Camestros Felapton

FELAPTONL

You Haven’t Written About Sad Puppies For A Long Time

True, true. So a summary of various goings on or not going on as the case may be.

Mad Genius covered a few cause célèbres a few days ago including the fuss around Amélie Wen Zhao’s book Blood Heir, and the Mystery Writers of America pulling an award for Linda Fairstein because of her involvement in the prosecution of the Central Park Five. Amid this there was a section on the Nebula Award fuss around 20booksto50K’s reading list:

If you aren’t up-to-date on what this refers to, a so-called slate was put together by a member of a FB group of indie and small press authors. It was, in fact, meant to be a reading list, not a slate for voting. The person responsible has since apologized. But, oh no, the “damage” had been done and it was done by those evil Indies. How dare they try to manipulate the Nebs?
Sound familiar? Remind you of some of the arguments against the SPs?
Note also, how there is no condemnation for the person or persons who took information from a private social media group and made it public. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean folks aren’t out to get you.

https://madgeniusclub.com/2019/04/30/tuesday-morning-roundup/

It’s the standard and factually incorrect “trad v indie” version of events that ignores that the nominees included people with both trad and indie publications, some of whom were very much SFWA ‘insiders’ and that they were nominated in categories against other works that were independently published or that the most vehement criticism came from indie published authors.

Meanwhile at Mad Genius Club, Dave Freer is taking a break from his regular posts: https://madgeniusclub.com/2019/05/06/a-leave-of-absence/

Speaking of Dave Freer, Louis Antonelli has started his own short fiction magazine. Currently it is a generic Blogger page but from small things big things can grow: https://siriussciencefiction.blogspot.com/ I’d say ‘good luck’ to it and leave it at that but it comes with this rant which includes some weird personal attacks http://louantonelli.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-death-of-live-and-let-live.html The greatest ire from the Sad Puppies has always been towards people who attempted to bridge divides.

“The Soviet Union subverted and infiltrated college campuses during the Vietnam War era in an attempt to topple the U.S. without a fight. It didn’t work, but it did result in the unusual societal outcome that the most spoiled and privileged segments of society are also the most leftist. Today’s liberal leaders combine the snobbery of the Met Club with the ideology of the Khmer Rouge.”

Okedokee. Couldn’t get any more paranoidly conspiratorial than that? Why yes! Yes, it can!

“Once the sci-fi establishment stuffed the ballot box by buying thousands of WorldCon memberships to euthanize the Sad Puppies in the 2015 Hugo vote, it assured the irrelevance of the award. The old institutions remain, but they are like dusty trophies on the mantle of a cob-webbed private club. New ones are rising up because that 98 percent of sci fi authors need some place to call home. The Dragon Awards have already clobbered both the Hugos and Nebulas in both quality and prestige.”

Glad to see Lou is sticking to his usual journalistic standards of evidence based claims.

Speaking of grandiose plans to create alternative venues free from SJW influence, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Creators Guild remains unchanged from February 2018 https://sffcguild.com/blog/

And speaking of the SFFC Guild, Richard Paolinelli and Declan Finn have fallen out with Jon Del Arroz. Timothy’s erstwhile client posted an unfunny meme about the Twin Towers and Infinity War (a skyline pic of the towers sort of evaporating Thanos-snap style, with George W Bush’s face superimposed poorly onto Thanos’s head). Insensitive and offensive? Certainly. The most offensive thing JDA has ever posted? Hardly. Even so, this was a line crossed for some. JDA characterises it thusly:

“On the personal front, I’ve been under heavy attack from — not the left — but centrist right wing authors over the last week. They’ve pushed hard against me, both in public and in private. I’ve shared some of the ridiculous things said about me.”

http://delarroz.com/2019/05/03/theres-a-war-on-for-your-mind-fighting-the-real-battles/

The list of people Jon has now permanently alienated in the course of his short career grows ever longer.

