Posting as Proof of Life
Feb. 15th, 2024 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse I don't actually have anything to say? I'm here and alive. It snowed, the first real snow we've had all winter. It's gorgeous and brilliantly sunny. that's kind of the big news.
I do feel like I should have something to say about the renewed Hugo Award scandal, but I really don't. I was a virtually attending member of the Chicago WorldCON, and, so, due to how the Hugo voting works, I was able to nominate for the Hugos. You then have to buy at least a voting membership for the current WorldCON in order to vote and, I'll be honest, I didn't want to give any of my money to the Chinese government in protest of their stance on free speech, GLBTQIA+ rights, and the oppression of Uyghur people. I understand that the Chinese fans are lovely and not to blame, but this was a choice I made.
For the longest time, I was feeling kind of superior in a "what did you expect?" sort of way, but now I'm just utterly horrified by the fact that a bunch of Western fans decided to compile dossiers (what the f*cking f*ck) on the nominees (and then do it so very, very badly.) Thus, basically self-censoring the Hugo Award ballot. This is an absolute disgrace. Because the one take away I have held close to my heart since Trump was elected in 2016 and the shadow of fascism and totalitarianism grows ever longer in the United States is that we should NEVER, EVER comply in advance.
We did this entirely to ourselves.
However, generally, I am a supporter of WorldCON and the Hugo Awards. I have faith that we, as a community, can FIX this. As has been pointed out by many others, there's not a whole lot we can do in terms of righting wrongs, but we can do BETTER going forward. In fact, I just signed up to be a virtual attendee in Glasgow next year. It cost me over a hundred bucks (US), but just as I did NOT buy a membership last year in protest, I'm buying one this year in support of the institutions of WorldCON and the Hugo Awards.
This is, again, a personal choice and so this is why I feel, even though I just went on about it for several paragraphs, I don't really have a lot to say about this scandal.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, however.
I do feel like I should have something to say about the renewed Hugo Award scandal, but I really don't. I was a virtually attending member of the Chicago WorldCON, and, so, due to how the Hugo voting works, I was able to nominate for the Hugos. You then have to buy at least a voting membership for the current WorldCON in order to vote and, I'll be honest, I didn't want to give any of my money to the Chinese government in protest of their stance on free speech, GLBTQIA+ rights, and the oppression of Uyghur people. I understand that the Chinese fans are lovely and not to blame, but this was a choice I made.
For the longest time, I was feeling kind of superior in a "what did you expect?" sort of way, but now I'm just utterly horrified by the fact that a bunch of Western fans decided to compile dossiers (what the f*cking f*ck) on the nominees (and then do it so very, very badly.) Thus, basically self-censoring the Hugo Award ballot. This is an absolute disgrace. Because the one take away I have held close to my heart since Trump was elected in 2016 and the shadow of fascism and totalitarianism grows ever longer in the United States is that we should NEVER, EVER comply in advance.
We did this entirely to ourselves.
However, generally, I am a supporter of WorldCON and the Hugo Awards. I have faith that we, as a community, can FIX this. As has been pointed out by many others, there's not a whole lot we can do in terms of righting wrongs, but we can do BETTER going forward. In fact, I just signed up to be a virtual attendee in Glasgow next year. It cost me over a hundred bucks (US), but just as I did NOT buy a membership last year in protest, I'm buying one this year in support of the institutions of WorldCON and the Hugo Awards.
This is, again, a personal choice and so this is why I feel, even though I just went on about it for several paragraphs, I don't really have a lot to say about this scandal.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, however.