Origins Debacle Update

If you missed last week’s drama, the details of my being removed as the Origins Writer Guest of Honor are here: https://monsterhunternation.com/2018/05/15/statement-concerning-my-being-disinvited-as-the-guest-of-honor-for-origins-game-fair/

I was first officially approached to be the GoH on 1/23/2018. My correspondence at this point was with a famous author who was representing their writing track. I’ve left his name out of it, because he’s a good dude, and doesn’t need to get lumped in with the actions of John Ward (who in my opinion is either cowardly, incompetent, or both).

Now normally, when I’m a special guest at a con, I just give them my airport details and they book the flights. On 3/22 they sent me another email saying that it was time to figure out the travel details for myself and my guest. My wife already had plans, so my kids then had to fight over who got to be my guest to what they thought was going to be a super fun game weekend (plus my kids love manatees, and the Columbus zoo has them) so this was a coveted prize. On 4/9 we decided that it would be my son, so I sent all our travel information over.

On 4/10 I was informed by the author, Also, vis travel arrangements, I wasn’t aware that Origins usually has guests book their own flight and we reimburse them.”

Okay, that’s weird, and a pain in the ass, but I’d made a commitment. On 4/30 I booked flights for myself and my son, stuck it on my credit card, and sent the details. I even apologized for the additional $300 that it took to get the upgrade to economy comfort for all four flights (round trip and connecting, there weren’t any direct from SLC to Columbus), but at a broad shouldered, 6’5”, 300 pounds, I don’t fit in coach (and since my son has never flown before, I wanted to sit next to him) but I said that I would be happy to eat that additional charge and just be reimbursed for the base amount  (I will fly myself first class, but I don’t ever expect a con to foot that kind of bill on my behalf ). Receipt was confirmed by the Origins representative, and he said that I would be mailed a check.

When John Ward unceremoniously cut and pasted his facebook announcement into an email to me on 5/14, he added I apologize that we are making this decision now, but we are receding our invitation to participate in the show. We are happy to still cover your travel expenses and apologize again for the timing of our decision.”

 

As of today I have still not received the promised check. If you’re going to immediately cave to a bunch of lying harpies, you should at least have the basic professionalism to expedite the reimbursement.

 

I emailed the author I’d originally spoken with this morning about this, but then I decided, to hell with it, I might as well make this public.

EDIT:  The check arrived at 4:05 MST 5/21/18, certified mail. And of course, they only paid me for the base coach amount, not the $300 additional for better seats, you petty, cheap ass, sons of bitches.  

##

In other news, I’ve updated the four year old fisking that caused the initial temper tantrum about my being at Origins. https://monsterhunternation.com/2014/08/19/no-tor-com-gencon-isnt-racist-a-fisking/   I would invite everyone to read this for themselves and decide how it makes people “unsafe”.

I would like to point out a few bits of irony.

I got booted out of a game con, for defending another game con from baseless accusations of racism.

An Indian man claimed that he was upset that there weren’t enough “people who looked like him” represented in fantasy, so his fiancé got an author who writes a fantasy series entirely populated by characters who are Indian, kicked from a convention. Don’t take my word for it. The first novel is Son of the Black Sword and it won the Dragon Award for Best Fantasy. #2 is House of Assassins, which will be out in February.

Also, I have “white privilege” because even though I’m the son of a poor dairy farmer who attended the Junior Gladiatorial Academy For Kids Who Don’t Read Good, I offended the slightly tanner than I am, son of a billionaire, who went to a high school with a $37,000 annual tuition.

Oh, and he and his fiancé weren’t going to attend Origins anyway. They just felt “unsafe” on your behalf.

##

Several authors have written about how Origins’ behavior was foolish, and how cons shouldn’t invite, then disinvite a professional (barring something huge popping up, like criminal charges). David Weber wrote a great piece https://www.facebook.com/david.weber.5621/posts/1922877941079166

Other authors are agreeing with David in the comments, including some very big names, and a few others have reached out to me in private. Authors aren’t going to attend cons that screw over their guests. Basically, dick move, Origins. Next time do your homework.

##

In more news, it turns out that employees and representatives of several game companies were dumb enough to publically virtue signal on Twitter about how they colluded to pressure Origins to exclude me, who works in their industry, from their trade event. I will leave this to the lawyers in the audience to realize why that’s really dumb, and then I will not comment further upon the matter.

##

Still, at no point has anyone offered any actual evidence from any of my thousands of posts, blog articles, appearances, interviews, or panels demonstrating any of the things that are alleged against me.

Despite them looking hard, the only actual quote I’ve seen them try to use to demonstrate my dangerous hatemongery is this quote discussing the best novel Hugo nominees in April 2013(!) (which tells you how hard they are scrambling to find something to prove my imaginary bigotry).