Speaking of meme sharing harassers, I hadn’t visited Vox Day’s site for a long time but these days his main concern is Royal Babies. Apparently (according to Vox) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle haven’t really had a baby, which is his follow up conspiracy theory to Meghan Markle not really being pregnant. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/05/fake-baby-finally-arrives.html Now, sure, I get that racism is a powerful drug that sends its victims into a world of self-parody but didn’t Vox at least once try to project a veneer of being a serious commentator on world affairs?

camestrosfelapton

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45 responses to “You Haven’t Written About Sad Puppies For A Long Time”

    • Yes, this whole royal baby conspiracy theory makes zero sense and is also such a weird and minor point to hinge a conspiracy on. After all, the little still nameless boy will be seventh in line to the throne, i.e. he has almost no chance of ever becoming king. A conspiracy to invent Prince George would make sense, but why invent a baby for Harry and Meghan? Even by Vox Day’s admittedly low standard, this one is just bizarre.

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      • It was pretty much impossible to avoid knowing it in the UK – for one thing, the tabloids were continually sniping at the Duchess of Sussex for ‘flaunting’ her bump (i.e., um, going out in public wearing something other than a burlap sack and occasionally cradling/ touching her belly in that way pregnant women often do) and for having the temerity to want a home birth and to not do a photo-call five minutes after she delivered.

        Mind you, I’ve gone from not caring a damn about Meghan (I’m not particularly interested in the Royals at the best of times, and she’s the wife of the spare), to being something of a Duchess of Sussex partisan, because the press have been so foul about her, and it’s fairly obvious that much of it is consciously or unconsciously racially motivated (the complaints about her hair not being as ‘nice’ as the Duchess of Cambridge’s, for instance).

        Liked by 3 people

    • This whole thing has been Beale at his most AM-Radio listening Midwesterner, searching for a conspiracy to latch onto just so that he can. It’s like QAnon, only a much smaller scale.

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    • That’s a weird one. Presumably in about eighty years from now when WiIlliam is deceased (those Windsors seem to live a fair while) little Archie will still be about fifth (plus any more babies William has) in succession. Archie probably has a future as an army officer/new hospital ribbon cutter/tourism money generator that’s really not going to be particularly prominent. Weird fodder for conspiracy.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Camestros Felapton: Glad to see Lou is sticking to his usual journalistic standards of evidence based claims.

    For someone who keeps claiming to be a “journalist”, Antonelli is certainly dedicated to posting a lot of falsehoods. 🙄

    Liked by 5 people

  4. The Mad Genii are somewhat behind the time here, since the 20Booksto50K Nebula not-a-slate blew up in February, while the Linda Fairstein thing was in 2018. And as usual, they’re wrong, too.

    Meanhwile, the Antonelli article reaches almost Hoytian heights of “Marxists under the bed” conspiracies and Antonelli of all people bemoaning the death of “live and let live” is clearly evidence for the death of irony.

    As for JDA having a fallout with his fellow travellers, if you’re too toxic for those folks, it should really give you reason to reconsider your life choices. Alas, I fear that JDA won’t avail himself of that opportunity.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Cora Buhlert: Antonelli of all people bemoaning the death of “live and let live” is clearly evidence for the death of irony.

      Considering the depth and breadth of Antonelli’s stalking, harassment, and abuse against other people in just the last few years, for him to complain that other people are not willing to “live and let live” is certainly the height of hypocrisy. 🙄

      Liked by 6 people

      • Having received the Kindle version of one of his books as a “gift” from the author (after I mentioned him on File 770), I feel qualified to state this:

        He’s better at trolling than at writing.

        And he’s not very good at trolling.

        Liked by 4 people

  5. Part of ‘live and let live’ is letting bygones be bygones, Lou. If Gardner if truly the editor you admire for rising above politics, be Gardner! Instead, you’re staring down your nose at liberals and Millennials, complaining about how snobby and elitist your perceived enemies are, and committing the exact same sin you accuse them of — the exact sin you praise Gardner of rising above! You’re putting your politics first and not respecting that there are people of good faith on the opposing political side. Be Gardner, Lou!

