Midnight pleasure cruise through shark-infested waters

Okay, I think most people who'd care have already seen the Howard Hendrix diatribe in the SFWA community. Stephen up there in my icon is putting things a bit more extremely than I would, though I was seriously tempted to use this icon when responding in the community. What's interesting in reading the comments, particularly those defending him, is how many people higher up in the organization are missing the point. This is only one incident in a long series, but it exemplifies a problem that many SFWAns and potential-SFWAns have been butting up against for a while now.

Take, for example, this (emphasis mine):

Wow, indeed. I had no idea that Howard feels that strongly. I take issue with the term scab, too, because SFWA is not a union and there are no picket lines to cross. He does exemplify the belief that the free distribution of fiction, etc. on the Internet will hurt, rather than help, professional authors in the long run, and rather than calling him names or scoffing, it might be helpful to see why an author in his position, heavily invested in the current publishing model, might feel that way.

The problem here is that there are really two issues involved, and only one being addressed. I don't think most people object to his beliefs (i.e. e-publishing and free publishing = bad). I think everyone agrees he's entitled to express them. I think many people disagree with his beliefs.

I think what many people (myself included) object to is the venom in which those beliefs are steeped.

And I think that the problem is that this kind of venomous diatribe is what many non-SFWAns see as representative of SFWA.

This has come up multiple times in multiple arguments that I've seen since I started paying attention to various SFWA communities and newsgroups. The standard response from the higher-ups seems to be "oh, well of course not ALL SFWAns feel this way, but what're you going to do about the vocal minority?", and there's a tendency to refuse to acknowledge that this is a very real problem, and a threat to SFWA and all the good it is capable of doing.

I used to be one of those writers who firmly believed that it'd be a cold day in hell before I'd join SFWA -- attitudes like the one expressed in the diatribe are why. Since reading opposing views on places like the Whatever and the electionblog, I'm coming to feel differently. But things like this coming from the current elected vice president are not helping. If SFWA is going to be relevant to writers in the age of technology, it needs to be able to listen to opposing views without stamping its feet and crying "You're all wrong, and anyone who disagrees with me is stupid and evil!"

It's a little like conversations with Creationists at the museum. I can and do have civil conversations with Creationists all the time about Creation, Evolution, and the contents of the galleries. But this diatribe is more akin to the Creationist who comes screaming into the gallery and accuses me of being a vile heathen who's going to hell for teaching this evolution filth. I want absolutely nothing further to do with people like that -- and I put absolutely no stock in anything they have to say. You may in fact have a valid point, but if you bury it in excrement, few people have the patience to wade through the shit to find it.

I think the take-home message in this case is that if you want people to take you seriously and listen to what you have to say, you're free to disagree with them -- just don't be a douche.

ETA: I will say that the best thing to come out of this is the icon Robin made.
posted by Sarah E. at 1:28 PM

Arms...like....noooodles!!!

Ow. Seriously ow. Dancing with a veil? Sooooo much fun -- but your arms are dead by the end of it. Still, it was very swooshy, and a great way to spend a Thursday night. Laura has a great sense of humour, and really, dancing with a veil is all about attitude. Alice, Karina and I spent a lot of time laughing. Yes, there was some veil-in-the-face, and Karina and I ended up tangling our veils, and my shoulders are killing me, but this is exactly why we're going to dance class. We have a great time, and we get to jingle and play with veils.

Speaking of jingling and playing with veils (how's THAT for a segue), the War for the Oaks Trailer is online, for anyone who missed it (I can't believe I did). No, there's not a movie -- it's more a low (LOOOOOW) budget trailer Will Shetterly made for the movie-that-might-have-been. And it's a good trailer for the book. And apparently the Phouka was one of the cops in the "Trash" episode of Firefly. And it's also a lot of fun.
posted by Sarah E. at 12:28 AM

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