For the other Best Novel noms, Lois Bujold is awesome, but she’s won like 8 Hugos. Mira Grant is cool as heck. In person, she’s really great, and I like her, but notice that since she is beloved by SMOF, she is nominated in every Hugo category except Car of the Year. Saladin’s a nice guy, and beloved by SMOF (we were up for the Campbell at the same time), but I’m predicting he’ll come in last, becasue this is his only book and he’s not built up a huge SMOF backer faction yet, but just having nominated a guy with an ethnic name will make the SMOFers feel all warm and tingly inside and good about themselves, so that’ll be enough for them. (Note, I’m not actually placing any bets that the voters actually read all the works).

Yep. That straw grasping is it. That is literally the best they can do to demonstrate my alleged racism. Now anybody with half a brain or an ounce of integrity can read that and see that my comment is about the nature of the WorldCon voters (who tend to be white, old, and overwhelmingly liberal). I’ve got zero issue with Saladin, last I’d heard he’d gone into comic book writing, and I hope he makes piles of money.

I stand by what I said, I’ve written a bunch of articles on this topic in depth, and I’ll even clarify it again here. There are cliques of Hugo voters who don’t give a damn about the books or the writers, they only care about themselves and virtue signaling about how great they are.

But bear with me for a moment and let’s say that their ridiculous interpretation of that quote is correct… How in the world would me saying that five years ago be justification to kick me out of an event?  Because if you can get that nitpicky, then I hate to break it to you, by that standard the perpetually offended would be able to demand anyone get booted.

##

Beyond the typical, boring, worn thin allegations of racism/sexism/homophobia, they’ve also doubled down about how I’m “mean” or “rude” or “caustic” or “dismissive” or “profane”. They’re all about civility and tone, don’t you know. The part they always leave out of this one is that if I’m an asshole to someone, it’s usually for a good reason. See, they didn’t ban me because I have the wrong politics. They banned me because I had the wrong politics and don’t sit there silently while they insult me. They’ve got no problem with non-leftist guests… Provided they never ever share an unapproved opinion or disagree with rigid groupthink. Those guys are okay (but the second they step out of line, they’ll get destroyed).

It’s kind of funny. If you are on the left, then you can badger, and insult, and mock, and slander, and lie, and feign outrage… But the second the people they are attacking fight back, then they’re all about civility and tone.

##

So apparently my real crime, which makes me too dangerous and disgusting for this family friendly event, is that I once set out to prove that an award which was supposed to represent all of fandom, was overwhelmingly dominated by a few politically biased cliques, by getting more fans involved. So then they tripped over themselves to prove me right.

That’s pretty damned underwhelming actually. The way they talk about me on the internet you’d think that I was tossing communists out of helicopters or something.

##

Meanwhile, I’m seeing the other side do that typical thing, where after they act like huge flaming assholes and insult a giant swath of the country, then they pretend to be the real victims. So you slander a guy, say he’s all these horrible things, which by extension means all the people who read his stuff, like him, and worst of all, agree with him, so they must be terrible people too. They get mad, get involved, and then you guys beg for civility and cry about harassment. Uh huh… Sure. At this point, I don’t believe anything you claim until I can see the police report.

##

But on that note about harassment, bolstered by their recent success in salty tear based warfare, on Friday they started trying to get me banned from a different convention. Only in this case, the con organizers aren’t chumps. They knew me because I’d been a guest before, and they knew the allegations were garbage. So they stopped it hard and fast.

The sad thing is I can’t even say which con it was, because I know if I do, they’ll catch a whole bunch of heat for from the angry cry bully crowd. And these are good people who don’t deserve that. Just be aware, that some conventions do understand what is going on, and they don’t like it either. This “unsafe” tactic puts all cons in a bad place.

But these people don’t care. As we’ve seen, they aren’t even going to the events they’re pitching a fit about. They come from a culture that awards status for being a victim, so they have to seek out victimhood wherever they can find it. Then they shout it from the rooftops, wimps capitulate, and then they feel powerful, so they do it again and again.

Since we are dredging up old quotes trying to find examples of my bigotry (which is apparently scarcer than Bigfoot), Jack found this one, from four years ago, after Timmy Bolgeo got banned from a convention because some nitwit threw a fit about his presence. I’ll close with this because I was right then, and I’m right today:

“Listen fandom, it is time to cowboy up. Put your big girl panties on. You have gotten into the bad habit of immediately rolling over anytime some shrieking Social Justice Warrior says they must retire to their fainting couch because they have the vapors. They started with big name writers, then they began freaking out about things award presenters MIGHT say, and now they’ve worked their way down to attacking other fans. They want a purge. Anybody who may potentially hurt their delicate lilac scented feelings is an untouchable and must be shunned. They’d clone Stalin to run for SFWA president if any of that crowd actually knew how this whole science thing worked.
Luckily for us the SJW’s weapons are their salty tears of sadness and Twitter.