    Alas, he probably won’t read this and he’s gone and shot himself in the foot with that blog post. I almost feel sorry for him but Pups seem to have a bad habit of blowing a hole in their own foot and then blaming others for the calamity.

    -kat

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    • katster: I almost feel sorry for him but Pups seem to have a bad habit of blowing a hole in their own foot and then blaming others for the calamity.

      Remember that Antonelli refers to being No-Awarded at the 2015 Hugos as “this horrible thing that happened to me”, rather than “this horrible thing that I brought on myself with my enthusiastic participation in getting my works cheated onto the Hugo ballot”.

      Personal Accountability is not in the Puppies’ vocabulary.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Why on earth would they be faking this irrelevant baby? I would go find it on Ted’s blog but he’s become so deeply nonsensical I don’t think it’ll help.

    Good to see the rest of the Puppyverse is spinning its wheels and is virtually the same as it always was.

    Liked by 1 person

      • Apparently this is a fairly common conspiracy theory and a number of other celebrities have been accused of faking their pregnancies. Meghan Markle unfortunately is a natural target for these kinds of smears on the far right end of the political spectrum.

        Vox has also realized that “serious” and “rational” don’t sell to the people he’s trying to sell to, so he’s dropped the mask.

        Liked by 1 person

      • This “fake pregnancy” conspiracy theory is one I really don’t get. Why would you fake a pregnancy and walk around with a fake bump for months, drink no alcohol in public, fake doctor appointments, etc…? It’s a lot of work and annoying to fake that and what would you gain from it beyond people giving up their seat on the bus for you (which isn’t a concern for the Duchess of Sussex)? The only people for whom faking a pregnancy makes theoretical sense would be for a monarchy in need of an heir. But the UK has heirs enough, so who cares if there’s another potential heir?

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        • I’ll concede that the Royal Family probably have stranger ideas about pregnancy than most but even so it’s hard to see why anybody would think faking a pregnancy would be a smart idea.

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      • I take it that the idea is that a mixed-race royal baby is meant to give a boost to progressive causes. I think this might even be true to an extent – cf. Allan Ramsay’s portrait of Queen Charlotte, emphasising her (very remote) African ancestry, painted in support of the campaign against slavery. That this would actually move someone to fake a pregnancy is, i’d agree, unlikely.

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  8. “The situation is getting a lot more serious. It’s compounding. Facebook yesterday announced they were banning Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, four of our best commentators, journalists, and researchers who are strong influencers on the culture. ”

    Well, if Worldcon needs to submit more information about JDA:s character to the court, he has certainly provided them with the perfect quote.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the point of the theory that there was no baby is that it lets them believe that there are no black royals. It’s much like the way the far-Right keeps trying to argue that Obama was the worst president ever. It’s important to them to believe that a black man couldn’t possibly be qualified to be president.

    Liked by 4 people

    • It’s that, and also “Meghan Markle is an evil witch”, and “Argle-bargle-gobbledygook-f’hoy!”–which is to say, nonsense they say simply so their opponents have to waste time trying to point out how it’s not true.

      Liked by 2 people

  10. I’ve no idea which of those “articles” is dumber, so I’ll just leave you with the vital news that the non-existent baby is now named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Firstly it is about time that the good people of Riverdale are recognised by the Royals but I thought it was Jughead who wore the crown.

      In return I shall reward you with the news that Declan Finn fell out with Brian Nieimmier on Twitter. Brian was dismissive about anybody who went to see Endgame because arglebargledemonsdisneynotredam, whereas Declan would see it because John C Wright liked almost all of it (aside from the one gay character & Captain Marvel). Brian then threw NPC memes at Declan and Declan got upset.

