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f4f3Well OK, that’s not strictly speaking true. When they came for Jonathon Ross, accusing him of being the poster-boy for racism and sexism, and he retaliated by calling one of the posters stupid, I said I was on his side in this one. If someone called me racist and sexist, I’d be pretty upset and I’d reply. (If they said I was an outsider and knew nothing of the Genre, I’d definitely think they were stupid, even if I didn’t have a pedigree of writing comics and SF and promoting the genre in mainstream cultural outlets).
For this, someone I’ve known in comics circles for 20 years said that I was “Not a deliberate collaborator but your approach had that effect.”
Round about then I flung my toys out of the pram. I may have used the words “pitchfork” and “lynch mob”. I was also castigated for not taking it on trust that because Ross had been accused of racism and sexism he was, ipso facto, a racist sexist. I hadn’t done my research (the primary sources I had neglected to investigate, apparently, were the dozens of tweets showing his racism and sexism, many of which my accuser had personally retweeted).
By that time, the point was moot, since Ross had already offered to withdraw and the Convention had grabbed at his offer gratefully.
Ross, apparently, is a comedian. I’m not a huge fan of his, because I don’t watch talk shows, and I don’t go to too many awards dinners. I liked him on the BBC’s film show, and I thought his Vampire Mobsters comic was a bit meh, but showed a lot of promise for a first timer.
Apparently his crimes, which have made him an unfit person to present the Hugo Awards (and don’t get me started on the Hugo awards) was that he’d told jokes which had been construed as sexist, racist, or both, and that he hadn’t been sufficiently contrite.
Well you know who else that rules out from hosting our little awards ceremony? Bill Hicks. Billy Connolly. Billy Crystal (you’re not telling me that Miracle Max isn’t a Jewish caraciture? That his "When Harry Met Sally" character isn't a women hater?) Dave Allan. Chick Murray. Miranda Hart (her portrayal of large women as clumsy and inarticulate is degrading to large women everywhere). Sandi Toksvig (she was nasty about the Scots on News Quiz the other week). Briefly, anyone. Everyone. Anyone who can be accused (because the accusation is all it takes) of being sexist, racist, sizeist.
I know and admit that I’m not safe. For a start, I wouldn’t be able to present the awards (I’m white, male, middle aged). And if I look at my Twitter timeline, I’ve made comments that the Westminster government is greedy, heartless and obsessed with passing power to their friends. And though I haven’t checked lately, I’m sure some of them are women. Some of them might even be black. Maybe I should just turn myself in now? Plus, I read Flashman books. I'm a fan of Cerebus. And I laugh at them. Take me away, please, it's for my own good...
Starting with fair intentions of making fandom more inclusive, we’ve ended up with a Macarthy-ite community of witch hunts and lynch mobs, of guilt by association and by presumption.
Fandom is not a safe place for me, and I won’t be any part of it. For those of you who think this bullying and shaming is acceptable behaviour, ask yourself who’ll speak up when they come for you?
For this, someone I’ve known in comics circles for 20 years said that I was “Not a deliberate collaborator but your approach had that effect.”
Round about then I flung my toys out of the pram. I may have used the words “pitchfork” and “lynch mob”. I was also castigated for not taking it on trust that because Ross had been accused of racism and sexism he was, ipso facto, a racist sexist. I hadn’t done my research (the primary sources I had neglected to investigate, apparently, were the dozens of tweets showing his racism and sexism, many of which my accuser had personally retweeted).
By that time, the point was moot, since Ross had already offered to withdraw and the Convention had grabbed at his offer gratefully.
Ross, apparently, is a comedian. I’m not a huge fan of his, because I don’t watch talk shows, and I don’t go to too many awards dinners. I liked him on the BBC’s film show, and I thought his Vampire Mobsters comic was a bit meh, but showed a lot of promise for a first timer.
Apparently his crimes, which have made him an unfit person to present the Hugo Awards (and don’t get me started on the Hugo awards) was that he’d told jokes which had been construed as sexist, racist, or both, and that he hadn’t been sufficiently contrite.
Well you know who else that rules out from hosting our little awards ceremony? Bill Hicks. Billy Connolly. Billy Crystal (you’re not telling me that Miracle Max isn’t a Jewish caraciture? That his "When Harry Met Sally" character isn't a women hater?) Dave Allan. Chick Murray. Miranda Hart (her portrayal of large women as clumsy and inarticulate is degrading to large women everywhere). Sandi Toksvig (she was nasty about the Scots on News Quiz the other week). Briefly, anyone. Everyone. Anyone who can be accused (because the accusation is all it takes) of being sexist, racist, sizeist.
I know and admit that I’m not safe. For a start, I wouldn’t be able to present the awards (I’m white, male, middle aged). And if I look at my Twitter timeline, I’ve made comments that the Westminster government is greedy, heartless and obsessed with passing power to their friends. And though I haven’t checked lately, I’m sure some of them are women. Some of them might even be black. Maybe I should just turn myself in now? Plus, I read Flashman books. I'm a fan of Cerebus. And I laugh at them. Take me away, please, it's for my own good...
Starting with fair intentions of making fandom more inclusive, we’ve ended up with a Macarthy-ite community of witch hunts and lynch mobs, of guilt by association and by presumption.
Fandom is not a safe place for me, and I won’t be any part of it. For those of you who think this bullying and shaming is acceptable behaviour, ask yourself who’ll speak up when they come for you?
no subject
Date: 2014-03-02 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-02 03:14 pm (UTC)I saw someone being attacked for being racist and misogynistic, for not having any connection to the genre, and generally being insulted and bullied out of something he'd volunteered for at the request of a friend.
So far as I know, no one was calling him on anything he'd said - they were just saying he was misogynistic and racist, and unfit to do a presenting job because of things he's said over a twenty year period. That didn't strike me as an acceptable way to act, and I said so. I won't bring in the actual insults made, since I hadn't read them at the time, but it wasn't pretty.
Where did I say it was ok for middle aged men to be sexist and racist in fandom? Obviously you can't be talking about Ross - he's made a very respectful documentary on Dikto and presented comic awards in the past with no racism or sexism. So where did I say that? You've made it up and, to be honest, it's very insulting to someone who has no history of being any such thing. It does look like guilt by association.
And I'm not flouncing. I don't have the figure for it...