So QUIT CAVING IN.

Their outrage doesn’t grant them magical powers of discernment. Do your freaking jobs. Use your brain. If somebody is angry about a guest, maybe you should slow down and find out why before immediately surrendering to the angry mob, or in this case ONE PERSON.

Otherwise they own you. They own you because you let them. Rule number one of dealing with Social Justice Warriors is never apologize for anything that shouldn’t be apologized for. Rule number two is don’t be afraid to tell them to shove it.”

 

 

The eARC for Target Rich Environment is out now
Geeky Hobbies Update: I Won A Painting Contest

131 thoughts on “Origins Debacle Update”

  1. “The way they talk about me on the internet you’d think that I was tossing communists out of helicopters or something.”

    Helicopter Twitter approves.

      1. The freshwater bodies available are drinking water sources. EWWWWWWWWW!

        Flight practice over the Great Salt Lake would make pickled commies floating ashore in SLC, which is rapidly becoming a Dem hive of scum and villany and would get angry about its useful idiots getting liquidated.

        Utah Lake (just south) would be a good site, but the surrounding municipalities would try to give civic awards to the throwers. Word would spread and soon angry leftards would start pounding Larry’s front door all hours, then it qould be busy, busy, busy all the time, and no more time to write Tom Stranger tales. That would be poor customer service!

        1. Your logic is like a steam roller and excellent. It is as inescapable as having ones feet stuck in concrete and the steamroller…

      1. Remember, communists thrown from aircraft are an authentic form of cultural expression, and any objection is racist.

        1. If only the peoples of Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela would culturally appropriate this charming custom, the world would be a better place.

      2. Remember the “bag limit” and don’t get cited for littering. Ask Arlo Guthrie how that worked out.

      1. Yes, you can help!

        Obtain the use of a suitable helicopter, and go to town. Pro-tip: the really masty guys soon learn that making a vent avoids bloating & inconvient litter washing up on beaches.

        This ain’t my blog, so I’m not getting any more detailed.

  2. Straw Larry is responsible for this. He colluded with the Russians to steal the election. He makes them feel unsafe. He’s REALLY toxic if you have hay fever.

    His only weaknesses are fire and goats, and fire is kind of everybody’s weakness.

    1. Straw Larry is one ugly dude too. I’ve seen pictures of him, and I have no doubt Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear have coopted him.

      1. Good Afternoon, Nikki. Just curious, have you made your blog private? I can’t seem to reach it anymore. Just wondering.

        1. Hi, Wes – I’ve actually shut it down for various reasons, including ones that are work related. The only reason that it’s private for now is so I can grab some of the past posts and keep them. After I’m done, it will be shut down permanently. 🙂

          1. Ah, I understand completely. Well, hopefully it may come back up someday. It was a refreshing change of pace from some other sources. I first linked to it via Instapundit.

  3. “Because if you can get that nitpicky, then I hate to break it to you, by that standard the perpetually offended would be able to demand anyone get booted.” That’s a feature, not a bug.

  4. I don’t do twitter – can we have the names of the game companies that were quick to jump on board? my gaming dollars are very precious and few, scavenged between paying for orthodontia for my kids, and keeping the wife thinking that she was right to say “I do.” I’d like to support companies that have 2 brain cells to rub together.

    1. The fans put together a list and screen shots on the Facebook fan page. The funny thing is I’d only met like one of them in person that I could remember, but I’m the trendy new thing to hate this season.

      1. Can you put up a link to that list? I got the hell out of Facebook because it was turning into a major time eater and I’d like to conserve my game money for the companies that deserve it.

        1. Off the top of my head it was mostly assholes I’d never heard of, but Green Ronin, the guy from Fate, and Mierls from D&D 5E were on there. I’ve played 5E and Fate, so that kind of pisses me off.

          1. Mearls seems in his YouTube videos and twitter posts to be a huge virtue signaler. Disappointed, but not surprised.

          2. Mike Mearls is also the guy who suggested that people who want games with complex rules and dense lore are just doing it to keep out women. Which as a woman who enjoys complex, lore-based games and will happily read rule books for days, I find extremely offensive. Not surprised to find out that he’s one of the jerks behind this mess.

          3. Oh, he’s THAT idiot. I’m female. I spent money on AD&D rulebooks and lorebooks simply to read them and deeply enjoyed doing that. Play them? Not really. The first time I ever bought dice was for L5R; and the first time I bought a full set of multisided dice was earlier this year, and they’re for me to roll when I’m having problems making decisions in writing a scene.

          4. No big surprises on this short list.
            The guy from fate Virtue signaled hard during Gamergate. He also pitched a fit about a card game on Drivethru/Onebookshelf basically throwing his company’s weight around to get it removed. Drivethru caved and removed the card game.
            Mearls is a giant SJW. I figured he was in on it to begin with.

