White Male Author Banned From Convention For…

…well, we’re not sure exactly what he’s banned for. But it must be really, really bad if an esteemed convention would proclaim a banning, right?

The chorus of the angry hate mob is already trying to justify yet another banning, which is tied into everything else because it always comes from the same people. Long time and respected author Will Shetterly was the most recent target of the hate brigade in recent times. His story on his blog is kind of long, so I’ll lay it down from you in brief points:

1. This convention wanted Will to run a seminar (aka WORK HOURS FOR FREE) for them, it took a lot for Will to come but he finally gave in.
2. They cancelled him, gave a reason that then was obviously a lie as their own words didn’t match (sound familiar?)
3. Will investigated into why he was being blacklisted. This triggered them into a rage machine because he’s supposed to just accept the proclamation of the gatekeepers of fandom blindly.
4. Back and forth emails where the convention tries to cover their butts.
5. They doubled down with a “you know what? You’re BANNED from attending!”

Unbelievable, or it would be if there weren’t precedent for this sort of thing.

And the same dwindling group of people are involved. It’s always the same 50-100 people within writing or from the hate website File 770 stirring this kind of thing up. Will Shetterly did nothing wrong, observably so, but their words are basically because they took the steps to remove him (because someone didn’t like him in some whisper campaign), that therefore he might do something wrong. While Worldcon did this to me because I’m an outspoken conservative, and it makes them so scared that they make up some weird movie in their heads about me because they hate conservatives that much, that’s not the case with Will. From what I’ve seen, Will aligns politically with them, but his crime is that he doesn’t act passive-aggressive like the in-crowd does, he confronts and is direct when there’s a problem.

You know, like people who actually solve problems.

It’s the passive aggressive nature of these convention organizers and the fact that they live in a reality where they are hold up on the internet all the time, never interacting with real people. Go on their feeds, it’s a constant vague post “I can’t even!” when they’re not rambling about how Donald Trump literally makes them shake with fear.  They’re passive aggressive to the extreme, and they’ll complain about how hard it is to be introverted all the time with an equal amount of passive aggressive passion.

Get a life and get off the internet, weirdos. It’s making you sick. It’s making you hurt other people’s careers. And because they act like a group-think monkey troupe, I’m watching it escalate with the same people in a bizarre psychological study of the mentally ill.  First, they act like “huh, I don’t know…” then someone makes some rabble rousing noise, then they all start to go “well, it must be justified,” and they’re starting to escalate it to where they’re calling Will “harasser” –their go to word when they’re not screaming racist at someone — without evidence he did anything. It’s really sick.

This sort of thing needs to stop. Regular males being direct will not hurt you. I know you hate males in the science fiction publishing industry, you’ve made it clear over the years, but get over it. The problem is this sort of shame game behavior where it’s a public shaming of someone trying to force them out of their workplace is really dangerous. Wil and I are both stronger guys so we can handle the pressure, but given how indiscriminate the hate mob is, how they’ll target anyone at anytime, they’re going to end up targeting someone with a lot less strength. I hate to go here, but this is how suicides happen. Someone’s going to get hurt because these people’s shame mobs push too hard all the time.

And I don’t want that to happen. All conventions have to do is not ban people who did nothing wrong. Yes, that’s a double negative. But there’s no reason to make those proclamations and escalate things like this. It’s intentionally stirring up trouble, and intentionally hurting people over identity (whatever that identity is at the time), and that’s why I stand with Will Shetterly.

If you appreciate the stances I take, you’ll probably appreciate the stands my characters take for their convictions in The Stars Entwined, which is out on Tuesday! Check it out on Amazon and tell your friends. Reviewers are already saying this is my best work.