Why?
She dared to voice politically incorrect thoughts about Islam. Naturally the very small but quite vocal FailFandom contingent dedicated to the far-left agenda of political correctness and identity politics demanded her head. Sadly, the cowards running WisCon decided to offer it up to appease the PC Police.
So America’s main feminist science fiction dis-invited a Guest of Honor they had already extended an invitation to (which you just don’t do) for the crime of speaking out against radical Islam, the greatest threat to woman’s freedom in the 21st century. And Elizabeth Moon isn’t Mark Steyn or Ann Coulter; my impression from talking to her is that she’s probably best described as a moderate Democrat. And I suspect anyone from outside the suffocating confines of FailFandom are likely to find very little in her original essay to justify this self-indulgent orgy of wailing and rending of garments the FailFandom brigade greeted it with.
Bad move, WisCon. And it’s one you will regret.
Hat tip: Patrice Sarath.
Edited to Add: Welcome Instapundit readers! I hope some of the other topics here on BattleSwarm will interest you as well. I do want to note that this is my political blog, and I cover non-political science fiction (and other) topics over on Futuramen.
Also, I have some signed Elizabeth Moon book for sale over here as well.
Tags: Elizabeth Moon, feminism, Islam, Jihad, Political Correctness, science fiction, WisCon
[…] If you’re a Lefty, you have to be a Lefty all the way. You don’t get to be heretical* on things like the 9/11 Mosque and expect to keep your GoH status at a major feminist SF convention. You just don’t. And it doesn’t matter how much you qualify your statements**, either: once you’re past the heresy line, that’s it. […]
Nice to see another person with a level headed view of this brouhaha. My first thought was that it seems that the new “last (or first, in this case) refuge of the incompetent” is accusations of bigotry.
[…] Oops. Too late. She’s been booted. They told me if I voted for McCain, bitter theocrats would ban people who spoke ill of religion […]
Hmmmm.
As I own and have read many of Ms. Moon’s books and yet have never in my life ever heard of WisCon I can tell easily who will end up winning this fight.
NPR just fired Juan Williams because of similar pressure. It seems to me that the broad Muslim community would be better off attacking its own extremists rather than others for making fancied slurs.
[…] since WisCon’s cowardly decision to disinvite Elizabeth Moon as Guest of Honor over her very mild co… is so essentially a political story, I covered it over on my political blog […]
At first I thought “Let’s boycott the new GoH.” Then I checked her out and realized I didn’t need to.
I’m stunned that a feminist group would uninvite a woman who early went where few women had gone before and writes of accomplished women in traditionally male fields. Makes me think some feminists are less interested in advancing the opportunities of women than they are in continuing victimhood.
I’ve quit reading leftist SF writers like Stross and ran several left wing books waiting to go to the local library through my chipper rather than donate them.
The polarization seems to be accelerating and I really don’t see how we can settle things without some sort of Civil War 2.0.
The best response to this is for convention-goers to “uninvite” themselves from WisCon. Let’s see how far WisCon goes without attendees.
Personally, I don’t stop reading person’s books because of their politics, unless the writer’s politics makes the work itself suffer (sadly, for me this applies to much of Kim Stanley Robinson’s work, despite the fact that Stan himself is a swell guy). Which is why I still read people Charlie Stross and China Mieville, even though I disagree with their politics, because they’re excellent writers. What a dull world it would be if you only read people who agreed with you all the time. (Which, it seems, is exactly what the WisCon people want in this case.)
“(Ms. Moon) should clearly be stripped of her SFWA membership, her books should be publicly burned, after which proceedings she should be stoned on stage at WisCon. I have written SFWA President-For-Life John Scalzi regarding this very serious situation and expressed my expectations that he will not only put this deeply appropriate punishment for holding an opinion contra the SFWA majority in motion, but throw the first stone himself.”
Vox Days’ comments here: http://voxday.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-sf-stupidity.html
Obviously, Moon needs to blow some things up and threaten to kill people in response.
Hey, seems to work, right?
Why would I want to buy books written by and signed by a moderate Democrat?
Let these types feed on each other. When they’re done, there will be more room for the rest of us.
Remember the labor song “Which Side Are You On”? That cuts both ways now, Lawrence. Fish or cut bait, no middle.
Ah, she’s a dirty veteran of the United States Marine Corps in their minds. I’m surprised that she was invited in the first place by those folks.