          5. Which card game was that? If it’s even remotely in my wheelhouse, I might have to track down a copy and buy it, on general “throw money at people the SJWs don’t like” principles.

          6. One thing I have to remind myself is how much the leftists I know live in a bubble, with all their “news” coming from 22-minute hate ‘comedy’ shows and twitter headlines. So someone links them the slander from EW and they’re “must be true, or why write it”.

            So they may just be naive morons instead of malignant assholes.

          7. A lot of them are living or working for companies in the Seattle area, so the bubble’s probably more like a vault.

          8. “So they may just be naive morons instead of malignant assholes.”

            If there’s no discernible difference, does it really matter?

          9. The guy who did the Far West kickstarter and never fulfilled it.

          10. Green Ronin getting involved in this doesn’t surprise me. They’re so inclusive and diverse that their last talent search excluded men from entering.

      2. Which fanpage was that? I have been attending Origins fairly regularly over the last thirteen years and would love to know which vendors and creators deserve disdain. I used to like Green Ronin.

        No surprise about Meirls, WotC is infested with SJW’s.

    1. Or maybe Tom Kratman.

      Larry might be willing to loan them Skippy to pilot, though.

      Speaking of, I’d love to see more history on Skippy and his people — their relationship with the Czars, their involvement (if any) in the 19th Century Great Game in Central Asia between Russia and the British Empire, how they managed to survive under Communism… there have got to be a lot of great stories there.

          1. I just have to say… your jokes are one of my favorite things about this blog’s comments section. Keep ’em coming.

          2. Yeah, but chicken is edible, and tasty, so may be preferred by the tail rotor spirit. The SJZombies … might juuuuust piss ’em off.

          1. Kratman’s (allegedly) the crucifier of the ELOE, iirc. Hard to tell, they don’t post pictures of their titles very often. And I try to avoid Making Spite or Vile 770, mostly.

  5. Bravo to The Unknown Con for being adults! I wish them a profitable and thoroughly funtastic con. And much respect to you, Mr. Correia, for being considerate of the innocent bystanders in all of this. That speaks volumes about your character for those who stop to listen.

    1. The Unknown Con . . . Did you just start a meme? Will we have an actual convention by that name? 🙂

    2. Unknown Con is good people. Sounds like a fun con, to be honest. I’d go to that one, and I’m pretty much as screamingly antisocial as one can get.

  6. I’ve always lived by the axiom that if the other person creates the breakdown of discussion (words stop working) then you’re perfectly justified in using other means to “communicate”.

    Never play by the rules the aggressor chooses for you.

    1. “Never play by the rules the aggressor chooses for you.”
      Truth. If you notice that your opponent is writing the rules, acting as referee, providing the deck, and has made it obvious they will cheat at ever opportunity, then there is no point in playing the game. Instead, go start a different one.

  7. Why do I think that, by the time this is over, the ILoH will own the rights to “Origins” (evil grin

  8. …by that standard the perpetually offended would be able to demand anyone get booted.

    That’s the point, actually. This way, they get to cause maximum fear because nobody will ever know when the outrage mob might turn on them. The SJWs get a charge out of being able to hurt people, and these tactics let them hurt anyone they want.

    1. Old news. They’re the out-group clique from high school, the ones that never grew up. Some of ’em, never grew out of primary school from the looks of it. The outrage mob just makes me think, “what are you, twelve? Put on your big boy/girl/soy panties and quit being weak- because crying about the hurtz when you’re not even hit is the polar opposite of strong.

      No, it’s worse. Attacking the people that, as a group, *don’t hit back* as opposed to the ones that might legit be a threat is the opposite of strength. *shakes head* The spaghetti I had last week had more spine than this crowd.

    1. Gives ’em too much credit. Terrorists = freedom fighters to them, or whatever else they’re calling ’em these days. Can’t call ’em worms either because those are actually useful.

      1. Per my old high school wrestling coach “Whale Turds”, the lowest form of organic matter on the planet. Seems to be rather fitting.

      2. To be fair, SJWs do believe themselves to be freedom fighters (of a sort). That’s what makes them so zealous and fanatical. Who wouldn’t want to fight for the right of women and minorities to exist, right ? If you are against fighting the good fight, that means you want women and minorities to cease to exist ! You genocidal nazi !!!1111!

  9. Also, J. L. Curtis’ “Into the Green” has an entire company of Gurkhas as characters and main characters in that book. I’d check that out too.

