Posted on 05/24/2022 10:54:16 AM PDT by texas booster
I once found woke ideology perfectly summed up by conservative commentator Jon Gabriel:
a religion with many paths to damnation, but none to redemption.
No matter what trails you blaze, what ground you break, how stanch and formidable an ally for The Cause™, you will eventually face your unpersoning at the hands of the Neojacobins. Just ask SFWA’s most recently appointed Grand Master, Mercedes Lackey.
One can hardly imagine an author that could serve as a more suitable avatar of science fiction and fantasy’s leftward arc over the past 40 years than Mercedes Lackey. The protégé of Marion Zimmer Bradley is largely credited for introducing mainstream fantasy’s first openly gay hero, Vanyel Ashkevron in 1989’s Magic’s Pawn, the first book in her The Last Herald-Mage trilogy.
While that series of novels put the issue front and center, she’d woven sympathetic character treatments into prior stories set in the world of Valdemar. What she built in those books would eventually span a truly epic length of dozens of novels over the course of thousands of in-world years. From the series’ debut in 1987 to its most recent entry, Into the West (set to be published June 21 of this year) Lackey’s work has never strayed from its humanizing and loving portrayal of LGBT characters.
She has been rightly held up as a pioneer in the genre and a champion for those who sought out representation of that sort. Hers was not merely low-grade erotic lip-service, either. It was quality fantasy writing that stood the test of time.
Then she misspoke on a panel.
On May 21, Lackey was appointed Damon Knight Grand Master at this year’s Nebula Awards. It’s the highest honor SFWA can bestow to one of its member authors; with it, she joins the ranks of the likes of Gene Wolf, Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock and William Gibson just to name a few.
The same day, she was speaking on a “Romancing Sci-Fi & Fantasy” panel during which she gave praise to fellow Grand Master Samuel Delaney, who is black. While the exact context, tone and manner of what was precisely said is not known, at some point Lackey, 72, referred to him as “colored”, as opposed to the currently acceptable term of “person of color”.
Regardless of how it came across, it seems there is virtually unanimous agreement that there was no malice behind it.
The fallout was predictably swift and naturally, unforgiving. After a groveling apology by SFWA, they further stated that online access to the panel was shut down, Lackey was to be removed from future panels, and they were conferring with other panelists as to how they would prefer to proceed, as well as offering to “edit out” the offensive slur.
With one single instance of an unintentional misstep, a 40 year legacy was set ablaze.
And like any true show trial, it didn’t stop with her; Lackey’s husband Larry Dixon (@LarryDixonTGK), a celebrated artist and author in his own right who was also attending, suddenly found himself persona non grata:
Hmm, “comfort elves”, are those like the “comfort women” that Japan enjoyed in WW2?
She was bitten by the poisonous beast she created.
Sympathy?
None whatsoever.
The Calvinist influence is very strong with Philip K. Dick.
He was totally fascinated with the issue of free will vs determinism—that led him into the paradoxes of time loops of various kinds.
I prefer his short stories to his novels—he throws out some wild ideas and leaves it to the reader to think about the implications.
Several of his short stories led to well known movies, of course—”Total Recall” and “Minority Report” are probably the most well known.
“Minority Report” is very deep stuff—that and the “Electric Ant” are the two PKD short stories I would recommend to anyone new to him.
Possible PKD was pulled into MK Ultra?
He was in the right place, at the right time, with the right disposition.
There are a lot of rumors about PKD’s possible relationship with government intelligence agencies—either as victim or agent/informant (or maybe both!).
I have yet to see anything persuasive or conclusive, though—maybe somebody will offer a death-bed confession on the topic...
Absolutely ridiculous that it’s come to this.
Seriously, I was half-expecting that the pro-LGBT writer had said something about trans-women (the reason they want to cancel J.K.Rowling). But using an older term, and then banning her for it? They’re becoming a joke.
I know people who had goals of becoming members of SFWA. And once they made it, they didn’t hang around.
Also, note that unlike the Hugo, which was voted on by the fans, the Nebulas are voted on by other writers (SFWA members).
Yes it is, but if you look at the personality types involved with the public face of SF, it's inevitable that it would come to this.
Or with the "public face" of anything nowadays, I guess.
Heinlein has a lot of good stuff, but he definitely went towards the alternative sexual theories towards the end. Even TMIAHM had that linear polygamy thing.
It’s a confusing thing for many when Theresa Heinz-Kerry and Elon Musk are African Americans, and Nelson Mandela is not. Even the newspapers famously botch that.
I have no sympathy for any level of woke pandering. A monkey pox upon them all.
As you say, Heinlein was definitely “out there” — a true free-thinker.
The well=known black writer is also openly gay and has written about it forever. He is also elderly.
I like Delaney’s work, especially his short stories. Not into fantasy, so Lackey is not someone with whom I’m familiar.
The social justice twits have politicized science fiction to the point of ridicule....of them.
Granted, that's a small sampling, and doesn't speak to the rank-and-file who make of the bulk of the membership.
Mob mentality, I guess.
Exactly...Eventually, when there’s no “enemies” remaining, the Left hunt each other...
Pretty soon being straight will be rebellion.
Lackey’s Valdemar books are generally pretty good reads, though some of them get quite preachy about woke crap. The Vanyel books were actually quite good despite the gay content - he is a self-sacrificing hero whose sexuality is pretty much incidental to the plot. There are several other gay / bi characters in the books, but it’s never in your face.
Funny that she is cancelled for something that the “president” got away with. Maybe her real sin is not making perversion central to the plots.
In The Forever War, the protagonist travels to the future (by going at light speed) and finds that homosexuality is the norm. Everyone feels uncomfortable around him because he's straight. Being straight is "queer."
Then a drunk lesbian comes on to him, and he realizes that she's really heterosexual, but living in the closet, pretending to be gay.
One thing that always did bother me about Heinlein was his apparent affinity for Islam.
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