Further surprised that they didn’t get around to uninviting her earlier.
So it goes. Typical.
Respects,
S. F. Murphy
On the Outer Marches
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David W Neylon, Sr., Lawrence Person. Lawrence Person said: Cowards at WisCon ConCom disinvite Elizabeth Moon: https://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=2744 #wiscon […]
[…] and Reprisal. The author, Elizabeth Moon, has been banned from a science fiction convention for voicing opposition to the proposed “Ground Zero […]
I posted the following at the WisCon site referenced above, but am not sure it will survive, as I do not know if the WisCon folks edit their comments to remove opinions they do not like. Therefore I also post here; please indulge me (or not!).
=====
I came to this discussion via Instapundit. I’m an occasional reader of sci-fi, and had not heard of Ms. Moon.
Thanks to the bruhaha, I have ordered several of her books from Amazon. I look forward to reading her.
I would appreciate it if the WisCon folks would put forward a list of the people who agitated to rescind the invitation to Ms. Moon, so that I can be sure to only buy their books at second-hand stores.
Ms. Moon’s opinion piece is strongly-worded but is not racist. Her comments are, indeed, instructive.
The central point of the debate: what does radical Islam (Islamicism, if you prefer) say about the status of women? And what does western feminism have to say in response to that? Academic western feminism is very good at ostracizing people in the West who disagree with them (hence the attack on Ms. Moon), but western feminists aren’t very good at defending women in other cultures who are being brutalized.
One might argue that point, but I would refer you to the picture of the young Afghan woman who had her nose hacked off (I’m sure you’ve seen it). I would refer you to the rampant FGM, the third-class treatment of women in the law, in marriage contracts, and divorce. I would refer you to the acid attacks, for which the male perpetrators are rarely, if ever, punished.
The response of western feminism, and of feminist sci-fi writers whom I have read, is — virtually zero. Nothing. It’s not on their radar.
It is on Ms. Moon’s radar. She sees the problem of Islamicism. Yes, there are ‘many Muslims [who] have all the virtues of civilized persons’. That is not bigoted, that is an acknowledgement that it is a minority of people within that faith, the Islamicists, the radicals, who are the problem.
The person commenting at 3:47 wants to shut down the Christian extremists who bomb abortion clinics. If one were to point out that ‘many Christians have all the virtues of civilized persons’, would that be bigoted? Of course not, it would be an acknowledgement of fact, that it is a small number of haters who commit the violence, that most Christians are in fact peaceable.
So too in Islam, and so too in other faiths — it is the haters and the oppressors who are the problem. Western feminism, particularly the feminists who indulge themselves in gender studies, apparently can’t see this.
But Ms. Moon does. Bravo for her. Ms. Moon may not have a place at WisCon. But she now has a place on my bookshelf.
@Tom Sciance: I haven’t seen any indication that the Muslim community had anything to do with this action by the convention committee.
That dang Elizabeth! How dare she have an opinion! Writers should only believe what the Con-Chair does! Of course that’s why I can only go to Satanic cons . . . see y’all at World Horror :)
[…] Lawrence Person at the beginning of the storm, and at WISCON’s disinvitation. […]
Elizabeth Moon is wrong… it’s not Islamism or a minority of them “hijacking” Islam. It’s the entire religion of Islam and the Qur’an that are the problems. It emboldens and encourages Muslims to spread Islam BY ANY MEAN. The Qur’an spelled that goal very specifically.
Ms. Moon would be wise to look up Bill Warner’s Political Islam blog.
Western feminists are killing the women’s movement with their stupidity and willful blindness about Islam. The intolerance of the intolerant knows no boundary.
Lawrence, would you say that the mood here is a bit too toxic for me to risk posting the other side’s links?
From what it sounds like this woman’s book sales are about to go through the roof due to the inadvertent media attention paid to her as a result of her being dis-invited from this event. Kudos to you Ms. Moon!
You might want to put a call in to Fox News, they may bring you on for just the fact that you are not afraid to voice your opinions.
In WisCon’s defense, she also tied the Tea Party and fundamentalist Christians to the same stone she tied to islam. Perhaps they just booted her because she’s retarded.