  10. **Lawyer Hat On** Now, I’m no employment law expert–far from it–but working to get a competitor banned (i.e., harming their business) because of their political beliefs seems like it is begging for the EEOC to come poking around. However, I’m not sure whether they cover separate companies. My only experience (which is very limited) with them was with regards to internal company actions. If that is their limit, it would definitely be worthwhile to look into Ohio’s state laws on the matter. Most states don’t like that sort of thing.

    Shifting gears though, the clearer idiocy of the decision is that these companies just added their “deep pockets” to a suit of any type, be it defamation, libel, discrimination, or whatever. Any litigation attorney just became *much* more willing to pursue this, even without a retainer.

  11. It’s looking like Shannon Hale is getting some shabby treatment from a con too, though under different circumstances.

  12. Oh my goodness! You got more fans involved and they voted. It’s not like you encouraged a bunch of illegal aliens to fraudulently vote, or cast ballots for all the dead people in your town’s cemetary, or paid people for their votes (with anything other than a good story.) You *gasp* got people involved with the whole process.

    What really irritates me are the trolls that demand proof that you’re not a racist, woman-hating, homophobe; when the basis of their evaluation is your statements about the Hugo, and your fisk about this zero self-confidence former con-goer, which don’t contain any of the alleged offenses that I can find. But then I’m not impressed with said trolls’ level of reading comprehension in the first place. I will say that the Wikipedia writeup of the Sad Puppies events is rather slanted against you; and that may be what they’re basing their opinions on. I’d submit corrections, but they seem to have the correct sources, it’s just their interpretation of them is excrable.

    1. Wikipedia editors should be assumed as enemies until proven otherwise. Assume it is lying on any political matter. Use it only for things difficult to lie effectively about, like density of water, or too trivial to matter.

    2. What really irritates me are the trolls that demand proof that you’re not a racist, woman-hating, homophobe;

      And they make allegations willy-nilly, using ‘listen and believe’ as all the proof they need, and never feel they need to provide proof of anything they ever say.

  13. They’ve just proven how chickens**t they are… Again… Civility my ass. It’s a little late for ‘civility’ on their part or ours either, for that matter. Funny how they’ve all scattered to the four winds, shut down all means of communication, and effectively gone into ‘hiding’ now that they’ve been called out for what they are.

  14. “The way they talk about me on the internet you’d think that I was tossing communists out of helicopters or something.”

    NTTAWWT. 😉

  15. They’re agin’ “Evil Larry”? That’s a rare creature indeed. Why, I’ve *met* more unicorns, and more centaurs, for that matter. Not met Evil Larry. Makes one just a suspicious of the idea, it does. ♉

  16. Don’t let this distract you from the fact that in 1966, Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, “Spare Tire” Dixon.

  17. Larry:

    I bought a copy of Hard Magic because I was sure you were attending Origins. I wanted it signed for a Christmas Present for my Brother. I did not sign up for LibertyCon because I thought I could get it signed at Origins.

    Is it possible that I could mail it to you with a return postage paid box that you could mail back so I could get it signed for Christmas? You would just have to sign and stick it back in the box with no cost to you.

    If this works, please contact me at: [I sent the address to Larry, but removed it from the comments. Trust me, it’s better… – Jack] with an address to mail the book.

    I’m a real person and I’m planning to write a business case study about this for our sales program. If you google my name you can see I’m active both in business and in gaming.

  18. “The way they talk about me on the internet you’d think that I was tossing communists out of helicopters or something.”

    You say this like it’s a bad thing.

    As the kids chant these days, “You can’t run. You can’t hide. You get helicopter ride.”

    1. With the number of them… B-52’s seem far more efficient. And we have all too few, I fear.

    1. Considering the operational costs of helicopters, it’s not cost effective. Also considering our host’s accounting background, there’s probably cheaper methods that are lower impact.

      1. If by “impact” you mean “the impact of slamming against solid ground at high velocity”, I don’t see what needs changing.

        1. Well, a helicopter can only carry so many commies at once. A C130 full of chained together commies and a small drogue chute is simultaneously funnier, crueler, and more cost effective. And if you drop ’em in a volcano you can even please Lord Xenu.

          1. Yeah, but you’d still need to fly ’em over to Hawaii and frankly, that money is better spent on other things.

            Because brain went tangenting: Aren’t there more mainland volcanos? Isn’t Yellowstone a big one that needs appeasing? Do dormant volcano gods get sacrifices too; so they don’t feel left out and bestir themselves to complain?*

            *This train of thought is a sleepy brain wanders off one, not a serious train of thought, though potential entertainment could be had if used for an MHI short story… oh heeeey now…

          2. The Yellowstone caldera is currently mostly dormant. There has been no exposed lava in around (I think) 600,000 years. The top of its magma chamber is about 30 miles down, and theres no indication its contents are likely to start moving upwards anytime soon (and by “soon”, they mean “this millenium”). The only manifestation of the volcanoe are the hot springs, which admittably, can (and do) scald people to death.

