Attack of the Puppies

UPDATE: Tom Smith, who's work has appeared on this blog before, has created a new ditty just to hate on Sad Puppies.  He did it with the help of ... David Gerrold. I'm getting a pattern here.  In case he tries to shove it down the memory hole, just click on the picture to the left and feel free to peruse it until your heart's content.

For obvious reasons, he is no longer going to be posted on my site. None of his work will exist here anymore. For him to back this sort of hate is beyond the pale. And I'm sick of it.






Sad Puppies has made me, well, sad.

Actually, no, they haven't, but people I have liked and enjoyed have severely disappointed me.

If you read the last post, you know what "Sad Puppies" is. If you haven't, you may be a little lost.

David Gerrold, for those of you who don't know, started out as a kid who slipped a script over the transom, and started his career. His script created Tribbles -- yes, of Star Trek. Since then, Gerrold has been one of the Names in SF.

Then he went full racist psycho on author and Puppy supporter Brad Torgersen, going into full hysterical name calling.

It's been a bit of a theme.

I don't like throwing names around, but a lot (ok, two, but two seem to be more than enough) of the anti-Puppy crowd is evil. Not wrong, not incorrect, not misguided, not even deluded. They. Are. Evil. Full stop.

"Now now, Declan, aren't you exaggerating?"

Lemme give you a fer-instance, shall I?

Brad Torgersen went out and posted a photo of his family on his blog. He wanted to show that, yes, he's a real person, with a real family. He supports Sad Puppies, and that doesn't make him evil, damnit. He's not some sort of monster from the black lagoon waiting to eat the children of lesser writers (Scalzi, I'm looking at you, you schlub).  Sad Puppies are people too.

Then someone went and called his wife a human shield. Because she's black.

...

...

...

You're expecting another meltdown, aren't you?  You're expecting me to rage and rant and go completely psycho.

Before that happens, please note, I don't really know Torgersen outside of the FANifesto idea. I'd like to know him, but I'm too busy just trying to keep up with everything from Cedar and Sarah and Larry and Matt and Larry, and Larry and damn, Correia posts a lot.  But, alas, I can't keep up, and Brad has been one of those people I can't even follow on Facebook because I have no time.

But this?  That thing above?  No.  You don't do that.  That is vile and hateful and spiteful, and what sort of person EVEN THINKS LIKE THAT?

This. Is. Evil. Period.


Let's break this down a bit.  Forget the racial component for right now, okay? Let's forget it. Hard to do, but forget it. SHE'S HIS WIFE. Isn't the first rule of civilization don't touch the family?

Going after family is what you do if you're in the mafia, or in drug cartels. That's what you do when you are a vengeful, spiteful little s*(t ... or you're in a culture where your enemy's children will grow up to murder you in your sleep.

Either way, NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T DO THIS.

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this. Seriously, people, what has happened that justifies this? And death threats to Larry Correia? Slandering authors, whole groups of fandom, whole chunks of people who just want to see their authors, who they enjoy, get a freaking award?

How do you anti-Puppies justify this? The best I've heard is "VOX DDDAAAAYYYY, HE IS EEEEVVVIILLLL" and Vox Day isn't even WITH Sad Puppies, so try again.

Seriously, though.  Do I want Jim Butcher to get a Hugo? Sure. I also want Timothy Zahn, John Ringo and David Weber to at least be nominated.  Hell, how about Peter David? David should be a good candidate, at least for bringing us the best Star Trek novels ever. I also want a Marvel film to get best picture at the Oscars and Joss Whedon to get a TV show without station overlords killing it.

But I'm not going to call people at home or send them emails threatening their life. I'm not going to personally attack them unless they attack me and mine first.

As an aside: John Scalzi, you are a douchebag, really.

But, guys, I'm not going to go out and start a campaign of harassment and death threats over it, like the anti-Puppy people have. Seriously, John Scalzi goes on his blog ranting and raving about how we "can't let these people win! They disagree with us!  Voters, cancel the Hugos by voting 'no award' on your ballot! That will surely fix them! Muahahahaha."

As J. Michael Straczynski posted on his Facebook page: there have been voting blocks going on around the Hugos forever, Sad Puppies are only open and public about it, if you think this year's Hugos are illegitimate, cancel them, if not, then shut the hell up. Full stop.

You know, the Puppies have a point to make, and they're making it. I gotta ask: what exactly are the anti-Puppy trying to do that justifies expending this much energy? Don't they have better things to do?

When Sad Puppies started, it was to prove that the Hugos have become the property of a small clique around WorldCon. That clique said No! This represents ALL of SF. Correia and Co. said "You want to lay money on that?"

After three years of Sad Puppies, that clique at WorldCon is squealing like a stuck pig that "It's ours! Ours I say! Precious! Dirty, nasty Hobbitses." They've cried uncle. They have admitted to what Correia said all along.

Guess what? The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

And now, the anti-Puppies want to wage a war over all of this. Possibly with real bullets.  Where do they get the energy? I know cliques can be schmucks, but come now, what the hell?

This started out over an award, people.  Calm the hell down, pop your meds, and take a breath.

But go after someone's family? I hope someone takes a baseball bat to your knees and works their way up. This is repulsive.

I also "enjoy" how Torgersen's wife is a human shield, but his daughter? What is she? Not black enough to be a "human shield"? Because that's the only answer I can come up with. You want racism, I think I've found some.

I'd say that the anti-Puppies should just calm down and vote for their own damn favorites next year, but that's the point, isn't it? Cliques don't work like that. Cliques have to have their thing their way, and now that the pretense is gone, the anti-Puppies are grasping for traction, because Heaven forbid that, one year, just one year, someone other than "one of their own" win the awards.

Normal awards shows, like the Oscars, just give awards to the deserving later on.  Nicole Kidman didn't win for Moulin Rouge, since the Oscars just had to give it to Halle Berry because ... Monsters Ball had a good sex scene? I don't know. But the next year, Kidman won it for The Hours. The Oscars didn't really want to give an award to The Dark Knight, but they gave one to Heath Ledger, since they really wanted to give it to him for Brokeback Mountain, because gay cowboy, and they wouldn't get another shot.

To the anti-Puppies, we all know you're going to try to do the same exact thing next year, because that's how it works. And if the Hugos change the rules to exclude the Puppies, the Puppies win. If they destroy the Hugos rather than let it go to the Puppies, Vox Day wins.

When people like Scalzi threaten to burn down something they claim to love because they love it so much they can't see it violated by outsiders, that's not love. That's Medea murdering her own children. That's insanity.

But the anti-Puppies seem to hate the outsiders more than they love the Hugos.