      Liked by 1 person

        • I’ve a half-baked theory…
          The past few years, mainly because of the impact of Gamergate, the internet-right convinced itself that it had (or was close to having) inordinate power over popular culture. They didn’t understand that GG was the peak of their influence, that GG was due to very lucky conditions for them and they gained far less than they thought.
          Endgame blundered out into the world of pop culture in the past few weeks in a way that was unavoidable and at a scale that dominated pop culture conversations. They could either join in (& hence collaborate with a world they claim is SJW controlled) or opt out and miss out on the fun. They all got grumpy with each other as a consequence.

          Liked by 2 people

          • Yes indeed. Their problem is that “their” stuff just isn’t that good, and they need to decide whether they’re prepared to keep on cutting off their noses to spite their faces or not. The nose-choppers are going to get resentful of the insufficiently dedicated collaborators. Purity wars, etc.

            Liked by 2 people

      • So people won’t forego Star Wars and Marvel movies to read Brian Niemeier or JCW, quelle surprise! And neither WorldCon nor the Hugos are dying and those SJW books no one likes are outselling most puppy books. No wonder they’re frustrated.

        Liked by 1 person

      • I’m not up on the latest hip Internet abbreviations. What is an “NPC meme”? Non Politically Correct?

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        • “Non player character” it’s a complex insult aimed originally at the left because supposedly our responses are so predictable that it is like interacting with a NPC in a video game. Visually it is indicated by a roughly drawn featureless grey head.

          Brian threw the NPC meme at Declan in a irony free canned response reminiscent of Brian himself being a NPC.

          Liked by 1 person

      • Yeah, the NPC meme was such a self-own from the start. Nothing says ‘I’m a real person and you’re just an Non-Player Character’ like you and several dozen of your friends all sending nigh-identical memes…

        @Bonnie:
        The first I’d heard of it was from We Hunted the Mammoth back in October, when David Futrelle did a few articles on it:

        My response to the hundreds of NPC memers who have swarmed my Twitter saying identical things, like normal human beings do

        Over the weekend, I put up a brief post about the sudden proliferation of “NPC” accounts on Twitter — noting the small irony that right-wing trolls were using a veritable army of sockpuppet accounts all spouting identical rhetoric and posting identical memes in order to prove that liberals and leftist are soulless, robotic “Non-Player Characters.”

        It seems to have been a generic insult on 4chan and the like for a few years, but really took off in memes just last October.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Key & Peele have a great sketch about black republicans that is weirdly reminiscent of all this crap.

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      • Those who remember the early days of PuppyDom will be amused to recall that back in ancient era, the ur-Pups demanded that popular fiction like Avengers must get Hugos (yes, yes, I know, Avengers did get a Hugo, but forget it, Brad was rolling).

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  11. Snort, these reports always make me think of Lucy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown:

    “Do you know what I intend? I intend to be a queen. When I grow up I’m going to be the biggest queen there ever was, and I’ll live in a big palace and when I go out in my coach, all the people…all the people will wave and I will shout at them. And…and in the summertime I will go to my summer palace and I’ll wear my crown in swimming and everything, and all the people will cheer and I will shout at them… What do you mean I can’t be queen? Nobody should be kept from being a queen if she wants to be one. It’s undemocratic….It’s usually just a matter of knowing the right people. I bet a few pieces of well
    placed correspondence and I get to be queen in no time…I know what I’ll do. If I can’t be a queen, then I’ll be very rich. I’ll work and work until I’m very rich and then I will buy myself a queendom…Yes, I will buy myself a queendom and then I’ll kick out the old queen and take over the whole operation myself. I will be head queen.”

    Liked by 2 people

  12. The British royal family is;a cross between a sinecure and part of the tourist and entertainment industries. From that angle, one of them marrying an actual working actress makes sense. And from that angle, even if all the conspiracy theories were true–even if the baby wasn’t really eligible for the throne because Queen Elizabeth is a reptilian alien and thus not a Protestant descendant of Sophia of Hanover–it would make no difference except to the TV ratings and how many.people pay to visit the Tower of London.

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