            More likely are the Cascade volcanoes, which stretch from California to British Columbia. Mt. St. Helens is the most likely (it keeps rumbling), but Lassen has also erupted in recent times and may be getting ready to do so again. Strangely, the Cascades have been unusually quiet this last century and several are geologically overdue.

          3. Clearly then we need to drill a 30 mile deep hole large enough to toss them down.

          4. Tossing them in would be a side benefit. How cool would it be to be able to drill down that far???! FOR SCIENCE!

            Although, Mt. Saint Helens probably should be appeased… Wouldn’t want the lady to blow her top again, y’know.

          1. I see your point, but how do we tell SJZs from the SJWs? It certainly isn’t the body odor.

            (That’s funny if you have ever been within 100 yards and downwind of a G8 or G10 protest.)

      2. I suggest an older weapons platform that is a one-time expense with only minor maintenance costs.

        A Trebouchet. The force of launch simulates both the drop and the impact of falling from high up.

      3. You’re forgetting the most important benefit of using a chopper to drop them: doing it over a large body of water is an efficient means of disposal.

  19. Really indicative of who they are that they stiffed you the $300, Larry. Bunch of chiselers.

    Incidentally, tossing Communists out of helicopters is a waste of fuel.

  20. I was going to buy a book to support you and it turned into three!! You are a really fun writer and and I will eventually end up with them all. Don’t let ‘em get you down.

  21. This may be a stupid question, but maybe it is time for you guys — meaning, LC, David Weber, John Ringo, and other everything-ist authors — to start your own con ? Money should not be an issue. Firstly, some of you guys are rich enough to buy your own mountains; and secondly, if you crowdfund this endeavour, I’m pretty sure you’ll get a great response. I personally would gladly kick in a few tens of bucks, and I’m not even a conservative. You could even partner up with the Comicsgate crowd, for a massive exposure boost.

    This way, when the SJWs tell you, “no, you cannot attend our cons, you are too icky !”, you can safely reply with, “sorry, what was that ? I couldn’t hear you over the voices of 10,000 attendees”.

      1. That sounds a bit too illegible, from a graphic design point of view 🙂 Something like “MonsterCon”, with the MHI smiley monster logo might work better.

        On a more serious note, I don’t like the idea of cons, comics, games, or whatever that are created for the sole purpose of spiting the “other side”. Propaganda is propaganda, and it always ends up being clumsy and stilted, regardless of which side you’re on. I would absolutely go to MonsterCon (*) if its motto was, “everyone is welcome”; but I probably wouldn’t go if the motto was, “Suck it, SJWs !!!” — despite the fact that I’d love to see SJWs taken down a peg.

        Or, to put it another way: it would be as wrong for MonserCon to disinvite/de-platform John Scalzi (**), as it was for Origins to do the same thing to LC.

        (*) Time and finances permitting.
        (**) Unless he showed up and started being a disruptive asshole, of course.

        1. (**) Unless he showed up and started being a disruptive asshole, of course.

          What about if he was a disruptive asshole before the con?

          I’m remembering the amount of jeering that came from the CHORFS about “Well, go make your own award!” … then DragonCon announced their Dragon Award and the howls and jeering about THAT… and the ongoing bitching about it since. DragonCon was already a well established con, that emphasized that it welcomed all sides – earning the sneering and jeering of the CHORFs and Torlings and ASPs.

          So, yeah. Why is it our side is the one being tut-tutted at to be ‘all welcoming and inclusive’, Bugs? We’re the ones getting driven out of the cons already existing; told to ‘make our own’ left and right… and at the same time, we’re expected to not to be excluding?

          Doesn’t seem fair, does it?

          1. What about if he was a disruptive asshole before the con?

            It depends, what do you mean by “disruptive” ? If he physically assaulted people or has a history of actively heckling panels, then yeah, kick him out. If he’s mean to you on Twitter or voted Hillary or whatever, let him in, because who cares, as long as his books are fun to read ?

            Why is it our side is the one being tut-tutted at to be ‘all welcoming and inclusive’, Bugs?

            Because you’re supposed to be actually better than your opponents on the Left — who are exclusive to the point of self-destruction — not merely the flip side of the same coin. At least, that’s the way people on the Right tend to present themselves nowadays, and I sincerely hope that’s true. Otherwise, the Left will exclude you, and you will exclude them, and there won’t be any place for regular people to just go and enjoy science fiction for a weekend — regardless of their politics or lack thereof.

