Kaia
Feminist Killjoy. Badly Behaving Bookliker. Writer and reader of all things speculative.
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Bibliodaze Post: Vox Day and the Hugos – Why We Should Just Say No.
Today, a racist sexist homophobic rape apologist who called a woman of colour a "savage" and implied she shouldn't be surprised if she was shot was just nominated for a Hugo Award.
Say No To Vox Day.
Read more on Bibliodaze.
Kaia's note: There are actually people in the comments rushing forward to go "But what if his writing deserves the award?" And I just want to say a couple of things about that.
1. No. Fucking no. Just no. Shut up. If that thought even begins to cross your mind, find the nearest frozen tuna and smack yourself with it.
2. Because science fiction is supposed to be a progressive genre, and it's not. It's not even close. It's a genre largely written by privileged white cis men for privileged white cis men. It is full of homophobia, racism, eugenics, etc. Some of the most beloved sci-fi stories of all time are actually horrifically overloaded with bigotry that goes utterly unacknowledged. Just look at the much acclaimed I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by the much acclaimed Harlan Ellison, or read any critical analysis of Ender's Game if you need proof of that. How good or bad Vox Day's writing is has absolutely no merit here.
3. And even then, modern examples aren't great either. People love all over Mira Grant, but her work is heavily anti-science, pro-counterfactual conspiracy theory, and poorly researched to boot. And don't get me started on her love of Hollywood Crazy. It's time to started speaking out against shitty science and shitty view points in science fiction and yeah, that means taking a much closer look at just who is getting these awards.
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