My Policy On Reaching Out

I’ve come under so many attacks as of late it feels like it never ends. This is what happens when you expose problems in industries via journalism. I may have bitten a bit more off than I can chew by pointing out the terrible problems in Science Fiction AND in comics, but they both are so similar in both their content, and the way the industries have shaped themselves that it is one battle.

Here’s the deal though. Unlike the SJWs and their bigotry, I don’t hate anyone over politics. I think that’s what gets them so mad to begin with because they WANT me to be the literally Hitler they have in the movie of their minds. Here’s how I always ALWAYS will do things:

1. I will do my journalism. I will ask questions. This is part of my career. There are no harm in questions. When people treat me respectfully, I do the same, and I support them just for that small act at this point. Look at my interview with Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld. He has every reason to act like many in the field have toward me, but he was a stand up guy. I now subscribe and give his magazine money monthly, and I’ve implored my readers to do the same.
2. If I get attacked, I will respond.I get attacked regularly either because I asked journalistic questions somewhere, and then these people find me and torch me on the internet, or I ask directly because I’m trying to obtain a direct source’s information for an article. What invariably happens is when a person responds uncivilly and tries to dehumanize me for my journalism, is that I hit back. Then that person runs off and acts like I attacked them. That’s disingenuous. I recommend you don’t do that. It’d be better not to signal the attack to me in the first place, but honestly,
3. I will try to reach out and seek to forgive. This is where I differ from a lot of people in my position who have, to be honest, become pretty jaded from this kind of treatment they receive. I believe this is the right, Christian thing to do. This is the spot where no one who’s attacked me has once showed me an ounce of human decency. This is where I’m the most disappointed. In my most recent incident, I was threatened with a lawsuit for doing this.
4. Barring that, I will expose the corruption in the industry. I’m not talking about no name indie authors here, or readers, or even random drive-by commenters who just torch me regularly on here. You see them. I laugh those off. When I’m in these positions I’m dealing with someone in a position of power in the industry, someone who holds a lot of cred and sway, someone who can influence careers. When these people attack independent authors, it needs to be known, it needs to be vocal. You’d be best not to let it get to this point because let’s be honest — when it does, it builds my platform and credibility with readers, and it harms yours. That’s the only result. I don’t want it to get to here. I want step 3 to happen and all of us to be friends. That is my goal in life. Not one person has ever attempted to reach across the aisle and make this happen since I’ve come on the scene. Every time another person can’t treat me like a human, it makes it harder for me to do step 3.You are signalling that you want war when you do something horrific to me, and I’m not afraid to give that.

Step 3 is always available if you’ll stop attacking me and my friends. Again, I don’t hate you. I don’t hate your politics. You hate me, and my friends, to such a level that it’s very crazy bigotry, it’s terribly hurtful, and it’s wrong — with recent ones it’s bordering on illegal. There’s blackballing and defamation going on in levels never seen in entertainment, across all media. I want to work it out. I want to heal this. But you need to take that step to take my hand.