          2. You’re seriously asking that? After what the most recent posts have been about? Really? Fine. What about the example of how John Ringo ended up not going to ConCarolinas, as an example? People were actively planning to start shit with him – as in, go to the con, specifically to cause trouble. That kind of ‘disruptive.’ Or, as example, what was done to Larry – make false accusations to get a guest kicked from the con. That’s disruptive, harassment, slanderous, and libel at least. Frankly, I’m with Mad Mike on the suggestion that there be penalties for that kind of shit stirring, especially for the shit stirrers screaming that ‘THIS PERSON IS UNCLEAN AND MUST NOT BE AT THE CON BECAUSE I FEEL UNSAFE WAAAH’.

            He’s right that the ones throwing their little tanties should be the ones banned from the con.

            It is disingenuous to require that we be better – with the unspoken, tacit implication, never fight back, never cause trouble, never say our views, while our opponents are free to conduct themselves as vilely and as heinously as they wish, with little if any penalty for that behaviour or actions done.

            My point is, which has apparently sailed over your head, was that DragonCon is already the example of “We welcome everyone regardless of their political POV” and that doesn’t stop the CHORFs from sneering and jeering and mocking it, trying to discredit the Dragon Awards as ‘less’ or ‘invalid’, by smearing them as “Sad Puppy Awards” or associating the awards with Vox Day (or insert the figure of hatred here.) It’s already everything you ask, and it’s being smeared, because they are politically neutral and don’t give a shit about the CHORFdom.

            You tell US to behave better… because you at least know we’ll give you the time of day and maybe listen, at the very least we’ll act civilized and polite. The other side, you don’t bother to, because you already know they won’t even try to listen to you, never mind about acting civilized or like rational human beings. And that is the most telling thing of all.

          3. People were actively planning to start shit with him – as in, go to the con, specifically to cause trouble. That kind of ‘disruptive.’

            Well yeah, and those people should obviously be kicked out and banned. It doesn’t matter why they’re starting shit; if they want to get drunk and start flipping random tables, they should be kicked out too.

            Or, as example, what was done to Larry – make false accusations to get a guest kicked from the con.

            Yeah, that was kind of my entire point. MonsterCon should have a very clear statement in its charter: “We will not un-invite or ban guests based on anonymous accusations. We also don’t care about your politics. This is a SciFi/Fantasy/gaming con, not a political rally”.

            You are absolutely right when you say that this “won’t stop CHORFs from mocking and jeering”, but why do you care about what they think ? Why give them that much power over you ? When you go to their con, they already have the power, since they are in charge — but if you are running your own con, that is not the case !

            You tell US to behave better… because you at least know we’ll give you the time of day and maybe listen… The other side, you don’t bother to.

            Er… yes ? That was my whole point ! The progressives are a lost cause, IMO. There’s nothing you can do to redeem any organization where they have a stranglehold — they are always going to keep it as a “members only” club for themselves. Are you telling me that all the conservatives act the exact same way, only with the politics reversed ? That can’t be true !

          4. Regarding DragonCon specifically, my impression — and maybe it’s wrong, I’ve never been to DragonCon so I don’t know — is that they have to walk a fine line between listening to Twitter mobs and catering to their actual fans, due to funding issues. If they get labeled as “alt-right nazis” in the media, their fans still won’t care, but their funding would dry up and they’d have to close. As I said though, I could be wrong.

          5. Oh, so you do realize the harm that the CHORFs can bring to DragonCon with their jeering and slander, but then have the smug temerity to tell me ‘why do you care what they think? Why give them that much power over you?’ In case you have forgotten, I don’t live in the US and time/finances/responsibilities will prolly ensure I can’t go no matter how much I wanted to. Objectively I have no dog in that specific fight and my outrage isn’t for me, but for those *really* done an injustice here – Larry, John, and any author who gets caught up in this SJZ bullshit, and my fellow fans who just want a good time with their favorite authors. I fully recognize the threat the CHORFs represent and are part of and in due time this kind of insanity spreads. DragonCon is, from what I read, resisting the politicalization and purity tests because it’s seriously huge, but that is not a permanent armor against the termite plague that is Cultural Marxism’s rabid attack mobs.

            I sometimes wonder what happens to the intelligence you sometimes display around here, mate. Comments like the above and the one below make it look like the squirrels ran away with all your acorns in a bag, and it takes you a while to find where they got cached.

          6. DragonCon takes over downtown Atlanta for an entire holiday weekend. 80k people. There are, at most, 4-5 cons bigger than it in the US.

            The CHORFs can’t do any harm to it.

          7. I would have thought the same of San Diego ComicCon, but last I heard, there were propositions to have rules in place that you weren’t allowed to look at cosplayers ‘without their consent’; and apparently some newish one about banning cosplay altogether, because I remember Stjepan Sejic (aka Shiniez) protesting that seeing people in cosplay was one of the highlights of the con.

            But then again, it’s California.

          8. I live in SoCal, part time San Diego County, part time Orange County. I hadn’t heard that. As far as I knew, cosplayers like attention, that they try very hard to get their costumes just right. If you don’t want to be looked at, STAY HOME! I realize that we Californians are thought of as the Land of Fruits and Nuts, but if that proposed rule is true, I’m embarrassed on their behalf.

