Oh goody, I am apparently a Scab

[theblackmare]

I just followed the links on malnpudl's post to the rant from the current VP of the Science Fiction Writers of America about those who give professional level work away for free on the internet. You can read the rant here. The comments, too, are excellent and worthy. He used -- incorrectly -- the word "scabs" to describe those who distribute their work for less or for free when others have fought to be fairly paid. Apparently his cabin in the woods has no dictionary and he, for all his years in college, did not take American history to learn what that word means and what it does not mean. The rant is worth reading as an item of anthropology. The comments are worth reading, too. Plus, you seldom get to see such a public display of cowardice: he refuses all internet interactions, and had a friend post the rant on his behalf, and is refusing to engage anyone not in SFWA [i.e. who has access to the membership directory and his addresses] in furthering this conversation. The only thing I can say that is positive is that at least he knows he shouldn't run for president of the organization. He seems to think there is sufficient support for him that he had to write this to dissuade a grass-roots write-in voting campaign. Surely the members or SFWA are savvy enough to know he's not their best choice.

I would also point out how happy the sex workers in places where sex work is legal and unionized [e.g. Las Vegas and the Netherlands] will be to read this. Taken to a logical conclusion in another field, he is saying that no one should engage in sexual activities with the partner of their choice for free when there are folks out there who have organized and set standards for the proper fees for such work. Clearly love has nothing at all to do with work or our motivations for doing it, even when it requires sacrifice in other areas of our lives.

I have more to say on this topic, but it is sufficiently divergent that I will put it in a separate entry.