1. Also, while I'm on the subject of the Hugo and Worldcon, I see some various turdlings out there are gleeful about the recent dustup re: the Worldcon program. "The SJWs are eating themselves!" is the basic line of the turdlings. In fact, something entirely different happened.
2. Which was: When the problems cropped up (and they did) and people started to complain (and they did), the Worldcon, within a day, acknowledged that various mistakes had happened and actively moved to correct those mistakes. Not perfectly or instantly, but it still happened.
3. Which is what you *want* to happen! In an ideal world, mistakes don't get made, but we don't live in an ideal world and none of us is our ideal self. The next best thing is, when mistakes are pointed out, you move to fix them and to learn from them.
4. The turdlings who are gleeful at the Worldcon's temporary woes don't care about anything other than an institution they dislike and tried (or are still trying) to sabotage having a stumble. That's because they're basically awful, whiny menchildren. No surprise there.
5. Many folks who like or feel invested in Worldcon weren't pleased about the stumble, and moved prior to the Worldcon itself to help address the problem by offering up their programming slots to folks who didn't have them. This exemplifies the best aspects of the SF/F community.
6. What is *not* laudable about people saying "it's important that we have more and different voices in the mix, and I'm ready to share my time and space to make it happen"? Is this not what you would want to see?
7. "It's just virtue signaling!" One, it's okay to signal that you support bringing new people and perspectives into the genre's mainstream. Two, giving up your space to make space for others isn't just signaling, it's action. Yay, virtue actioning!
8. Equally as important, the folks running this year's Worldcon, the premier lit-focused convention in the genre, listened and followed up with action of their own, and took help offered to change for the better. Mistakes were made, but action to improve is worth noting.
9. This action is not caving or retreating or [insert other negative spin here]. It's *learning*. There's more work to be done, and not everything will be done perfectly, but the situation is already better than what it was a few days ago. Worldcon 76 wants to be better. Good.
10. We all stumble, and the test is what we do after. We're seeing some people point and laugh, because that's who they are. We're seeing others use their position to help, because that's who they are. And we're seeing an organization trying to improve, because that's what IT is.
11. So, yeah. A lot of people in science fiction and fantasy have revealed themselves in the last few days. It's been instructive. For myself, I can say I'm supporting Worldcon 76 trying to be better, and supporting those working to make it happen.
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