          9. Oh really? I can think of several ways they can do quite a bit. Of course, that might require some under the table cooperation from their fellow travelers in the Atlanta / State of Georgia bureaucracy, and/or in the judiciary, but as we’re seeing, that won’t be hard to manage.

          10. You’re wildly overestimating their political pull in Georgia and underestimating the financial impact DragonCon has in downtown Atlanta (which just lost the Braves’ stadium to the burbs).

            Put it this way: Atlanta hosts the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game the same weekend as DragonCon – and the cosplayers/partiers always vastly outnumber the college football fans.

            There are also other cities that would love to have an extra 80k visitors over a holiday weekend. Nashville, certainly. Maybe Charlotte, though hotels could be tight and the city government there may put California SJW cities to shame.

          11. TL:DR – if DragonCon could have potential funding risk because of SJZealotry, any other con has that risk too. So while it is nice to suggest that Larry, et al make their own con, the reality is heckler’s veto has already been weaponized; and the trend is to demand that ‘companies prove they are against’ whatever thr zealots cause du jour is.

        2. Who said anything about splitting or spitting on the other side? I think all we want is a Con where the SJWs can’t affect who shows up by crying that they feel unsafe. As far as my suggested logo, if they can’t take a joke, then let them hide in their blanket forts and refuse to show up. It’s what some of them do with Dragon-Con already.

        3. FYI, my friend John Kranz runs a war gaming convention every year in Tempe AZ called “Monstercon”. So named because it features the huge old school large war games termed monster games.

  22. Be advised that the use of helicopters for the purpose of controlling pests massively increases your carbon footprint. As an engineer, it’s my recomendation that you rely on a more traditional form of dealing with scum. Hanging is both carbon neutral and you can watch their expressions as they depart our mortal sphere.

  23. Larry,

    I’m more like a moderate liberal. I’ll start there to highlight that there are some issues about which we have different opinions. Peachy!

    I’m sorry that the screaming rabid mob has so much sway. I’m sorry that people are closed-minded. I don’t want to become an apologist here, but I will at least go this far: not all liberals are like those people you’ve been wronged by. I resent the color they add to the picture people have of a “liberal” and I’m sorry you’ve dealt with this.

    Anyway, I have (I think) every single one of your books via Audible. LOVE your work. I’ve come to really enjoy your posts and blog too. I lurk at MHI Nation a bunch now. I am a STRONG fan, and I just spoke to a friend last night, who read Son of the Black Sword at my suggestion (he enjoyed, of course).

    I got a little kick from the jump where you call Saladin “a nice guy” and then you’re being attacked for racism. It’s a crock, and like you said, “anybody with half a brain or an ounce of integrity can read that and see..” and you’re right! I just want you to know that you have fans across the political spectrum and that a turd is a turd, irrespective of politics or SJW tendencies.

    I wish you the best and I truly appreciate your work. I’m thankful for the hours and hours of entertainment. I’ve loved both Tom Stranger and Murder of Manatees 🙂

    1. You make a very fair point.

      The problem for me is this: Not all liberals attack me, but everyone who attacks me is a liberal.

      Or course, that’s not 100% accurate, but it’s probably true of 95% of them. I also get screamed at by the occasional nazi-power douche or somebody so crazy that you couldn’t assign a coherent political philosophy to them if you tried, but I’ve only had to block a handful of those over the years. But any given day, bring up my name on Facebook, and you’ll get a dozen random assholes screaming about how I’m the worst person ever and for proof they’ll link to another random asshole who also has never met me. And of course, go to their pages (I have to in order to block them), and it’s all progressive stuff and Occupy Democrats memes.

      I get it. I feel your pain. I’ve got some real irrational douchebags on my side of the political aisle too. But comparatively right now, the left’s douchebags are a whole lot shriller and louder.

      1. Hey, thanks for responding. I found this part of your response most enlightening, “Not all liberals attack me, but everyone who attacks me is a liberal. ”

        Given that, it’s hard not to see how you might be annoyed. It is very ‘in’ these days to try to be seen ‘attacking evil racists’ and people get a big hard-on thinking their social media makes a difference. I hate that garbage too.

        I just wanted you to know that you have another fan with a liberal skew, and I think those people are douche bags too. I’ve never once found you or your statements to seem sexist, racist, etc. and your work is top notch, fiskings and all included!

    2. Hear Hear!! Native Californian Liberal here, Ermahderd, and I agree with what you say. Don’t tar all of us Liberals as SJW/SJZombies. Some of us still have a brain ????. I greatly resent the actions of LWNJ’s, who give us a bad name.
      Ignorance is curable – stupidity is to the bone.

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