ain't the taxpayer's anymore. Here's another news flash: the time to extract conditions on the use of the money is before you hand it over, not after. Third news flash: when you enable poor behavior, you like like a hypocritical, sanctimonious imbecile for complaining about the very behavior you enabled. Given that trifecta of newsiness, Congress, Timmy the Tax Cheat, and the n00b all need to STFU about the issue. But I'm betting they won't

I am informed the Congress will be holding hearings on why the Tooth Fairy has failed in her obligation to prop up the economy next. It'll be at least as useful as anything they're currently doing. I also feel compelled to point out the proper solution for all this was to let AIG go bankrupt, cascade of poo notwithstanding. However, your elected representatives did not agree with me, which comes as a great surprise to us all, doesn't it?

Expensive Speech

So, read it and find something substantive. I found a bunch of empty-headed blather. I'd go through and pull out choice tidbits, but I haven't the time today. Perhaps later this evening.

Also, enjoy this lovely bit of Lovecraftian snark.