Re: On Elizabeth Moon, perceived anti-Muslim bigotry, and being uninvited as Guest of Honor at WisCon

The short version: political correctness is pervasive and has a chilling
effect on sensible people trying to keep some appropriate middle ground on
the internet.

The longer version has everything to do with Elizabeth Moon (in general) and
Ray Gun Revival magazine (in particular).

My concern is that we're seeing a burgeoning new age of (for lack of a
better term) PC McCarthyism. Orson Scott Card has the temerity to object to
homosexuality on a scriptural / moral basis (from the perspective of
Mormonism). John C. Wright did the same thing from a perspective of
Catholicism. Now Elizabeth Moon wrote a reasoned opinion piece about getting
along in the wake of 9/11 where we aren't killing each other over religious
/ cultural things, and instead of concentrating on that, people are
concentrating on some of her language on the way to her conclusion,
suggesting in the process of some non-analytical thinking that she is this
horrible bigot (she's Christian! she's Texan!) who deserves to die, or at
least should be uninvited from a Convention that's known for being edgy and
counter-cultural.

Instead of letting the invitation stand and having (or not having) dialogue
about the things she wrote, valuing her as a writer (hello, the apparent
reason for the Con to begin with), they're devaluing her as a human and
ignoring her actual writing (which is award-winning good).

Here's how this shakes out: one of the things we're looking at for RGR is
the ability to pay full Pro rates for certain 'big fish' to draw attention /
traffic to the new site when we go live again in February. One of the names
I threw out is John C. Wright (because he is one of the best current space
opera authors - he appeared in the Space Opera omnibus anthology a few years
ago, and had one of the best stories in that edition, which spanned from the
30s to the present. He also was featured prominently in the New Space Opera
2 anthology, batting clean-up by having his story appear as the last story
in the anthology, one of two positions you want a strong story. His space
opera bona fides are very strong. So in a conference call, when I threw his
name out as one of the people we could pursue, there was an audible hiss as
people sucked in their breath in shock. The people on the call were already
considering him persona non gratia because of his non-sci-fi views. The best
consensus I could wrangle is that we agreed I could go after John C. Wright,
but should probably start with another author who is more palatable for the
general space opera reading (and politically-correct) readership. He's one
of the best space opera authors currently writing - I'm not going to not go
after him because some people don't agree with his stance on gays. Harlan
Ellison is a world-class dick but that never stopped people from going after
him for their anthologies because of his actual writing prowess. I don't see
how this is any different.

The internet has made it possible for those who scream the loudest to bully
public opinion off of center out of fear. I'm not exactly sure how to fight
back effectively overall, but I do know that I'm going after John C. Wright
to write something for RGR just as soon as I can, and damn the PC Nazis
anyway. And guess what? Orson Scott Card writes him some excellent space
opera, and I'll be going after him in the future as well.

Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |


On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 4:18 PM, Karl <[email protected]> wrote:

>  Wow.  Moon is a favorite of mine, and this is really a shock.
>
>
>
> Her original post was well stated and written.  I don’t see that she went
> wrong in her tone, even if I disagree with her conclusion.
>
>
>
> This was just wrong all the way around.  There was nothing remotely racist
> in her post to warrant the label racist screed.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On
> Behalf Of *Johne Cook
> *Sent:* Monday, October 25, 2010 11:44 AM
> *To:* DADL (off topic)
> *Subject:* [DADL-OT] On Elizabeth Moon, perceived anti-Muslim bigotry, and
> being uninvited as Guest of Honor at WisCon
>
>
>
> WisCon prides itself as the leading Feminist Science Fiction convention
> (and just happens to take place in Madison, WI, just up the road from where
> I live). On 9/11/2010, sci-fi author Elizabeth Moon made a post that she
> thought was even-minded and rational (and which touched on the proposed
> mosque to be built near Ground Zero), but which quickly took a hard turn and
> attracted a lot of heat. After a day or so of trying to defend herself, Moon
> took down the long and heated comments thread. A month or more later, as a
> result of the combination of her original post and her subsequent comments,
> WisCon uninvited Moon, setting off a firestorm of discussion.
>
> This is her original post: http://e-moon60.livejournal.com/335480.html
>
> These are some followups:
> WisCon Disinvites Gues-of-Honor Elizabeth Moon<http://sf3.org/2010/10/elizabeth-moon/>.
> Reactions from Eleanor Arnason<http://eleanorarnason.blogspot.com/2010/10/elizabeth-moon.html>,
> Mike Glyer <http://file770.com/?p=4591>, Cheryl Morgan<http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?p=9663>,
> Lawrence Person <http://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=2744>, Cat Valente<http://yuki-onna.livejournal.com/613791.html>,
>
>
> Nancy Kress was late to the debate, but some of the best comments
> after-the-fact have appeared here (I'd read Moon's post and go straight
> here, in fact):
> http://nancykress.blogspot.com/2010/10/late-to-debate.html
>
> Will Shetterly:
> http://shetterly.blogspot.com/2010/10/6-reasons-wiscon-should-not-have.html
>
> Johne Cook
> | http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |
>
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