Free Republic

... I know what it's like to love an author despite his or her controversial statements about real-life political issues. And I also feel that this year's Hugo slate is an unmitigated outrage that has serious implications for the future of speculative fiction. Next week, on Aug. 22, voters will decide if these awards are still about celebrating excellent writing and innovative ideas, or if they are just another blood-drenched battleground in the conflict between white male traditionalists and everyone else. For those who don't follow the genre-fiction awards circuit, here's what's going on. A shifting contingent of science fiction...

Social justice warriors believe in an extreme left-wing ideology that combines feminism, progressivism, and political correctness into a totalitarian system that attempts to censor speech and promote fringe lifestyles while actively discriminating against men, particularly white men. They are the internet activist arm of Western progressivism that acts as a vigilante group to ensure compliance and homogeny of far left thought. The true definition of SJW is up for debate, but most generally it has become a catch-all term that describes feminists and liberals who actively try to solve the perceived social injustices of modern society by organizing in online...

The Social Justice Warriors briefly had a new hero in the battle to prove that all cops are racists this summer and it came from the hotbed of racial intolerance known as the Connecticut suburbs. A professor at a community college in Hartford was pulled over on a rather basic traffic violation and was accosted by the police officer in a way which clearly demonstrated racial profiling. Or so she claimed. According to Fox CT, Minati Roychoudhuri, 32, was driving on a highway on May 9 when she was pulled over in the town of Wethersfield. She was cited...

I was reading a post-mortem on the delicious Sad Puppies/Hugo nominations imbroglio last week when an interesting point came up. George R.R. Martin, the "Game of Thrones" chappie, wrote on his Not a Blog that Sad Puppies commenters on his blog should lose the Social Justice Warrior, or SJW moniker. Because courtesy. >>>Let's not throw around insults, or charges of misogyny and racism, please. And Puppies, sad or happy, if any of you feel inclined to reply, please avoid the term "Social Justice Warriors" or SJWs. I am happy to call you Sad Puppies since you named yourself that, but...

Yet again, conservatives on the Supreme Court are poised to do significant damage to minority communities When discussing race, the conservative argument is best expressed by the famous words of Chief Justice John Roberts: “The best way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Translation: America has done bad things in its history, but those bad things are gone now, so we should move past those horrors and look forward. Conservatives believe that if blacks and Latinos simply work hard, get a good education and earn a good income, historical...

Earlier this month, two fan conventions came to London: Nine Worlds and the World Science Fiction Convention, commonly know as Worldcon. Worldcon is in its 72nd year, a huge old dinosaur (or perhaps an aging dragon) of science-fiction fandom. This year more than 10,000 people paid for memberships, which included entrance to the annual Hugo Awards. The official guests of honor were revered science-fiction and fantasy authors, editors, and illustrators, all of whom were in their 60s and 70s. Nine Worlds was smaller, younger, and catered to a more varied crowd including comics, TV, and fanfic followers. But since both...