I recommend a careful reading of NK Jemison’s post “Wiscon, I’m Done.” She describes _actual discussions_ by the concom on how to harass and abuse a Guest of Honor:
“On the WisCon concom’s mailing list, I was honest with the folks there about my feelings: that bringing a bigot to WisCon as Guest of Honor was counter to the con’s feminist mission, not to mention a slap in the face to a whole bunch of people. I advocated for her GoHship to be rescinded because of this — and I also said that if she came to the con, I planned to participate in protest efforts already being discussed among WisCon’s former and current attendees (e.g., turning my back on her during her GoH speech, challenging her when she’s on panels). For this, I got verbally slapped by several other concom members with accusations of being abusive, unreasonable, too emotional, hysterical, and worse.”
I find this passage shocking. Just how far are some of these people willing to go to attack the careers of the women writers they supposedly support?
Intolerantophobia: The Irrational Fear of Appearing to be Intolerant…
In the midst of making the point that it is extremely important that we not discriminate against all Muslims based on the actions of a few, Juan Williams said on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News program: “But when I get on……
I interviewed Elizabeth Moon this morning and will be writing up a story about this affair for my Sunday paper. It will then be available via the Associated Press.
Lou Antonelli
Managing Editor
Mount Pleasant (Tx.) Daily Tribune
Member, SFWA
It’s a dead givaway that your opinions won’t hold water when you have to shield them from even the mildest difference in point of view. People like this (right or left, religious or atheist, “tastes great” or “less filling”) are compelled to resort to tactics like this. They have to not only control the forum, but exile those who might (might, I say) argue with them. The last thing they want is an honest debate, because they would lose.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Steve Mosby, karen. karen said: RT @stevemosby: Elizabeth Moon disinvited from WisCon. http://tinyurl.com/35jomvh Fascinating, etc. […]
Another gem from N. K. Jemison: she feels compelled to deny that she’s trying to “create some kind of feminist Tea Party.” She says:
[…] Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog Attacking so fast they won't know what hit them… « Cowardly WisCon ConCom Caves […]
[…] Cowardly WisCon ConCom Caves. (I’ve learned this new word studying the Qur’an: dhimmi. I think it might apply here.) […]
[…] could reasonably have a chance to flip Republican did. How do you like your shiny new red state, WisCon? 11:57 PM: At Midnight all the agent…have to stop blogging and go to bed. I’ll have […]
[…] “Feminist” scholar Lila Abu-Lughod says that honor killings are a consequence of Western colonialism, and that burkas are not at all oppressive to women. Sounds like the type of feminist that would be right at home at WisCon. […]
[…] protesting in favor of Islamic extremists. You’re doing it wrong. (Sadly, the impulse seems inexplicably common in feminist circles these […]
[…] really steamed them as much as his jab at that most sacred of victim groups, radical Islam. Given Wiscon’s disinviting of Elizabeth Moon over the very mildest of criticisms of Islam, I’m guessing the […]
[…] And to think how many liberals got their panties in a knot over Elizabeth Moon’s far milder criticisms. […]
“Cowardly WisCon ConCom Caves”
Not necessarily cowardly: Wiscon was founded by Maoists and other radical leftists. Bullies, fascists, communists, and miscellaneous totalitarian wanna-be’s, but not necessarily cowards.
[…] those tuning in for the first time, this was a direct jab (in humorous form) at WisCon’s previous decision to yank their Guest-of-Honor invitation to Elizabeth Moon for daring to voice (in the mildest possible form) politically incorrect thoughts about certain […]
[…] Taken Down For those tuning in for the first time, this was a direct jab (in humorous form) at WisCon’s previous decision to yank their Guest-of-Honor invitation to Elizabeth Moon for daring to voice (in the mildest possible form) politically incorrect thoughts about certain […]
[…] the entire liberal agenda, not to work toward the betterment of women in society. Women, such as author Elizabeth Moon, have been shut out and damaged professionally by feminists because they dared step beyond that […]
[…] think other reasons will militate for Delany receiving the honor, and Niven never receiving it? Do you need to ask? This entry was posted in Blog and tagged grand master, sfwa by raymund. Bookmark the […]
[…] forced WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention, to disinvite Elizabeth Moon as Guest of Honor (something that’s almost never done in the field) over the “crime” of penning an essay mildly […]
[…] forced WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention, to disinvite Elizabeth Moon as Guest of Honor (something that’s almost never done in the field) over the “crime” of penning an essay mildly […]