More Libel

Sad Puppies puts out a recommended Hugo voting slate under the false flag of seeking greater recognition for deserving yet underrepresented authors…

– From one Steve Davidson, Amazing Stories.

False flag, forsooth? A man I do not know and to whom I have never spoken again calls me a liar.

In the balance of the article, he offers no proof, no chain of reasoning, no quote, no link, no basis for suspicion, not even a pregnant silence followed by a wink to indicate on what grounds he makes this statement, nor why anyone should believe it.

I truly can understand someone who says, for example, “I believe ‘If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love’ is as worthy of the award as ‘Flowers for Algernon’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ or ‘Soldier, Ask Not’ or ‘Repent Harlequin said the Ticktockman’ therefore there has been no politicization of the award, nor dilution of its value.” I would salute that opinion as an honest one, even if I disagreed with it respectfully.

What I cannot understand is someone who then says, for example, “I believe ‘If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love’ is as worthy of the award as ‘Flowers for Algernon’, etc., and that there has been no dilution nor politicization of the Award; and since there is no possible way for any rational person actually to come to any other conclusion from my own on this matter of taste and judgment, anyone who claims to have come to a conclusion contrary to mine for honest reasons IS LYING! You are not of the Body! You will be absorbed!“

While I would give this hypothetical person credit for being geeky enough to quote Star Trek, this is not a rational response. Mr. Davidson’s response, alas, does not even have that merit.

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Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.