Moon v. Wiscon Follow-up

[jimhines]

I’m still sorting through my feelings on Wiscon rescinding Elizabeth Moon’s Guest of Honor invitation.

It’s not the first time something like this has happened.  William Sanders’ GoH invitation to ICFA in 2008 was rescinded after his “sheet head” rejection letter, for example.  (Thanks to Nick Mamatas for that historical pointer.)

Basically, I

Comments

[swan_tower]

Once the blow-up happened, the only graceful solution I can see would have been for Moon to decline the invitation. (If, god forbid, I ever find myself in a similar position, I hope I'll do exactly that; there's no way it was going to be a fun weekend for her, and I don't think the promotional value of being present would have been very high, which leaves us without terribly good arguments for why she should go.)

Since she didn't do that, I do think Wiscon disinviting her was the right choice. For me to think otherwise, somebody would have to convince me of a specific benefit that would be gained by her presence. It wouldn't be the chance to change her mind -- she'd already shown a distinct unwillingness to engage her critics in dialogue -- so that leaves the other option, which is that the people she hurt ought to learn from her. Obviously I'm not a fan of that one. All other teachable moments and learning opportunities and so on will carry on regardless; they don't need her there for those to happen.

[gerbilicous]

This is a really hard thing for me, because I love Elizabeth Moon with the fervor that only someone who grew up reading her books can achieve. That said, this is why I hate learning about authors, because sometimes they say things that color my opinion of their books. I have a lot of authors I love for their books, but not their politics. And though I don't personally agree with Ms. Moon, I respect her right to say whatever she wants to on her own blog, and I intend to keep loving her books. I also respect Wiscon's right to uninvite her. It's their con. I personally would not have uninvited her because it's a scifi/fantasy con, not a political one

[trinker]

WisCon's a feminist SF/F con that's been doing a lot of work in recent years on racism and other issues of disprivilege, though. The Carl Brandon Society has a significant presence at Wiscon.

It's not just a small regional SF/F convention.

[gerbilicous]

Ah, that does make a difference. Forgot about WisCon's particular focus. But as I said, they have every right to uninvite her if they feel uncomfortable. Still, the whole situations makes me :( on both sides.

[trinker]

Yeah. No one's happy in all this.

[celestineangel]

I haven't said much on the subject, because I wasn't able to get through Moon's original post. I don't know why; like I said on yuki_onna's post, it was like my brain just... shut down and refused to read more than the first paragraph or two.

But her remarks in this article... YIKES. And she didn't think it would cause the hoopla it did? I mean come on, she's sitting there telling the Muslims who want to open the center they should have expected a backlash, but she didn't expect a backlash for her words? When she's a best-selling author and a lot of people watch her blog?

I just. The hypocrisy and barely disguised hate just floor me.

[sylvanstargazer]

The only person who could have made this not suck was Moon. She had six weeks, in fact, to make it not suck. I'm not surprised that she didn't; her decision to shut down comments, erase the comments that had been made and called them "slag" pretty much illustrated the level of engagement she desired

[jennielf]

Thanks for this. I have been following the debate and everything only as far as Jim and link following gets me.

I was equal parts nodding my head and disturbed by what Moon said in her piece. I do not rabidly read her work, but what I have it is good. She now gets shelved in my head with Card and Sean Connery and others with the categorization of - their creative output is worthwhile, but never listen/read/watch any interview or personal statement or blog by them. *shrug* It is what it is.

She may have not been prepared for the alienation of a massive amount of fandom, but it has happened and we all now have to live with the consequences.

If nothing else, I think many of us who have been (even loosely) following the issue now know more about the differences in cultural assimilation than we ever expected. And that isn't a bad thing in my opinion.

And, maybe, more political conservatives will read more SF/F because of this....

[sylvanstargazer]

The whole thing makes me more likely to attend Wiscon; after all all these people making comments that suggest I don't want to have a conversation with them are promising not to go!

[jimhines]

I caught that you had made that point (somewhere in the midst of my link-gathering and prepping for this post), but haven't had time to read further. I'm not sure I agree with you, but wanted to do a bit more reading first.

[cathshaffer]

That case is not even remotely relevant, and the ACLU is not an authority on what is and what is not free speech. The ACLU makes an argument. It is up to a court to rule on a violation. Moon was not invited to speak on the topics in question at Wiscon, and there was never any plan for her to give a speech about Islam at Wiscon. She was invited to be a guest of honor, and that invitation was withdrawn at the discretion of the convention committee, which they have every right to do for any reason or no reason.