The various Puppy leaders, it turns out, have little to say, and their arguments implode into insignificance. They don't think a literary award, the Hugos, should go to literary fiction. They don't think science fiction should contain messages, or be socially progressive. Their voting slates, of course, contain attempts at literary fiction and message fiction. If we set aside their arguments, all we are left with is noise. Their attention-seeking trolling of the Hugo nomination process in essence says "look at me, look at me!" That is sad, indeed.
".... or be socially progressive."
ReplyDeleteNot quite. It shouldn't be exclusively "progressive" when the definition of that word effectively means "socialist". Socialism is the bane of human existence; extending poverty and oppression where ever it is embraced.
While socialism appears to be a hot button for you, it was not mentioned in the original post. The social issues I was referring to are diversity, gender issues, and a focus on under represented cultures and perspectives. These are the issues that the Sad and Rapid Puppies say they don't want in their science fiction. I disagree with the Puppies and their exclusionary notions.
Delete1: When in the world did the Hugo Award become a "literary award"? Have you even heard of Hugo Gernsback, let alone read anything he wrote?
ReplyDelete2: I feel very sad for you, that you can't tell the difference between "story first, message second", and "can't have a message". You really can't tell the difference between entertainment and propaganda?
3: This one you at least got right. That's right, we don't think that the Hugos should be dominated by a left wing clique. So good of you to admit that that is what our opponents want.
Your opinions are fact-free. I hardly see any common ground. Nevertheless:
DeleteWhen we vote for the Hugo for best novel we are making a literary evaluation. Popularity has a degree of influence, but any review of the history of the award will show that the Hugo winners have always diverged markedly from the best-sellers.
We hardly notice messages that we agree with. Thus the Puppies react badly to any messages but their own.
You misunderstand me if you think I suggested that the Hugos should be dominated by what you call "a left wing clique." I merely called for a diversity of viewpoints, left wing, right wing, or whatever. The Puppies don't want to be troubled by other viewpoints. They've proven this with their slate voting tactic, locking other viewpoints out of several categories of the Hugo ballot.